What's this? Chapter two of our riveting tale already? Well that's mainly because right now I have inspiration for this story. I kinda wanna get what I can done before I lose my drive for it.

Now quite frankly I'm not quite sure where I wanna take this. I'm not sure if Kushina should still be alive and well as the kyuubi's jinchuuriki or if she and Minato are dead and their kid is the jinchuuriki that Naruto will get really protective of for obvious reasons.

Eh I'll figure it out next chapter when they get back to Konoha.

But for now we get a little fight scene that displays the combatants youthful skills!

I'm not sorry.


Naruto's POV

Naruto had never felt so relieved to physically be in his house. That was the last time he ever messed around with seals without someone more proficient in the room. He could hardly begin to describe the weird discomfort of being trapped in a seal. It was as though someone had removed everything about him and left him floating with none of his senses.

So being able to feel his body again was nice. He couldn't see anything though but that might've been because it was night. It had been getting late when he was working on the seal. But he had just been released, likely by his parents, so why were the lights out?

It took Naruto a moment to realize he was sitting on top of something that was definitely not the floor. What gave it away? Maybe the fact it was warm, lumpy and struggling. He saw a form moving in the darkness making what looked like an attack towards him. His training kicked in and he rolled off whatever it was he had landed on and slid himself into a fighting stance.

As his eyes began to adjust he was able to make out the silhouette of his potential opponent. He also noticed something else moving where he had just been. Oops guess he had landed on someone when he was unsealed. But right now he had a slight larger concern like who were these two and what were they doing in his house? Where were his parents and Shio?

"Who are you and what are you doing in here? This is my house, dattebayo!" He demanded, activating a seal on his right wrist, unsealing a trio of kunai he had stored there.

"What?" The standing figure stepped back in confusion, from the sound of her voice it was probably a girl, "This house has been abandoned for years! How could you live here?" As she spoke her companion started to get to his feet.

Naruto said nothing but narrowed his eyes in confusion. Were they trying to psyche him out or something? Who breaks into someone's house and when questioned uses such a blatant and obvious lie? So instead of talking he chucked two of his kunai at the pair. He was aiming for non-vital areas as he still wanted to know what the heck they were doing here in his bedroom in the middle of the night. Well he assumed it was the middle of the night considering everything was dark save for a shaft of moonlight shining through the window.

The intruding pair both dodged their respective kunai and got into fighting stances of their own. Naruto didn't recognize either of their forms but they were definitely trained fighters instead of just your average thieves in the night.

Without another moment to spare he rushed at the closest figure which just happened to be the one he had been sitting on a few minutes prior. He swung at his opponent's eyes hoping to blind him further. The boy dodged the strike but Naruto just slammed his free hand on the ground and kicked his leg back catching the shadowed figure in the chin with the ball of his foot sending him crashing backwards into the wall of his bedroom. He send swung his legs back allowing him to flip onto his feet in a crouch position.

Naruto felt a twinge of satisfaction but before he could properly enjoy it the third person in the room send a volley of shuriken towards him. He rolled out of the way of the attack allowing them to embed themselves into the floor and wall where he had just been. He threw the last kunai in his hand at the girl before rushing forward pulling back his fist. There was a clang of metal as the girl maneuvered her own kunai knocking his off course and sending it to the floor.

Unfortunately for her Naruto was on top of her the next instant swinging his fist at her stomach in an attempt to knock the wind out of her. Even the best fighter on the planet couldn't fight if they couldn't breath. Before his fist could make contact she tilted her torso back and to the left and brought her arm up to block his punch almost causing Naruto to completely lose his momentum. She then swung her right hand around slashing with a kunai. It almost got him too but he dropped down to the ground and swung his legs around knocking her feet out from under her knocking her the floor.

Before she could pull herself back up Naruto grabbed up the kunai she had knocked away put his foot on her stomach to help hold her down and leaned forward brandishing the kunai both so he could appear more intimidating and so he could get a better look at the home invader.

"I'll ask again! Who the heck are you?" He growled trying his best to sound intimidating. Intimidation had certainly never been his strong suit partially because his height made it hard to appear as such and he didn't enjoy acting that way but he wanted answers and he wanted them now. He saw the girl grit her teeth but before she could do anything else he heard a sound behind him and turned just in time to have the girl's companion strike him in the chest with his palm sending him toppling over and onto the floor.

"I believe it us who will be asking the questions here." The boy told Naruto getting into his fighting stance again as the girl regained her breath and stood back up next to him.

"Fat chance." He childishly stuck his tongue out at the boy and pushed himself back to his feet. That guy sure hit hard, he definitely had some form of training from some shinobi. As his eyes had finished adjusting to the light by now he was able to make out some of the pairs features. They both appeared to be in some sort of sleep wear for some reason. The boy had long black hair and some sort of hitai wrapped around his forehead. Maybe they were shinobi from a rival village? He hadn't thought the war would come to Uzushio especially now it was starting to come to a close. But besides that he could make out that he had very pale eyes, almost as if he were blind. That would certainly give him an advantage in the dark.

"Very well then I shall detain you and then force the answers from you." His opponent said with indifference. "Byakugan." He stated calmly and veins seem to bulge out of his his head. His companion slid out another trio of shuriken.

Naruto's barely had time to think 'oh, sooo not good he has a doujutsu' before the shuriken came hurdling towards him and the boy with the doujutsu charged with an open palmed strike ready. Naruto leaped back and reluctantly activated the seal on his left wrist releasing a kunai with an exploding tag attached. 'I really hope Kaa-san doesn't mind too much given the situation' he thought before hurtling the exploding projectile forward. The doujutsu user ducked under the weapon and the girl slid to the side. But his male opponent seemed to have realized what it was that he had thrown towards them.

"Tenten get down!" He shouted to the girl as Naruto took advantage of their temporary distraction to leap out his open door and into the hallway just as his room exploded behind him.

As he ran down the hallway he could barely keep his bare feet from skidding across the layer of dust that covered the floor. He barely noticed the worn look everything from the walls to the furniture had. What the heck was going on? Who were those two? What had happened to his house?

Barely had these thoughts crossed his mind before a voice shouted "DYNAMIC ENTRANCE!", something slammed into his head, and his vision went black.


Tenten's POV a few moments earlier…

As soon as Neji had shouted his warning Tenten got to the ground and tucked into a ball keeping her head down as the wall behind her exploded and heat seared her back. She felt rubble rain down on her and she tentatively look up and turned around to see a gaping hole where the wall had been moments before.

She shared a glance with Neji who had also gone for the duck and cover approach rather than going after the red headed boy. This had to be one of the strangest nights of their lives. Before she could say anything they heard their Sensei's voice cry out his patented "DYNAMIC ENTRANCE!" and something thump on the floor. They pulled themselves up and rushed to where they heard the noise.

They found Gai standing there in striped pajamas looking down at the boy they had just encountered. "Ah my most youthful students!" Gai said looking up from the boy and towards the pair of them. They noticed Lee standing in similar pajamas standing at attention behind Gai. "Perhaps you could explain who this youth is and what the pair of you are doing awake at this hour when you should resting for our return to Konoha!"

"We were having difficulties sleeping." Neji said without giving Tenten a moment to speak, "We decided to look around the residence and we found a small sealing scroll. When I attempted to activate it this boy appeared. He then accused us of breaking into his home and attacked us."

"Hmm a most interesting development." Gai stated returning his gaze to the boy on the floor. "As unyouthful as it may be it would probably be in our best interests to detain him for the time being at least until we get can get some answers out of him." Gai tilted his head and squinted a bit. "But he does appear to be a member of the Uzumaki clan." Gai added almost as an afterthought.

"How can you tell Gai-sensei?" Lee asked with enthusiasm.

"It is his youthful red locks, Lee! That red hair is perhaps the most defining trait of the Uzumaki clan next to having superb skills in Fuinjutsu." Gai explained to his favored (not that he would admit it aloud) student.

"He did use an explosive tag on us and his weapons seemed to just poof into his hands." Tenten noted as she sat the unconscious boy up and used some ninja wire to tie his hand together behind his back. She pulled up his sleeve a bit and her eyes widened when she saw what looked like a seal tattooed onto the boy's wrist. "He has a seal on his wrist." She checked his other arm and amended her observation, "He has seals on both wrists."

"What a clever tactic." Gai nodded and put a hand on his chin, "it seems that there was no exaggeration in the Uzumaki clan's skill with seals. To put them on their own flesh to make it more convenient requires much determination and skill." Tenten noticed Neji twitch and clench his fist in anger. 'Wonder what he's angry about.' she wondered silently as she looked at her teammate.

She leaned their new captive against the wall and took a proper look at him. Apart from that horrible orange jacket he had on he was also wearing a navy blue shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol on it. He had on a pair of black pants with numerous pockets. He didn't have shoes on which was unsurprising considering he seemed to think he lived here and wouldn't wear shoes around the house. But she notice one final feature which was a hitai wrapped around his forehead hold up his spiky bangs. Instead of the Konoha symbol she was used to seeing on hitai-ate this one had the swirl symbol she had come to relate to this village.

"Yosh!" Gai suddenly cut in freeing her from her thoughts. "It is late and our youthful companion is unconscious. We shall investigate further tomorrow when this lad is awake. Let us all get some rest!" He looked at Neji and Tenten when he said this and the pair of them nodded in agreement. They were feeling a good deal more worn out after their fight with the boy. Yet as they lay down to attempt to get to sleep again with the mystery boy propped up in the corner Tenten couldn't help but wonder what kind of mess they had just stumbled upon.


The next morning, Naruto POV…

Naruto groaned as he sat up. His head felt like it had just been used as a battering ram. Or perhaps had been the victim of battering ram. Maybe both which was quite possible with his luck. He opened his eyes only to immediately start squinting in the unexpected light. Was it morning already? Maybe his parents had heard the bang and dealt with the intruders already. Speaking of which how had he been knocked unconscious again? The last thing he remembered was…

"Yosh! Our mysterious companion is awake!"

That voice. That painfully loud way too enthusiastic voice. Wait why was he talking about himself?

Naruto managed to open his eyes again now that they had adjusted to the light and was finally able to get a good look at the people who broke into his house as well as their companions. Two of them were dressed in some sort of green jumpsuits and had incredibly bushy eyebrows. He didn't remember seeing these two last night but from the sound of the voice it was probably the bigger one that had knocked him out last night. The other two he recognized as his initial opponents last night.

Now that he had a better look at them and they weren't in sleepwear he could see the symbol on their hitai-ate. It looked familiar…

"Mind explaining who you are now." The boy from the previous night didn't so much ask as order him.

"I don't have to tell you anything girly, you're in my house, dattebayo." He glared at him.

The boy looked a bit startled at being called girly while the actual girl giggled at his misfortune. The man in green with the bushy eyebrows coughed getting Naruto's attention. "We apologize young Uzumaki, we believed that this house was abandoned."

"Abandoned? What the heck are you talking about? Where are my parents and Shio?" he glared at him and tried get up only to fall flat on his face. He tilted his head and tried to look behind him and saw that his hands were bound.

"I apologize for our unyouthful treatment of you but we did not wish for you to suddenly attack us for no reason again." The big man explained.

"You broke into my house I think I have a good reason dattebayo." Naruto commented.

"I'm sorry but we really did think it was abandoned." The girl said kindly, "Do you think you could tell us your name?" She asked.

As he looked at the girl trying to come up with a good reason why he shouldn't tell her his name his gaze flickered to her hitai-ate and he realized why the symbol looked familiar. "Konoha…" he said finally, "You're from Konoha!"

The group nodded confirming his suspicions. The girl spoke up, "We're a team from Konoha, I'm Tenten. That's Hyuuga Neji." She pointed at the pale eyed boy. "That's Rock Lee." Sho nodded towards Lee. "And this is our Sensei, Maito Gai."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He introduced himself from the floor. "Well maybe you guys aren't enemies but that still doesn't explain what you're doing in my house! Why the heck did you think it was abandoned?" He asked feeling a bit calmer but still confused.

"Maybe because Uzushio was destroyed almost thirty years ago with the survivors scattered to the wind." Neji said bluntly much to the ire of some of his companions.

"NEJI." Tenten cried, "You can't just drop a bomb like that!"

Naruto stared blankly before laughing. "I should have known, okay Shio you're very funny otouto but the jokes over. I'm not sure how you learned genjutsu but you can stop now and untie me."

When nothing happen and some of the group of Konoha nins just looked at him with something like pity on their faces he started getting frustrated. "I said knock it off! It isn't funny anymore!"

"This is not a joke my young friend." Gai spoke up, "It is the most unyouthful truth. Almost thirty years ago now Uzushio was attacked and destroyed in a three day siege, by the time Konoha's relief arrived it was already too late to save even though the invaders were defeated. It appears that you remained safely hidden inside that seal throughout the attack"

"No." Naruto shook his head, "I don't believe you, this is just some sort of sick joke, AND IT ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" He shouted out the last part hoping that someone anyone would listen and make it stop.

Gai had a regretful look on his face and a placed a hand Naruto's shoulder, "I truly am sorry." He said sounding uncharacteristically serious from what Naruto knew of the man, which wasn't much to be fair. "If you still don't believe perhaps it would be easier to simply show you."

"Show me what?" Naruto asked not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Tenten cut his bonds." Gai directed his student. When she had done so Gai helped Naruto to his feet and led him through his house. Now that it was light Naruto could see the wear and tear of the house and the thick layers of dust were clearer in the morning sunlight. The ceiling and walls had weblike cracks on them and some of the wood from both furniture and the house's infrastructure looked rotten.

When they reached the door Naruto was able to look out at the rest of the clan compound. It was in ruins. Most of the buildings were collapsing or rotting away and those that were not looked as if they hadn't been used in years. Instead of the rest of the village in the background as he was used to seeing when he stepped out of his house he saw only ruins, large multi-story buildings were now huge chunks of rubble.

Naruto fell to his knees as he stared out and the truth hit him. This was no sick prank or a genjutsu, this was real. His parents, brother, uncle and grandfather, all his cousins, his former classmates at the academy, his sensei and teammates. They were all gone. They were all probably dead by now. Kushina had likely grown up alone in Konoha if she was even still alive.

He couldn't stop his tears from falling as Gai put a comforting hand on his back.


That was saddening to write but I needed to get that part out of the way so we can move on.

Now a bit of a character bio for Naruto in this story.

Name: Uzumaki Naruto

Clan: Uzumaki

Appearance: He looks basically like the canon Naruto with the primary difference being the red hair and lack of whisker marks on his cheeks. Apart from that and a slightly different wardrobe he looks like he did at the beginning of Naruto, maybe a bit shorter.

Affinities: Water Affinity, Wind Affinity

Skills: Somewhat advanced in Fuinjutsu, reasonably skilled at both Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, okay at Genjutsu.

Personality: Similar to canon but he is somewhat more educated than his canon counterpart due to actively being part of a clan.

So yeah that's about it there.

But honestly I have no idea whether I should keep Kushina alive or just have Naruto meet her child who will likely be named either Naruko or Menma depending on what gender I decide. Feel free to voice your opinions in the reviews. I like getting feedback.

Anyway until next time! See ya!

~FriTik

R&R