Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I don't even own any fish cakes. Frowny-face.

Summary: A young Naruto finds the Uzumaki Clan Temple of Masks and is introduced to his clan's history by the chakra imprint of his ancestor, Mito Uzumaki. There he will learn the secret to the kinjutsu that led to the destruction of Uzushiogakure. (Fuuinjutsu!Naruto)

TSUKUMOGAMI: THE LIVING SEALS

Chapter 1

-=oOo=-

Off the top of his blonde head, he could imagine a hundred better ways to start off his new career than sitting in the academy hallway. Death or dismemberment would certainly be worse, but this was the third time this week and he was starting to have trouble following what they were talking about in class.

Daikoku-sensei was upset with him again for interrupting class, but this time he was honestly just asking a question! They must have talked about this catchra stuff yesterday when he was out here. Naruto looked over his shoulder along the wall and saw the doodles he'd made on the wall yesterday. It was SO BORING out here… That catchra stuff DID sound kinda interesting. Maybe he could just listen in at the door!

Naruto popped up to his feet and tip-toed his way to the classroom's sliding door. He definitely heard something, but it was hard to make out some of the words he hadn't heard before.

"Here is a chart showing an example of a chakra circulatory system. Neji-san, I believe your clan training covers this material extensively. Please come to the front of the class and identify the major components."

"Yes, sensei."

Naruto hadn't had a chance to make friends with his peers yet. Some of them were annoyed that he'd been let into the academy a year early, but most of them just pretended he didn't exist. Daikoku-sensei did that too most of the time, except when Naruto caused trouble. He listened as Neji used a bunch of confusing words to describe whatever he was pointing at. Maybe if he could see it, it would make more sense.

Nodding smartly to himself, Naruto's hand crept forward to the door and pressed lightly to the side. The door was old, but it slid easily enough, giving him a crack through which he could see his creepy-eyed peer pointing to a chart of a human body covered with squiggly lines. Nope, still doesn't make sense.

A couple footsteps were all the warning he got as the door shot open fully and Naruto fell forward onto his face.

"What did I say about causing a disruption, Naruto?" Daikoku-sensei didn't really want an answer to some of the questions he asked, Naruto had learned. "Go home for the day and try again tomorrow." With that the door closed with a *CLACK*.

Naruto stared for a moment. What did he do wrong this time? Huffing and sticking his hands in his pocket he started marching towards the exit, stomping his feet as he went.

-=oOo=-

His new apartment was pretty awesome. He had so much more space there than in his room at the orphanage. A definite improvement. On the down side, even the orphanage caretakers were better company than no one, and that was what he had to look forward to if he went home.

Instead, Naruto decided his feet were in charge. Konohagakure was a beautiful village. The people were bright and friendly to each other. Not him, but each other, so it was still pretty to look at when you were walking. Even at the age of seven, Naruto was well aware that people didn't like being around him. The folks at the orphanage gave him food, blankets, anything he really needed, but they never touched him, and they would never let him touch them. He learned that lesson quickly.

Even now, as he walked down the middle of the road bordered by two story buildings, people would look up from what they were doing and shuffle off to the side to let him pass. Some glared at him too. Those were the looks that made him angry. One man even shouted at him once just for walking down the street, but then he disappeared into the crowd before Naruto figured out what was happening.

This wasn't making him feel better. His feet eventually led him to the village wall. He wondered what was on the other side. He'd seen the woods visible from any of the gates, but never gone in. Part of him was excited by the idea, but… what if there were ghosts out there? He shuddered involuntarily as his feet turned abruptly to travel around the perimeter of the village. It's a good thing they had these walls.

Sometime later, he wasn't sure how long, a drop of wet splattered on his cheek. He brought a hand up to wipe it away, but he felt splashes on his fingers and then his arm as well. Dark clouds had swooped in while he was getting himself lost and threatened to make his day worse. Where the hell was his apartment from here? Picking up his pace, Naruto wandered around, looking for a familiar landmark. Maybe if he got up high, he could see the Hokage monument… but where was his apartment from there?

Grumbling to himself, the rain had steadily increased until fat droplets seemed to be hitting and soaking straight through his white t-shirt. Shelter. He could wait out the rain, but where?

The neighborhood looked old. Mostly small houses. A couple buildings with walls of their own. Walking past one of the walls, he looked through a crack in the large wooden doors of the gate and saw a run-down temple. The entryway was half collapsed, so he was sure there wouldn't be anyone there to chase him out. Slipping through the gap, Naruto padded his way across the wide path paved in flat stones. The water droplets splashing on the paving stones would have looked prettier if streams of water weren't running down his bangs into his eyes.

"Hello?" No answer. Naruto knew enough to be careful around the old buildings like this, so he tested the boards in front of him, but the place was apparently still fairly sturdy.

As Naruto crept through the front doors, a brazier on the wall sprung to life, casting firelight across the chamber. The floor was covered with dust, but didn't look as run-down as the outside. Not that Naruto noticed as he clutched the fabric of his shirt over his heart in a tight fist and tried to get his breathing under control. The whole thing was seeming more and more… ghostly... as time went by. And wasn't this an abandoned temple? Naruto strongly considered going out into the rain again, but nothing else had happened since the brazier thing lit itself on fire. Maybe it was ninja magic? He'd seen some crazy things in the village and in Jiji's office sometimes. Yeah, that sounds good. Just ninja magic. Moving on.

As sound an argument as that was, Naruto would admit it had more to do with the wall of amazing masks on the far side of the hall. There were dozens of them. He rushed over in excitement to get a better look. Each wooden mask shaped really cool. Not like the boring ANBU masks he'd seen. This one had a scary smile with fangs and horns coming out its forehead. Naruto reached out to pull it off the wall, but when his fingers touched it, a shot of fear went through him. Suddenly, the ghost conclusion seemed more likely and he took a couple steps back.

He looked over his shoulders to see if anything had moved and was comforted that the front door still hung on its hinges.

Turning back to the masks, a shock of red caught his eye. Maybe it was best to leave the more demonic-looking mask alone for now. This one seemed out of place amongst the scary ones. Set off to the side as if it wasn't related to the others. Not that it was friendly looking. Instead, it looked like noble woman with stubby horns and red hair the color of a tomato. Her expression was cold, but he couldn't help but feel drawn to it.

Naruto nervously reached out again to touch this mask. As his finger came in contact with the wood, a warm feeling came over him. Not overwhelming like the fear had been. For lack of a better way to describing it, this felt like a good mask. Almost by instinct Naruto carefully lifted the mask off of its peg and set it over his own face. Everything went white.

...

Naruto blinked several times expecting his eyes to hurt from the bright flash of light, but he felt fine. He was still inside the temple and nothing looked much more disturbed than when he got here. The doors still hung limply on their remaining hinges, the brazier still burned, the lady with the red hair...

"Eek!" Naruto leapt back from the semi-transparent phantom that stared at him quietly. That she stood between him and the exit only made things worse. "A-are y-you a… ghost?"

The woman in the soft white kimono tipped her head to the side thoughtfully before responding, causing her paper tag earrings to dangle. "I suppose I am. It has clearly been some time since I was made." At this she turned about and took in the decrepit old building.

Naruto took that opportunity to shift ever so slightly to the side and towards the door, but he'd barely made it a third of the way before she cleared her throat and he looked back to see her staring once again.

"And who are you?" The tone was curious, but there was an edge to it that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

"Uh… Naruto Uzumaki." Stall for time. Stall for time. One more inch towards the door.

"Uzumaki? Odd. From your mother or your father?" The gaze seemed to intensify if nothing else.

This isn't where he imagined this conversation leading. "I… don't know? I never knew my parents." Two more inches. This might actually work!

With his eyes glued to the woman's face in the hopes of concealing the intent of his shuffling feet he couldn't help but see a pained expression cross her face. She moved toward him soundlessly and brought her face to within inches of his own, freezing him in place. She moved her head this way and that, inspecting his face from every angle before standing upright again and giving him a sharp nod. "Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki, my successor."

Ghost or not, thoughts of fleeing had entirely left his mind. "W-what? How do you know?"

"You may not have the Uzumaki family hair, but I've observed that it doesn't carry over every time an Uzumaki bears children with a mate outside of the clan. My own granddaughter is such an example. Perhaps it's something about blonde fathers." The woman turned and walked away a few steps, seemingly caught up in her own thoughts again.

"Who are you?" Naruto voice felt smaller than he wanted, but that wouldn't stop him from getting answers this time! Dattebayo!

The woman seemed surprised. "Oh my, I'm afraid it has been some time since I haven't been recognized by sight. My apologies. I am Mito Uzumaki. The first lady of Konohagakure, jinchuuriki to the Nine-Tailed Fox, and seal master of the Uzumaki Clan." She inclined her head politely toward him, but he couldn't have noticed with the questions whizzing around his mind. Seeing this, she gestured towards a low table off to the side of the room and walked over to sit on the far side.

Naruto followed slowly, but when he sat down on the cushion a cloud of dust exploded and sent him into a coughing fit. When it subsided, the woman giggled lightly at the pouty look on the boy's face. "Alright, Naruto Uzumaki. Ask your questions and I will try to answer them as best as I can."

He shifted and bit as if the cushion wasn't sitting right, though he barely paid it any attention. "Did… did you know my mom?"

Mito nodded at him. "Yes, Kushina Uzumaki was a splendid girl. Cheerful, excitable, a bit impulsive." She smiled down at the boy as his own grin took over his entire face. "Oh, and she had a tremendous temper. Also something that, I'm afraid, runs in the family. She was also shaping up to be a talented kunoichi, with an excellent grasp of our bloodline. Perhaps some of that rubbed off?"

Whatever she expected to hear in response, she was disappointed. "Um… what's a bloodline?"

"Well, let's see. How much do you know about ninjutsu?"

"Is that ninja magic?"

She stared for a moment, resisting the urge to rub the bridge of her nose. "In a sense, but we'll get into that in a moment. Are you attending the shinobi academy?"

"Yep! I've been there for… almost two months, I think. I was there this morning, but I'm taking the rest of the day off." His nervous laughter didn't hide much from a kunoichi of her experience.

"So are you skipping class, or were you asked to leave?" Mito watched the boy and saw him briefly crawl into himself before he smiled brightly.

"I'm just too awesome, so Daikoku-sensei said I could go." The boy's smile was simply too big to be genuine, and his rubbing the back of his neck seemed a rather obvious tell.

"Is this the first time your sensei has allowed you to take the rest of the day off?"

"Uh… no. A few times. I just don't need as much help as the other kids."

"Yes. That must be nice. I wonder if I might ask a favor, Naruto-chan." Mito eased herself off the floor to a standing position, causing Naruto to quickly follow suit.

"Sure, what do you need?"

Mito smiled at the boy in return. "I'd like you to take my mask," she gestured to the wooden mask still clutched in his hand, "to the Hokage, and tell him that I'd like to speak to him. Can you do that?"

"Sure thing, youma-baachan! You can count on me! Dattebayo!"

That brought a smile to her face, and she nodded gently. "I believe the rain has stopped, so you should be on your way. Will you promise to visit again?"

"Absolutely! See ya later!" Naruto waved happily and slipped between the hanging doors to the slick paving stones outside. Maybe ghosts weren't so scary after all.

-=oOo=-

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage, leader of Konohagakure, and God of Shinobi stared blankly at a reminder of the only woman who, even in as Hokage, could make him feel like a child. Naruto had just dropped the wooden mask off, and he immediately knew what it meant. He tapped his pipe against the desk in front of him and watched the sparks float up from the bowl.

He wasn't upset with the boy for finding what must be considered his inheritance. But why did it have to be her? Mito Uzumaki was the rival of Tobirama Senju in more ways than one. They were seal masters from competing schools, they were forced to share the affections of a man who was husband and brother, and they did not agree on how a hidden village should be run. Nothing like the amicable rivalry of Kakashi and Gai.

Hiruzen had been one of the Tobirama's students, and so he'd been dragged into those fights more often than not. After his sensei's passing and his own succession to the Hokage's hat, the long-lived woman had found new reasons to object, though perhaps her heart wasn't quite in it. After the destruction of her home village, she had left public life entirely.

He held the mask up in front of himself again and wondered if this might be a good opportunity to say goodbye. Her mark was all over the village, and it was a lingering regret that she had passed on so quietly. Those who knew her best long since gone before her. He made a gesture with his left hand and his ANBU guards quickly left the room to take up stations at the entry points.

Turning the mask around to see the back, he lightly touched the wood to his face and felt the telltale pulse of his chakra draining to power the mask's jutsu. When he brought it back down, there she was. A bit younger than he last remembered her, but it was her chakra imprint, who was he to judge?

"Uzumaki-san."

She rolled her eyes in response. "Please, Hiru-chan. I think we can dispense with the formalities."

Hiruzen grumbled under his breath, disguised poorly behind fiddling with his pipe again. "So what would you like to talk about?"

Mito rolled her eyes and walked silently around the side of the desk to look out the window. "The village has gone through many changes in my absence. I will not demand that you bring me up to speed, as the village is no longer a responsibility we share. I hope that will help me find a few answers, however."

"You wish to know what happened to Kushina?" Mito simply nodded. Hiruzen took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. "Kushina married Minato Namikaze in secret shortly after he was named the Yondaime Hokage. His role in the Third Shinobi War made him many powerful enemies, and he was reluctant to share them. Kushina objected, as you might imagine," this brought a small smile to Mito's lips, "but it was one of only a few things that he denied her.

"It didn't matter in the end. Kushina was pregnant. As you know, a female jinchuuriki giving birth is a dangerous time. The chakra network of mother and child separating can leave gaps through which the Biju can claw their way through." Hiruzen paused uncomfortably. "Something happened during the birth, we're still not sure what. My wife, Biwako, was killed, and the Kyuubi was released to wreak havoc on the village.

"There was an apparent third party, but the only people who might know who that was died that night. Minato and Kushina managed to re-seal the Kyuubi into their son. In the brief time I had to discuss options with them, I suggested other names, but there was no time to take risks with unproven bloodlines. Only Uzumaki have ever been known to successfully contain the beast, and there was one of an appropriate age to do so."

Mito furrowed her brow. "How did the Namikaze brat seal the Kyuubi?"

Hiruzen somewhat nervously replied, "Without Hashirama's Wood Release, he needed to weaken the beast. He used the Shiki Fuin to seal half of its chakra in the Mask of the Shinigami and sealed the remaining unbalanced chakra into his son, Naruto."

Mito shook her head in agitation. "So much like Tobirama. Strong Hokage, bad father."

When it looked like Hiruzen was about to respond to that, she waved him off. "I'm sorry, old habit. While I'm interested to know that my Shinigami mask was used by someone who I did not teach my sealing techniques, I will assume Kushina taught him, as was her right after my death. I asked Naruto-chan to bring me here today to see to the future. I understand he is not fitting in well at the academy?"

"That… is fair to say. I allowed him to start the chakra training part of the academy a year early in order to start him on the Orphan Shinobi Fund so I could justify taking him out of the orphanage. He may -"

"Why not support him on the savings of his parents, or my own?" Mito interrupted. "I can't imagine Minato would be so poor at managing money that he could be Hokage and near bankrupt at the same time."

"Naruto's heritage and his burden are each considered S-class secrets. Giving him access to the funds of either parent would leave a paper trail linking the boy either to a war hero with many enemies or the previous jinchuuriki."

"Neither secret seems especially safe. The boy is the spitting image of his father at the age I knew him, and you've given him his mother's clan name."

"I agree that the boy's unintentional insistence on looking like his father is becoming problematic, but the clan name has turned out to be less of an issue. While an important part of the village's legacy, those who didn't live through the Second Shinobi War do not remember the friendship we had with Uzushiogakure. To most, it is just a name. To those that remember, his hair lends credence to the suggestion that it was given to him to honor our fallen comrades. Some know the truth, but they are all tightly connected to the village."

Mito sighed and paced, her steps still entirely silent. "Very well, but that makes my request less risky than I had feared. I wish to train the boy in his birthright. In Uzumaki Fuinjutsu."

"Isn't seven a bit early for such training? He's only just learning what chakra and ninjutsu are." Hiruzen wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of the hyperactive boy learning such dangerous techniques with no real parental guidance to reign him in.

"In Uzushiogakure, we taught our children seals as soon as they finished learning their letters and numbers. Perhaps his education will proceed at a faster pace if he shows the talent, but if he really is the last Uzumaki, then I'm afraid that I must insist." She stopped her pacing to turn to face the Hokage again. "Besides, though I may not be technically alive to invoke them, this village has strict rules about clan matters such as these, doesn't it?"

Hiruzen frowned, but nodded firmly. "It does. Though I will allow it on the condition that you restrict such training to Uzumaki clan property. In this case, the Temple grounds." When she nodded in response, he took out a parchment and brush from a drawer in his desk. "Considering your… present limitations, what will you need to begin?"

-=oOo=-

Naruto cursed at himself for not paying closer attention when he went home yesterday. He'd just spent the last hour wandering around looking for the temple he was walking into now.

"Hello? Youma-baachan?" Like before, the brazier lit on its own once he passed through the doorway. So cool.

The hall was empty, however. Well, the demon masks were still there, but no ghost lady. He spent some time wandering around, poking at the masks. Some of them made him uncomfortable, but most seemed to be normal wood, even if they still looked cool. He stayed away from that first one. Definitely the scariest.

Did she forget? Did she leave because he was late? Wait, she's a ghost. Where would she go?

Growing bored, he meandered over to the low table and sat on the cushion. The dust cloud wasn't a problem this time.

"Hey, the mask is back!" Sure enough, the mask that he'd given to the Hokage was sitting on the table. Did the Hokage not want it? When he picked it up, the warm feeling came back. It really was the best mask of the lot. Not seeing anyone over his shoulder, he shrugged and put the mask over his face again. Another flash of white, though not so overwhelming this time. When he lowered the mask, Mito sat across from him at the table.

"Welcome back, Naruto-chan." Her smile was friendly, but quickly grew stern and a little scary. "You're quite late."

Naruto gulped. "Um, this place isn't that easy to find. And then I got here and you weren't here, so I just looked around." To the woman, he appeared an odd mixture of excited and embarrassed. "Besides, you're a ghost, aren't you? Why would you care?"

"Well," she responded with a bit of an edge, "if you plan to be a ninja, you will have to learn how to be on time. Plan ahead. Take precautions. I will expect you on time next time."

"Next time?"

Even though she was partly see-through, he still caught the glimmer in her eye. "When we continue your lessons." Naruto stared back blankly. "I'm going to teach you your family's art of fuuinjutsu, Naruto."

Excitement immediately boiled to the surface. "Yatta! I'm gonna be the strongest ninja in the world, and then I'll be Hokage. Dattebayo!"

"Ugh, this is so boring! I thought we were gonna learn some kick-ass ninja magic…" While complaining, Naruto continued the careful brush strokes as he copied every kanji and symbol from one scroll to the other.

"Well, if you keep working on your calligraphy drills, I will tell you something about what our family techniques can do. After all, our techniques were considered so dangerous, that both Kumo and Kirigakure allied for the sole purpose of destroying our small village. Is that what you want to learn?"

Naruto nodded fiercely.

"Then keep writing, and I'll tell you more about it." Mito finished evenly. The boy quickly hunched over the parchment and started writing vigorously. Unintelligibly, but she'd work on that later.

"The Uzumaki Clan, like many clans, had their secret techniques. Some for use in battle, others for espionage, or sabotage. We were one of the fortunate clans to possess a bloodline ability as well, passed down through the generations. However, our chakra chains were not the reason we were feared. No, it was our sealing techniques that made us feared. Are you familiar with sealing, Naruto-kun?"

"Um… is that like the things you do with your hands?" Naruto fumbled through some imitation of handseals before going back to his work.

"No, though there is a relationship between seals and handseals. They are both methods of shaping chakra to do what we want. With the correct focus and handseal configuration, a powerful ninja can blow a hole in a mountain. But written seals are more versatile. With written seals, you can make the mountain vanish as if it was never there."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. "So how does this help me learn how to make mountains disappear?"

Mito was sorely tempted to show the boy his own seal as an example, but that would prove far too much of a distraction. That will come later. "In this form, I am unable to create actual seals of my own, but I'm sure you've seen them before, even if you didn't know what they were. Have you ever seen someone put something on a scroll and make it disappear? Or make something appear on a scroll by wiping a little blood on it?"

The boy nodded as he thought, his brush suspended. "I saw a ninja pull something out of a scroll in Jiji's office before."

"Did you see what was written on the scroll?"

"It looked like a bunch of squiggles." Naruto furrowed his brow trying to remember the details.

Mito only smiled. "I can imagine. However, those squiggles were very carefully drawn seals, allowing the user to push an object into a pocket of folded space, or remove that object from that space." The blank look on Naruto's face spoke volumes. "In other words, you could hide a bowl of soup in a piece of paper, and remove it when you wanted to eat."

"Like ramen!?" The blonde was nearly on his feet now.

Well, at least one part of the Uzumaki bloodline bred true in him. "Yes, like ramen. Would you like to learn how to do that?" Vigorous nodding. "Then you'll first need to master this drill. Do you think you can do that?"

"You can count on it! Dattebayo!"

-=oOo=-

Author's Notes:

I know, lots and lots of dialogue exposition. Couldn't be helped without going WAY out of the way story-wise. I promise we'll get to timeskips, development, lore, and then team assignment and missions. I don't plan on spending much time in Naruto's childhood.

Also, yes, I know I didn't really go into what Tsukumogami are. I intended to, but Naruto just doesn't know enough about the subject to justify trying to teach him. I promise, next chapter will involve a time skip to the point where he is introduced to what they are, and a brief list of Tsukumogami that are currently at large in the ninja world, such as Samehada. In fact, Samehada was one of the inspirations for this story. If anything in the Naruto-verse was a "living sealed object", that sword would certainly be it.

I don't plan on making extensive use of Japanese, as I don't speak it, but I prefer to keep the flavor of the manga so some Japanese terms will crop up. Most will be easily found on Narutopedia, but if you don't recognize one and want a translation, just let me know so I can add it to the list.

Japanese translation:

youma = ghost