; Line Influence;
Chapter 1: Readying
-X-
Summary: Naruto left before the Chuunin Exams to find out more about his clan and its traditions. And from his relatives, he will learn everything they know about the dangerous bloodline 'Line Influence'.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but if I did, Naruto would have a bloodline.
…SET BEFORE THE CHUUNIN EXAMS(Obviously)…
-X-
Sarutobi nodded to the redheaded, golden eyed woman before him. She smirked and said, "You know, I'm only thinking about what's best for my nephew, Sarutobi, and this is definitely it."
"Yes I know. And I must respect your clan's wishes. You may take him out to the land of whirlpool." He told her, handing her a paper that was most-likely a letter to her nephew's sensei, already signed with his special seal, "Be sure to tell him his parents are dead. And that you were only held back from coming by an ancient clan law put in place by honor. And that it was recently abolished."
"Yea, yea, I know ya old fart."
A weary smile spread across her face that reminded him slightly of a woman that had died a little more than twelve years ago in childbirth.
"I'll see ya around, gramps."
She was also one of the few that could get away with that, he sighed, "Goodbye, Soshina."
-X-
Team 7 had been ever-so quietly training…
It was an average morning. One with laughter, and fighting, and page-flipping in a certain, perverted book, while at the same time it was not.
It was coming when Sasuke and Naruto were busy trying to kill each other.
It was coming when Sakura stopped the fight before Naruto had a chance to touch 'her' Sasuke-kun.
Oh, but Kakashi knew.
Kakashi knew she was here when someone called out to him.
"Holy shit, shorty got tall!"
Kakashi twitched, as did Naruto as a redhead walked into the clearing with a smile across her face, staring straight at the copy nin.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kakashi questioned, making his students raise a brow.
"Oooh!" The girl squealed, "And look! He still wears a mask, even after 14 years! Awww… How cute! Still imitating old Whitey?"
Kakashi twitched, "And you're still a banshee?"
"Hmph!" She growled, "Leave it to you to come up with an over-used insult, King of Brood. I'm here on business, Hatake! So I'll just go about it, one-eye! Ya already know it's me, but take this crappy pass, seal thing the old man gave me!" She threw the slip of paper at him, "So, I'll be off with my nephew then, Whitey!"
Naruto blinked as Sasuke asked, "Who's her nephew?"
"Oh!" The redhead yelled, "Glad you asked, prick! My nephew is blondie right behind ya! Awww! Look how cute he is! Ah, yes! Anyways, come along, Naruto-kun! I have to introduce you to an entire clan, train you, and soooo much more! Blah! In a couple a years you'll be ready to be the Uzumaki head!"
Naruto was imitating a fish, Sakura's jaw had hit the floor, and Sasuke was as stoic as this situation called for, which happened to be not at all.
"Um… Kashi-kun….. Do you think I killed them?"
"No. Naruto's like a cockroach to kill, Sakura would be too worried about her nails, and Sasuke's too obsessed with revenge."
"Oh." She said before jumping back to life, "A cockroach, huh!? He'll fit right in, yup, he will! If what you say is right, shorty, then he'll be at the tip top within hours! Geniuses those blondes are! Geniuses!"
Naruto blushed slightly before Sakura spoke, "You mean idiot, right?"
The redhead blinked, "No."
Sasuke then asked her one simple question, "Who are you?"
"Oh. I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me. Well, I'm Soshina Uzumaki, Naru-chan's aunt." She shouted, Naruto blushing slightly again, "Now, all I have to do is get you to Shinzo to take off that bloody seal of yours, boy. IQ Seals are a pain!"
"IQ Seals?" The three students asked.
"Oh yea. Completely automatic in the NamiKaze clan. I mean, the clan my sister married into is the only one known that is born with seals already in place." Soshina told them, "It's completely crazy, ne? It's not supposed to be deactivated into they graduate from the academy. I would've came sooner and gotten Shinzo to take the damn thing off, but this stupid ancient clan law thing stopped me from coming down here. A law about 'keeping the child in their original home' and 'not interfering'. Since your dad was from Konoha, wait… Wasn't blondie originally from Suna, shortie?"
"Hm? Sensei? Oh, yes. He can't remember the village because he came here right after he was born."
"So yea," Soshina muttered, "You're from two clans, blondie. One is the NamiKaze, a clan known to be geniuses that are almost as smart as the Nara's and they originated from Suna, so they have the Wind element running strong in their blood. The other clan, Uzumaki, is a water-based clan, originated and currently residing in Whirlpool. Ya got all that?"
Naruto dumbly nodded, "Uhhh… Who were my parents?"
"Oh, well your mom was Kushina, my sister, and she died in childbirth with you after sustaining an injury via Kyuubi. Oh and your father was Minato NamiKaze, he hypothetically committed suicide because he sacrificed himself. He's formally known as the Yondaime or Yellow Flash."
A thud signaled Naruto was no longer listening.
-X-
Kakashi was currently tending to two unconscious teens, Sakura and Sasuke.
"She shouldn't have said that when these two were there."
-X-
Naruto blinked his open and blinked, looking around, before remembering what had happened.
Then a voice.
"So, you finally woke up, huh?"
Soshina, again.
He looked at her and she smiled from her spot in the doorframe. Soshina then began speaking again, "They all know you know. All of your clansmen. From ages 3 and up… They all know about the Kyuubi, but when we heard that they had finally put a stop to the law and the old man would let us come and get you, they all cheered."
"They… cheered?"
"Yea. Every single one of them." Soshina explained, "You know, my mother birthed four children. Four. Only three of them are still alive today and no one blames you that she's gone either. There was three sisters and one son. Me, Kushina, Shinzo, and Shina. I don't have any children, or a husband, but… I have my nieces and my nephews. See. It's been clan tradition, as cruel as it may seem, that the youngest of a group of siblings, unless they were an only child, would be disallowed from having kids or being in any sort of relationship.
"The Uzumaki's are made up, basically, of a group of blood-related families. There's five different families. Head, Branch, Protection, Faux, and Single."
Naruto blinked, "Branch?"
"It's nothing like the Hyuuga Family's deal. We never talk bad about any of them. They're just a second family besides our own. While our family makes all immediate decisions that have to be made on a whim, the head more then the whole family, the branch works on long, drawn out, pending alliances and that sort of thing.
"The protection family works to protect the entire clan. Most work to guard Whirlpool and the Uzumaki's unable to protect themselves while a few others take themselves on as spies."
"Wow. Sounds dangerous." Naruto muttered, "What about the Faux Family?"
"A family almost completely created of adopted children. They are considered Uzumaki because of a ritual that actual alters the DNA to where one is such. And the Single family is made-up of a long line of only children."
"Wow. That's really weird. We must have a lot of clan members."
"Hmmm.. Not really. Just towards 70 total all five families. There used to be towards 500, but… the Iwa war nearly wiped everyone out, and then the Kyuubi came…. Our current head, my father, dropped the alliance with Leaf after that. The only reason we even allied with them was because of Minato and Kushina, but… Obviously, when they died, that all went to hell."
"Oh." Naruto muttered, "So, are you a bloodline clan?"
"No, but we do have tons of clan jutsus. We have the Shadow Possession, Mind Transfer, all that good stuff. We've been working on this jutsu stealing stuff for so long we've actually gotten the Hyuuga's Rotation to work for us." Soshina explained, but then stopped herself, "But you have a bloodline."
"Excuse me?"
"You have a bloodline."
"I DO?!"
"Uh… Yes."
"What is it!?" Naruto asked, eager to learn.
"Well…. It's called Line Influence… And…"
-X-
A/N: Yes. It sucks. I know. But that's too bad.
KageHana