A/N Hello readers, this is Grenfell and let me start by saying that I hope you enjoy the story. Alright this is going to be an AU story with some changes made to the universe, Canon will largely be followed, though through at least one different character and different lenses. Also, usual disclaimer, "Grenfell does not own, nor claim to own, Naruto, Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Devil May Cry, or any other media that may be intentionally or unintentionally included in this story." Now on with the show!


October, 10th

In a clearing outside of Konohagakure, there were three figures strewn about the devastated landscape. A young red-headed woman wearing a white sleeveless blouse underneath a loose bright green dress, whom appeared to be kneeling over a small baby. To her left was the body of a blonde man wearing blue pants, a blue long-sleeved shirt and a long, white sleeveless high-collared coat, with a red flame design at the bottom. These three people were Kushina, Minato, and Naruto of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family.

Kushina stared down at the little bundle in her arms, noticing the tuft of red hair on his head and the three identical whisker like marks on both of his cheeks. As the child began to cry, Kushina rocked him back and forth as much as she was able to, in order to try and comfort him.

"Hush now Sochi." Kushina began as she looked down sadly at her child, "I'm so sorry that I wont be able to be there for your first words, your first steps, to harass your future fan girls -ttebane!"

The young mother choked up as tears began to full from her eyes before continuing, "While I wont be there for you, Minato-baka did ensure that help will come for you, though not from where he may expect." she smiled down at her child as he began to quiet down.

"You just need to survive the through the hate for just a little while, my precious son and you will see that he will..." Kushina stopped as she coughed up some of the blood that was slowly filling her lungs 'stupid fox, having to try and put a claw through my child!' she thought angrily to herself.

"He will come before you know it and take you to a place where you will be given the chance to be loved and cherished as any child should." She stated as she heard her child start to whimper again. Kushina could feel her blood quickly draining out of the hole in her body and knew that she only had time for a few more words to her son.

"So... please... have... hope... Naruto." Kushina finished as she passed on to the next world.

A few minutes later an old man with graying hair, wearing a grey, lightly armored shinobi body suit came upon the clearing, flanked by two ANBU. This man was Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage.

The Sandaime looked down sadly at the body of his predecessor before he began to hear a baby's crying coming from the kneeled body of Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. Hiruzen approached the body and looked down at the crying form of the child sadly before picking him up and holding him, 'poor child, barely an hour old and already an orphan, and I doubt your trials will get any easier my boy,' the Sandaime thought to himself as he noticed the birth marks on the young Uzumaki-Namikaze's cheeks.

"Inu, ensure the bodies are taken care of properly then meet me in the council chambers, I fear that we still have much work to do." Hiruzen ordered.

The white haired ANBU in the Inu mask stared at the bodies of Minato and Kushina before slowly nodding and beginning the hand signs for one of the many Katon jutsu he knew.

3 years later, October 10th

Kage Reizo stood in a small clearing just outside of Konoha, 'So, this is where the trail led me.' Reizo thought to himself as he looked around the clearing. Reizo was a tall, slim man with slicked back, black hair, pale skin, and an angular face. He was wearing a knee-length light grey coat with pale blue highlights, underneath that he wore a black shirt and black slightly loose pants stuffed into grey shin-length boots. Around his neck was a simple necklace holding a pendant with the traditional swirl of the Uzumaki Clan engraved on it.*

Reizo stood still and closed his eyes, slowly breathing in and out as he allowed his chakra to saturate and reach out for the hint he was looking for in the clearing. Finally he opened his eyes, 'I see now, the Reaper Death Seal, the last resort of an Uzumaki, to be forced to use such a forbidden technique... Kushina-sama, I'm sorry I was so late.'

Reizo looked up towards Konoha, "Well I suppose I could look up the old monkey and ensure that the Mistress's effects were properly taken care of." he mumbled to himself as he slowly walked back to the road and towards Konoha's gate.

Konoha Orphanage

A three-year old Naruto was curled up on a small, torn up mattress trying to wish away the bruises he had gained earlier as well as the hunger pains he was feeling. Some of the other children had began to beat on him again and while they were quickly stopped by the masked men, he still ended up being late for dinner and the Matron refused to feed, "A brat who couldn't be bothered to show up on time."

This was a normal occurrence for the young Uzumaki ever since he could remember he was never all that liked by the others in the orphanage. The only things that really kept him sane anymore were the infrequent visits from the old man in the funny hat and the words that a female voice kept repeating in his head, 'Have...hope, He will come.' While Naruto didn't quite understand what the words meant he did always feel a strange comfort and peace when he heard them.

Suddenly the door to Naruto's room began to creek open. Naruto peeked open an eye to see the Matron coming into his room with a disturbing grin on her face and holding something behind her back.

"Your all alone now little Demon, my friends are keeping the eyes of the village off us and have given me enough of an opening to finally finish what the Fourth started." she stated in a sickly sweet voice as she brought out a small Kunai knife.

She slowly approached the mattress as Naruto tried to curl deeper into himself, hoping that this was all just a bad nightmare.

"This is for my brother, now DIE MON...urgh!" She started before Naruto heard the sound of something penetrating flesh and seeing the matron freeze up before beginning to collapse. As she fell, Naruto could see what looked like an axe embedded deeply into the Matrons back. Just before he began to go into shock at seeing death for the first time he heard a deep, smooth, yet somewhat sinister voice come from the shadowy hallway.

"Well, well this was certainly an unexpected, but very welcome surprise." the voice said as a figure began to step forward, "It is a pleasure to finally see you young lord."

Thirty minutes earlier

Konoha Gates

As Reizo approached the gate he caught the tail end of the conversation between the two gate guards, "And I'm telling you Kotetsu, if we can do a good job here then we wont have to ever do gate guard duty again, it might even look good when we try for the Jounin Exams." said the Konoha nin with a bandana covering his hair.

The other guard, a shinobi with wild black hair and a bandage over his nose replied, "Look Izumo, you remember the last gate guards, they had the job for over a decade and never once got promoted, now this cursed job is ou..." Kotetsu paused in his rant as Reizo finally approached, "Business in Konoha sir?"

Reizo hummed softly to himself before nodding slightly, "Yes, something like that." he replied almost distractedly.

Izumo nodded, "Village affiliation and reason for entering?" he questioned.

"Hmm, Uzushiogakure, I must speak with the Hokage." Reizo replied as a frown began adorning his face.

Kotetsu began coughing as the answer startled him, "R..right we'll arrange for someone to guide you to the Hokage Tower, Mr. ..." he replied as he regained himself

Reizo shook his head, "Unneeded, I shall find my way there for now... Thank you." he said as he was looking in the direction of the Orphanage before disappearing.

Kotetsu and Izumo stared in shock for a brief moment before racing off to warn the Hokage of an intruder claiming to be from Uzu disappearing into the village.

Konoha Orphanage

Reizo quietly entered the Orphanage, 'The signature is definitely an Uzumaki, it even almost feels like Kushina-samas,' he thought to himself as he slowly came upon an open door leading towards the signature. He looked into the room to see an elderly woman holding a kunai behind her back, mumbling something about friends and eyes. He finally got close enough to the room to see a small toddler with straight red hair and sky blue eyes peeking up fearfully at the elderly woman, 'Kushina?!... no calm down the child is male, yet he looks so much like the mistress... ah I see so she had a son, very clever Kushina-sama,' Reizo happily thought to himself.

His joy soon turned to a worrying terror however as the elderly woman brought the kunai around from her back and prepared to kill the child.

"This is for my brother now, DIE MON...urgh!" Without even thinking Reizo flicked his wrist, sending one of his many throwing axes into the woman's back killing her near instantly.

"Well, well this was certainly an unexpected, but very welcome surprise." the Reizo said as he began to step forward, "It is a pleasure to finally see you young lord."

Naruto stared into the pale face of his rescuer, "Th.. the voice.." he began, "She says, He would come, that you?"

Reizo stared down for a moment eyes widened slightly from surprise before he began to chuckle lightly, "Indeed my young lord, I have come to take you to some place safe, now might this humble servant know your name?"

Naruto smiled brightly, "I'm Na'uto Uz.. Uzuma... Uzumatti -ttebane!" he said loudly before quickly clapping a hand over his mouth in embarrassment, a number of the older children made fun of his verbal tick.

Reizo couldn't help but laugh at his new charge, 'oh, you are definitely your mother's son young Naruto.'

When Reizo calmed he addressed Naruto once again, "Give me a second to ensure that a certain someone shall get a message and we shall head to your new home, okay Naruto?"

Naruto quickly nodded his head happy to finally have someone who wanted to be with him. He watched Reizo make a series of gestures with his hands before a vaguely humanoid looking shadow darkened and quickly left the room. Reizo turned to pick Naruto up and they both left Konoha as quickly and quietly as possible.

Hokage Tower

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the reinstated Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure sat in his office smoking on his pipe having already dismissed his ANBU guards for the evening. It was the time of year where he would think over all the mistakes he had made in his life, his falling out with his son, Minato's death, Orochimaru's defection. But his biggest and most haunting failure... Naruto. The aged war veteran took a deep puff on his pipe before looking towards his ceiling and letting out all his smoke and stress.

"So... the famed Executioner of Uzushio stalks my village now." Hiruzen said to the seemingly empty room. Out of the corner of the room a shadow seemed to come out of the wall walking towards Hiruzen's desk. As the figure approached it quickly took on the appearance of Kage Reizo.

Reizo glared down at the aging Kage before sighing, "Before we begin anything you should know that, due to discoveries made before coming to this office, Uzushio is officially ending all trade and protection treaties between our two villages."

Hiruzen seemed to age further but nodded, "The civilian council wont like it, but I had a suspicion this would happen if you ever entered the village."

Reizo quirked an eyebrow up slightly at the mention of a "civilian council" but continued, "Depending on your explanation for the decisions made surrounding Uzumaki Naruto, we will decide whether or not we are in a state of war."

Again Hiruzen nodded, "What would you like to know?"

"Why was he in an orphanage, where it was rather clear that he was being mistreated?"

Hiruzen sighed tiredly for what seemed like the millionth time that night, "It was a number of things Reizo-kun, though I suppose it all started the night of the Kyuubi attack..."

Flashback 3 years ago

Konoha Council Chambers

Hiruzen entered the chamber holding onto the small, blanket wrapped child. The chamber was a large room with two rows of seats situated with one row on each side of a larger seat, traditionally reserved for the acting Hokage, just behind the Hokage seat were a three other smaller seats, reserved for the Hokage's advisers. As Hiruzen approached the Hokage seat the noise in the room quickly quieted.

"Sandaime-sama is there any news of the Yondaime?" "What of the Kyuubi." "Is the monster finally dead?" were a number of question shot at him by the left side of the room, holding the influential members of the civilian population, this was the Civilian Council. To his right was the Shinobi Council consisting of the various clan heads of the village. Currently the clan heads were watching him intently, already having an idea of the answer to most of the questions.

Finally the Sandaime sat in the Hokage's seat, "As some of you have likely already guessed, the Yondaime has defeated the Kyuubi, however the achievement cost him his life." Hiruzen grimly stated, gauging the various shocked reactions before continuing,

"Furthermore I shall be re-taking my position as Hokage, does anyone object?" Hiruzen questioned sternly. After letting everything sink in and noticing that no one questioned his claim he moved to continue but was interrupted.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but what happened to the Kyuubi?" asked the aged voice to his left. Hiruzen looked to address the man, noticing that he was wearing a dark robe covering most of his body, only revealing the upper left of his body, which was covered in a slightly loose white shirt. The man appeared to be holding himself up with his cane, while staring back at him out of his unbandaged eye.

'Damnit Danzo, this would have been so much easier if you didn't bring that up,' Hiruzen thought to himself before responding, "Minato used A forbidden Uzumaki seal matrix to seal the fox into a newborn baby, It was his wish* that the child could be seen as the hero responsible for keeping the monster at bay." Hiruzen stated passionately in an effort to make things better for the young Jinchuriki.

There was silence in the room before the Civilian Council erupted, shouting out at the Sandaime, "Kill the Demon!" "Death to the Monster!" "Avenge the Fourth!"

Finally Hiruzen had enough, "SILENCE!" he shouted leaking out some of his killing intent, "Since our civilians can't control themselves the status of young Naruto is strictly an S-rank secret, anyone caught releasing this information will be immediately executed, AM I UNDERSTOOD?!"

Hiruzen looked around, the Shinobi Council gave dutiful nods including one fierce looking councilor with wild brown hair named Tsume Inuzuka who gave an enthusiastic grin while rapidly nodding her head, 'I don't think I want to understand what that woman has going through her mind at the moment.' From the Civilian Council he was met with a seemingly cowed silence, taking that as acceptance he dismissed the councils.

"We will meet later to discuss the rebuilding efforts, as well as how we are going to ensure the security of the village while we are weak."

End Flashback

Hiruzen sighed as he finished the retelling, "Sadly the news still managed to get out about Naruto-kun's status, we never did find those responsible but I suspect some of my shinobi to be responsible."

Reizo nodded his head, "That explains the treatment and the attempt on his life, now why was he in the orphanage?"

Hiruzen jumped up at that, "What attempt on his life?!"

Reizo held up his hand to halt the aged Hokage's worry and rage, "The matron, she has already been dealt with, now the orphanage monkey?"

The old Hokage grumbled at the old nickname but calmed as he sat down, "The Civilian Council again, some clans attempted to adopt him, chiefly the Inuzuka and Aburame, the civilians stated that the boy was a civilian and as such adoptions had to go threw them... the paperwork kept getting 'misplaced'."

Reizo simply stared at the Sandaime for the longest time before a dark chuckle began to escape him. The chuckle soon turned into a mad cackle as he started leaking killer intent.

"So this is what has happened to the great Professor. The God of Shinobi who fought I fought alongside in the Last Great War. The God of Shinobi who stood up to the forces of Suna in the Second War. The man who could defeat an army without a single soldier stepping onto the field, being bossed around by a bunch of imbeciles." Reizo ranted as Sarutobi just stared at him in shock.

"If your sensei could see you now they would be disappointed. I weep for the Monkey King having to serve such a weak willed master." He finished his rant before calming down and re-addressing the still shocked Hokage.

"We wont be going to war Hiruzen, I can see that you had no intentions for what has befallen my young lord, However.." he began, "bring your house to order old monkey, we shall be watching from the swirling tides." and with that the shadow disappeared back into the darkness.

Hiruzen slowly sat back into his chair as he regained himself, 'Have I really fallen so far, is this what I have become,' he thought to himself questioningly. Finally coming to a decision he stood and signaled for an ANBU messenger.

"Bring me Elder Danzo, it is time I take back control of my Village and remind the council just why I survived through Three great ninja wars." The God of Shinobi ordered.

The ANBU used a quick shunshin to leave the office, though if you could see under his mask you would see a gleeful grin, 'Finally, this village will be able to rise again,' the messenger thought to himself as he hurried to fulfill his duty.


A/N Here's hoping people enjoyed the story and onto a few comments. First off I'm sure that some questions will be asked about character knowledge and interactions, I shall try to answer those as they come up as a number of things are not exactly integral to the overall story being written and so can be answered without any real spoilers. A number of changes are going to be happening to both Konoha and a couple of other Hidden Villages, some of the changes will be in response to events (mostly out of Konoha) others will be... creative decisions that I made.

That being said, this is a "new village" story and as such is in need of OCs (both clans and individuals) if you would like to pitch an idea of your own to be included later on in some way please go to my profile and look over the info I will mostly need from you. I'll accept ideas through either PM or Review.

There is also a poll up on my profile for a summoning clan for Naruto (please note that it is likely going to be an Uzumaki family summons, as opposed to simply a personal one.

*This character is largely modeled after Dynasty Warrior's Jia Chong in both appearance (though the color scheme has been altered as has the necklace), ability, and attitude (or at least my interpretation of it)

Until next time folks!