Chapter 3

Naruto moved swiftly through the dark village avoiding the ninja that were patrolling the village. Naruto moved from alley to alley, hiding in the dark and moving to the wall that surrounded the village. Naruto was dressed in black Anbu pants with black ninja saddles and a grey muscle shirt with a red Uzumaki swirl on the back. Naruto really had to thank Weasel at some point for the gifts.

Naruto reached the east side of the village and looked up at the wall separating the village from the forest that surrounded the village. Watching the patrols move across the wall Naruto waited until he was in in the clear to run up the side of a wall using chakra. Reaching the top of the wall jumped to the highest tree bracing his legs with chakra. Landing in the tree Naruto jumped from branch to branch moving away from the village as fast as he could. Naruto after some research and asking the fox knew that the ruins of Uzushiogakure were on an island off the east coast of the land of fire. Meaning that Naruto had to find a port in the land of fire and get someone to bring him to the island or at least close to it.

Naruto continued to run east knowing that his presence would eventually be missed. As the sun began to rise Naruto was starting to feel the strain of running for so long and started to look for a place to set up camp. Finding a massive traveler's pine tree to use as cover Naruto set up a tent small tent and dug a fire pit to use for cooking. Naruto then set about setting a few simple snares to catch some food for later. After that Naruto gathered wood to use to create a fire later.

"Kit, you won't be able to rest here very long. You should stay here until night fall and then head out again. This way you will be able to move undetected."

"I know fox, I just need to start stocking up on supplies, thankfully weasel gave me some storage scrolls in that gift of his. This allows me to store things like extra wood and food with ease."

"Alright then, I suggest you rest you'll need your energy to run through the night again."

"Okay, you got it."

XXX

Naruto had been out of the village for a week, and during this time had managed to survive and avoid detection. To through off pursuers Naruto had decided to head southeast for a day before heading directly east again. Naruto had avoided main roads so far and was planning to travel the coastline to find a port town after he managed to get to the ocean. During this time Naruto had managed to catch and gather quite a stock, which slowed his movement a bit but allowed his to eat properly for the first time since he could remember. Fresh meat, fruit and greens helped to give him a balanced diet and kept him health in the forest as he moved.

Naruto knew he must be getting close to the coast as the forest was starting to thin and the air was becoming saltier. It wasn't long until Naruto broke through the trees and landed on the ground. Stretched out before him was nothing but dark blue sea, clouds lazily moving across the sky and sand with waves rolling onto the beach. The gentle breeze that seemed to be constantly there was nice and the soothing sound of the waves mesmerized Naruto. The wind and water called to him for some reason. Snapping out of his revelry Naruto looked up and down the coast looking for any signs of human presence, not finding any Naruto decided to head north along the coast as the island that Uzushiogakure was northeast off the coast of the land of Fire.

XXX

Naruto woke up feeling groggy and battered. As him memory started to come back to him he looked around and noticed the debris of the ship he had been on. Feeling a deep sense of sadness pass over him Naruto looked around for other people while thinking about how he got to this point.

Naruto found a major fishing village and even managed to talk his way onto a vessel heading to the land of Lightning. After a quick talk and a lot of pleading with the captain, Naruto convinced him to take a different route that passed closer the former land of whirling tides. That is when things started going very wrong. The weather seemed to be out to get them with every day out of port looking worse than the last. It finally came to a head in a massive storm a few days into the voyage as they neared the island that contained the remnants of Uzushiogakure. The waves crashed over the boat and battered the sides. The crew held it together well but it seemed Mother Nature had it out for them as a massive wave suddenly appeared ad swept the boat up into the air before smashing it back down into the water. The haul gave way after that and the boat quickly started to take on water. Everyone started to evacuate the vessel using small boats but before even a quarter of the people had gotten off another massive wave smashed into the ship breaking it apart. People appeared everywhere in the water around Naruto and started to cling to debris, but many were swallowed by the sea or were pushed away from Naruto by the tides before too long. Naruto managed to cling to what used to be the mast of the ship and floated in the rough ocean for what felt like hours. It was during that time that Naruto spotted a large island. Swimming hard Naruto moved towards the island and was eventually rewarded for his efforts by being flung onto the beach by the massive waves. Naruto then dragged himself further up the beach before promptly passing out.

Naruto refocused and continued to search for anyone. He then searched the debris for anything useful before deciding to head into the forest. It was a hard trek through the topical jungle but Naruto needed to know if anyone was on this island. It took a couple hours but Naruto managed to get to high ground and looked out over the island. While he couldn't see all of it he did see a clear area with what appeared to be a lot of stone structure.

"Kit that is it, that is the ruins of your ancestors' village."

"Good to know now I just have to get there."

XXX

Naruto walked through the ruins of the once great whirlpool village with a mixture of wonder, awe and a deep sadness. This place was the ancestral home of his clan and it saddened him to see it crumbling away and fading from history itself. Most of the village seemed to be made of carved stone and wood. There was a massive river that split the village in two that had many bridges that crossed it. Naruto continued walking the streets and searched any building that was still standing looking for information, relics or anything else that pertained to the village or to his clan. Most of the buildings seemed to have been raided for anything of value but during his search he found a few rusty kunai and katana that could be restored. Naruto also found fragments of pottery and other house hold items. Beyond that everything seemed to have been taken or destroyed. This didn't get Naruto's hopes up but he was determined to find something.

Eventually Naruto started to move into an area where the clan compounds seemed to have once been, He searched these compounds with a fine toothed comb looking for hidden safes or secret passage ways that could lead to a secret room. Unfortunately while he did find such rooms that had already been sacked.

"Keep looking kit, if nothing else the Uzumaki would not have been crushed so easily to have everything they had ever built and worked towards stolen or destroyed. They would have made damned sure that a descendant could come back to reclaim their heritage and restore the clan. Although you might want to look for seals or strange markings while you search these ruins. Your clan did have a great number of seal masters thus it would make sense that they would hide their valuables behind seals."

"Thanks Kyuubi, I will keep looking."

The last compound Naruto came to was by far the largest of them all. The entire area looked like a complete war zone. A faded Uzumaki crest on the compound wall showed this to be the Uzumaki compound and craters littering the area, suggesting that this was a place where a major part of the conflict happened. Walking into the compound and around several of these craters, Naruto moved around the large building that made up the clan compound. Many of the walls had holes in them and there were holes in the roof but the bulk of the structure was intact. Naruto looked through until he came to a rather large office with a desk that had a giant Uzumaki swirl carved into the front of the desk. Walking behind the desk Naruto spotted a section of flooring that was not level with the rest of the room. Lifting the section with surprising ease Naruto found a trap door. Opening the door Naruto spotted a ladder that descended into the dark. Deciding to check it out Naruto eased himself down until his feet hit the ladder and started to climb down. It took a minute but Naruto finally reached the bottom of the ladder. Not being able to see Naruto removed a flare from his pack and lit it to light up the room. Seeing unused torches on the wall Naruto used the flare to light them before examining the room further. It was a surprising small really only able to hold a few people before it would be cramped. The entirety of one wall contained a massive seal. The seal at its center held a swirl characteristic of Uzumaki fuinjutsu.

Naruto approached the wall and thought to his prisoner, "Okay now what, I am not trained in sealing and I have no idea what this seal it for."

"Well from what I am seeing this is an extremely complex blood seal with the ability to identify ancestry. It has a few other features but the short of it is you need to put blood onto the seal and channel chakra into the seal."

"Thanks fuzz-ball."

"Stop calling me that human"

"When you are less hostile I will consider it."

The connection was cut shortly after which was fine with Naruto, while he was thankful for the help he was still wary of the chakra construct. Shrugging Naruto bit his thumb spread the blood on the seal and began to channel chakra into the seal. A couple of seconds later the seal began to glow a soft blue before the symbols began to move. Naruto stepped back as the wall that had impeded him before slowly started to sink into the floor. Once the path was no longer blocked Naruto continued forward into what seemed like a large room filled with shelves. Once again finding torches, Naruto lit them and wondered around, the room was basically a massive library filled with scrolls. There were a fee doors leading to other rooms but Naruto decided to ignore those for now. Walking to the center of the room, Naruto found a giant scroll with a sealed letter on top the wax seal had the Uzumaki swirl pressed into it showing it was important. Naruto picked up the letter and popped the seal and unfolded the paper. Naruto examined the paper carefully before reading the letter.

Dear Uzumaki Survivor,

If you are reading this then you are among one of the few Uzumaki left in the world. If you are reading this then the clan and village is gone. It falls to you as a member of and survivor of the Uzumaki clan to revive our family and protect them with all your power. In this pursuit this bunker was constructed and stocked with all the knowledge we could gather. Every jutsu and general piece of knowledge we have ever recorded or collect is within this bunker and yours to use as you see fit. All I ask is that you use them to remind the world that Uzumaki clan is not gone and to restore our family to prosperity once more.

As I don't know how long it has been since the fall of Uzushiogakure I will give you as much information as I am able too. The Uzumaki clan as whole are masters of sealing and seals. This has led to a fearsome reputation in the elemental nations for as long as the clan has existed. This reputation only grew when the clan established the village hidden in the whirl tides. The consolidation of power and several clans pledging allegiance to the village and the Uzumaki clan, caused many to fear our growing power. This eventually came to a head sometime after the end of the great shinobi conflict. It was a combined force of Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure that attacked Uzushiogakure. It happened in the dead of night and without warning. The ninja in the village managed to hold the wall for several hours but the siege was overwhelming and relentless. The ninja of this village fought valiantly but eventually the defense began to crumble and the village was over run. During this time we did manage to send word to our ally Konohagakure, but it is doubtful if they will be able to reach us in time to help. This is where I have to end this brief history lesson as I must return to the side of our brethren in battle.

The hope of the Uzumaki clan rests with you now and I wish you well in the future.

Signed,

Head of the Uzumaki Clan

Naruto folded the letter mindless with questions running through his mind. Naruto looked around and plans started to form in his mind.

"Kit, with this much information it will take you the rest of your life to read it all. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a technique to help learn it all but I think you need to focus on expanding your shinobi knowledge and setting up a decent camp near or in this bunker."

"I know, I know, let me explore the rest or this place and I will start on the camp."

It didn't take long for Naruto to explore the rest of the rooms and the contents were a little startling the first room was a fully stocked armory, the second contained a furnished bedroom with an attached bathroom, and the third contained a decent sized training room. Each room upon close inspection was riddled with seals. Naruto could guess at the purpose for some of them but others alluded him. It also amazed him that the bathroom was completely operational.

Naruto decided to put off figuring out what everything did and get something in his stomach. Climbing out of the bunker was a little annoying but he would get used to it. Naruto got outside and noticed it was starting to get dark. Quickly heading into the forest Naruto grabbed some fruit off some trees and then headed back to the bunker. Eating as he walked Naruto took in the sunset and then headed back inside.

XXX

It has been a month and Naruto set up a decent living on this island. He had managed to set up snares on the island to catch some small game. Fruit on the island was also plentiful meaning food was not really an issue. Naruto had also managed to figure out what all the seals did in the bunker. It was amazing what seals could do when done properly. Naruto during this time had started to look through the Uzumaki archives and found a guide for Uzushiogakure academy as well as books that were in the curriculum. The old curriculm consisted of math, science, history, literature, chakra studies, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, fuinjutsu and simple weapons. Naruto spent his free time during the night reading through the general knowledge while dedicating his days to training. The books were easy enough to comprehend with the Kyuubi being a reference whenever something was beyond his grasp.

The academy curriculum for training started by having students focus mostly in taijutsu and chakra control while learning the general knowledge necessary to be a well-rounded ninja. This was mostly for students to increase and hone their chakra reserves, as a book explained the physical exertion combined with the mental workout and chakra manipulation helped the body to create more physical and mental energy that eventually combined to create chakra.

The first exercise give to students would have been the leaf floating exercise. While it sounded simple it was actually quite difficult to get right. Not only did the person doing the exercise have to expel enough chakra from their palms to levitate the leaf perfectly, but to hold the leaf above the palm a ring of chakra needed to be created to keep the leaf from drifting. Now this ring usually took the form of more chakra being expelled to create a pressure difference and force the leaf to the center of the ring, but the scroll detailing the exercise said to be creative and to challenge oneself. The exercise after was the tree walking exercise, followed by something called water walking which sounded badass to Naruto.

The academy taijutsu style was called the Riptide fist and was an attack oriented style using the adage that a good offense is a great defense. To Naruto this made sense in a lot of ways, if a fight can be ended quickly then there was no need to waste time defending. The style was had a good mix of offensive and defensive forms and was definitely a strong style. Naruto also found the Uzumaki taijutsu form aptly named the Whirlpool's Rage Style. After a brief run down Naruto knew this style was geared to killing. The style seemed to detail ways and places to optimize strikes and decimate opponents, the only downside was it built off the academy forms meaning that Naruto had to master the riptide fist style to even start learning his family's style. Not that is bothered Naruto it just meant more time needed to be spent training which was never a bad thing. Physical training was a bright spot for Naruto, pushing himself just seemed to flow naturally for him and many times he had to limp back to the bunker from hurting himself while training. Thank Kami for regeneration abilities.