A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

Well I'm proud to say I spoke too soon in my last opening author's note, I did receive my first 'flame' review though I'm not sure if the reviewer is serious or just cynical. I guess it's an important step for each author when they receive their first 'flame' review.

Now, and assuming the reviewer 'Sasha Naruto' was serious, I find it strange that you would say after reading chapter 2, that I'm not original enough and that I should distance myself from the canon manga. (my polite understanding of your rant about the Uzumakis and Kishimoto)

I considered chapter 2 as a key point of my story introducing Naruto's original bloodline and changing his fate from the lonely talentless boy to the companion of Kyuubi and trained warrior he is when he reached the genin rank.

Finally, I'm pleased you also enjoy the pairing as it is also one of my favorite, though I don't see myself revamping completely the second chapter when I'm already working on the 12th one ;)

Well I hope you will enjoy the "original" mini-arc from this chapter.

Without further delay, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 11: Ties to the Past

Training Ground 8

The preliminary rounds of the chunin exams just ended yesterday, Kurenai was very proud of her students.

Hinata was the only one who didn't qualify for the finals but she didn't have anything to be ashamed of, Kurenai said that even if Hinata didn't win, she fought admirably well against Neji, who is more experienced than her.

Kurenai asked her team if they wanted training in any particular subject for the next month to prepare for the finals.

Kiba replied that he would spend the entire month learning with his family in order to perfect the jutsu he already had. He said that after his fight with Choji, he realized that he did not master his family techniques to an acceptable level yet, leading to his Gatsuga being weaker than what it should have been. Kurenai suggested that he should come to her if he ever needed more help in his Doton chakra manipulation, Kiba happily accepted his sensei's proposal.

Hinata had suffered injuries from her fight with her cousin Neji, she had to rest her body for at least a month before she would be medically allowed to resume her kunoichi duties. Kurenai nodded then turned her head in Naruto's direction.

Naruto thought about what he would work on during the break, he came to the conclusion that he needed a trump card in his arsenal if he wanted to have a chance to be able to fight the other jinchuriki Gaara. His wind techniques might not be strong enough to overpower the sand based jutsu of the Suna shinobi.

"I'm not sure yet about my training for the month sensei, I had plans to go meet the old man today in order to figure something out." he said to her while pointing at his stomach where Natsuki's seal is located.

Kurenai understood his sign and gave him a nod of acceptance, "Alright, with Kiba and Hinata going their way, we don't need to hold team meetings everyday any more for the remaining of the chunin exams. Just come to me if you need anything" she said as she dismissed her students.

Hokage Office

Naruto made his way to the old man's office and entered the same way he always did, knocking the door opened with his foot and shouting as he went inside.

"Hey Old man you got a minute?" asked the blond.

"Yes Naruto what can I do for you my boy, shouldn't you be training for the finals?" replied Sarutobi.

Naruto explained his problems to the village leader, Gaara being a host like him, and that he didn't know what he needed to focus on in order to compete with the Suna jinchuriki.

Sarutobi thought about it for a moment before he spoke again, "As you know your mother was chosen as a host before you because of the Uzumaki bloodline that allowed her to have some control over the bijuu. I don't know a lot about her bloodline other than it was only the female Uzumaki who could do it but I think that the other Uzumaki should also have had some other way to defend themselves against the powers of bijuus."

"But there's no record left on the Uzumaki in the village Jiji, how will I be able to find anything relevant to my ancestors?" asked Naruto.

Sarutobi seemed lost as well at the blond's question.

"Naru-kun, I think I know where we could find information about the Uzumaki." said Natsuki in his mind.

"Really? Where?" replied Naruto in his mind.

"Do you remember Uzushiogakure, it's the place where your mother came from, even though it was destroyed in the second shinobi war I'm sure you could still find something useful there" replied the vixen.

Naruto's eyes widened at this, he did indeed wanted to visit his mother's homeland, where he hoped he could also find a way to free Natsuki from the seal.

"Jiji what about Uzu no Kuni, or more precisely what's left of it. I'm sure I could find something useful for me there and I think that I need to visit the country where my mother was born and all my ancestors before her." asked Naruto.

"I think that's a great idea Naruto-kun. However I can't let you go alone and I don't have any resource left to spare since the village's forces are already under a lot of stress with the patrols and gate duties increased due to the chunin exams." Sarutobi said to Naruto.

"I can't ask Kurenai-sensei to come with me for a month long trip outside the village, Kiba or Hinata may need her more than me during that time" thought a dejected Naruto.

Sarutobi was sad that he couldn't help his adoptive grandson but he had to stay fair, he couldn't order one of his subordinates to travel to Uzu no Kuni with Naruto without a proper reason.

He thought about who he could possibly send out in an "off the record" mission, someone that would be able to leave unnoticed. That shinobi would have to be strong enough to protect Naruto and also level-headed enough to bear Naruto's exuberant attitude.

Then his eyes suddenly widened as he just found the perfect escort for Naruto, "Yes, I think it is highly time that those two meet ..." he thought.

"Naruto I may have someone who could go with you to Uzu no Kuni, he is also strong enough to supervise your training while you try to find traces of your ancestors." Sarutobi said with a smile on his face.

"Who is it Jiji? I thought you said everyone was busy at the moment." asked Naruto.

"Well he is not exactly under my direct command and he has free travel rights so he isn't required to stay to protect the village at all time. It just happened that he came back this morning." Replied the old man.

"Here, you will find him at this address, give him this letter and he will understand the situation." Added Sarutobi as he handed a letter with his seal on it to Naruto.

"Thank you Jiji! I'll see you in a month." Replied Naruto and with that he left the office to go find that mysterious man.

Konoha's Onsen

Naruto made it to the bath house, wondering why Sarutobi knew this mysterious man would be here. He was also surprised when the old man didn't want to reveal this man's identity, saying that it would be better if the man properly introduced himself.

He was about to enter when he heard strange noises from the side of the building. As he went around he saw a man inside a tall tree looking down into the bathing area. The man was giggling and taking notes inside a small hand book at the same time. Naruto couldn't see his face as the man was hiding pretty high in that tree and only the giggling and scratching were proof of his presence.

If there was something that Naruto inherited from Kurenai, it was the hate of perverts. He was thinking of the best way to punish this pervert then mentally called a jutsu.

"Futon : Furyudan no jutsu" Naruto silently launched his jutsu against the tree the pervert was hiding in.

The wind dragon slashed through the tree in its mid section, bending the upper section just in the right angle for the unsuspecting pervert to fall into the bathing area on the women side.

Seems like the ladies inside did not take too kindly to be disturbed and peeked to during their relaxation time. The pervert must have got the beating of his life if what Naruto heard from the other side of the wall was correct.

Satisfied with his work Naruto decided to go inside, in the men area of course and find this instructor. According to his Jiji, the man had long white hairs and strange red markings on his face.

He was about to enter the men locker room when he saw the pervert getting out of the women area, beaten and hurt but nothing to harsh. Then his eyes widened, "Long white hairs, those red lines on his face, Oh my god he's the one Jiji was talking about!" thought Naruto as he observed the man.

"Hey pervert, did you enjoy the beating?" asked Naruto.

"So that was you!" yelled the man as he charged at Naruto but Naruto just stood there and lifted the letter with the Hokage seal in his hand.

The approaching man stopped in his tracks and took the letter. His eyes widened as he read the letter, taking short glances at Naruto from time to time. "So that's Minato's and Kushina's kid, sensei is finally letting me take him out of the village, this should be fun." he thought in his mind before giving back the letter to Naruto.

Then his face's expression suddenly changed and turned from lecherous and perverted into a serious one as he spoke to the young boy in front of him.

"Okay I understand your situation and I'll go with you on your trip." he said.

"I don't see why the old man would chose a pervert like you to be my escort, much less the instructor to supervise my training for the month to come." replied Naruto.

"Follow me outside, you'll understand soon enough." replied the pervert.

Naruto gave him a nod and they left the bath house, then the man took Naruto to the closest empty training ground.

Training Ground 17

They reached the center of the field and the man motioned for Naruto to sit down and he did the same after making sure that no one was around for the upcoming conversation.

"Alright, let me introduce myself first. I'm Jiraya of the Sennin and I was a student under the Sandaime. I'm in charge of Konoha's spy network so that's why I'm almost never inside the village." said the now identified Jiraya.

"That's also the reason why I couldn't look after you before now." he added in his mind.

Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the name, Jiraya is one of the best if not the best shinobi of the leaf right now. He along with two others was in the team trained by Jiji a long time ago. It was said in the book he read about them that each of them could fight an entire army by themselves.

"And you know about my reason to go there?" asked Naruto, scared that this man would hold a grudge against him for holding Natsuki in him.

"Yes the Hokage explained the situation in his letter, that you would face the Suna Jinchuriki in the finals. I also know about your 'burden'." replied Jiraya.

Naruto smiled, he found another person who did not hate him for having Natsuki sealed in him. He was a little weird and a big time pervert but he was strong and seemed reliable too. Deciding to follow his instincts he made his decision.

"I would be honored to have you supervise my training for the month to come and I thank you for accepting to come with me to find my mother's homeland" Said the young blond as he bowed to the sennin.

"Alright drop the formalities, pack your things we leave tomorrow morning at dawn." said Jiraya as he stood up.

"Okay Ero-sennin! See you tomorrow!" replied Naruto as he shunshined out of the area.

Jiraya almost fell back when he heard the nickname but smiled as he too left the clearing.

Timeskip – One week later

It took them one week to finally reach Uzu no Kuni. The fastest way was to walk back to Wave before taking a boat in order to reach the ruins of the ancient civilization of Whirlpool Country. They were currently on the boat and the island of Uzu was in sight.

During their traveling time, Jiraya had evaluated Naruto's level of skill in all the ninja arts. He had come to the same conclusion as Kurenai and her friends, Naruto was currently at High chunin level at least and Tokubetsu jonin at most.

Jiraya knew Kurenai would work on Naruto's genjutsu issues later so he decided to improve the boy's basic chakra control. He was astonished at Naruto's control over the wind element and accepted to help the boy in his tests to counter every elemental techniques thrown at him since Jiraya was able to use all 5 elemental elements. He also started to teach Naruto the basics in the art of fuinjutsu. "He's talented, it reminds me so much of Minato sometimes it hurts." thought the old hermit.

Naruto was currently working with a water balloon, Jiraya said that he needed to make the balloon pop using pure chakra only, no Wind allowed. He had started the exercise yesterday, he was making good progress and understood that he needed to spin the water inside the balloon in such a way that it would pop. "I wonder what I'm doing wrong, maybe I should work on the path of the water inside the balloon again." wondered the blond.

Both teacher and student were pulled out of their musing when the boat finally reached to coast.

They agreed with the captain of the boat to meet again at the same place in 2 weeks, it would give them just enough time to go back to Konoha.

"Okay here's how we will work for the next 2 weeks. You will train with me everyday from dawn to approximately 5 pm then you will be free to explore and do whatever you want from there." Announced Jiraya and Naruto nodded to him.

Two days after their arrival, Naruto finally managed to pop the water balloon using only chakra. Jiraya then made him start a harder exercise, this time he had to pop a rubber ball with his chakra.

In the mean time Naruto had started exploring the island. So far he didn't find anything interesting. Nature and Time had already erased most trace of the ancient village of Whirlpool. He remembered asking Natsuki if she knew anything but was disappointed by her answer.

Flashback : 2 days ago

"Alright training is done for today, do you know where I should start to search for my mother's ancient village Na-chan?" asked Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naru-kun, unlike with you I didn't interact a lot with your mother. The sealing technique seems different too, I wasn't able to access her senses from inside her seal the same way I can with yours. I didn't have access to her memories either, all I know about her is what she told me on the rare occasions she visited her mindscape." replied Natsuki.

"It's okay Na-chan, I'm sure we'll figure out something. I still have 2 weeks left and I could always come back later." Naruto said.

End of flashback

Two days later Naruto succeeded in blowing up the rubber ball using his chakra, the key this time was to concentrate his chakra while applying what he learned from the first stage.

His search through his mother's hometown ruins also progressed as he was able to find the buried entrance of what must have been the Uzukage Tower considering the huge Whirlpool sign at the entrance.

He managed to clear the entrance of the rubble blocking it with the help of several Kage Bunshins. Once inside he came to a dead end, the door in front of him had a strange red seal on it.

"That's a blood seal Naru-kun, most likely only one with Uzumaki blood can go through this door. You have to apply some of your blood on the seal and the door will open." said Natsuki in his mind.

He did as instructed and the door opened. Inside the building most of the rooms had collapsed, he only found another room which seemingly resisted the last war. The door to that room was once again protected by a blood seal.

This room must have been a library of sort, most of the books were old and barely readable.

In the center of the room stood a strange shrine, on top of it was a scroll with the same blood seal Naruto already saw on the doors from earlier. He opened the scroll, unlocking it with his blood and his eyes widened at what he read.

If you are reading this, then that means that your are most likely the last Uzumaki remaining in this world. Kiri, Kumo and Iwa launched a surprise attack on our village and we did not have the time to call for the help of our allies of the Leaf before they completely surrounded our lands.

Even with our best effort we could not hold off an enemy outnumbering us 10 to 1. We have lost most of our men trying to defend the main gate of the village but it also fell this morning and now I'm one of the last standing.

In this scroll I have sealed our two most precious treasures, first is the Uzumaki scroll of seals, it contains most of our works on fuinjutsu. Next is our sacred summoning scroll to our loyal allies of old time, the Dragons, be warned that only an Uzumaki can be accepted as a summoner for the dragons as anyone else who tries to bond with them shall die in insufferable plain.

I have sealed these hoping that someone from our blood survived this attack and one day he or she would show the world that the Uzumaki are still alive and take our place back as one of the most powerful clan.

Good luck, from Uzumaki Kazuma the last Uzukage of Whirpool.

Naruto decided to wait before going through the fuinjutsu scroll since he only started to learn the basics with Jiraya on it. It was nevertheless a gold mine for his future research on how to free Natsuki from the seal.

He unsealed the Dragon summoning contract and followed the instructions from the scroll and Natsuki to sign his name on it. Once done, he felt a weird sensation in his body as he was teleported from his current position to a strange place.

Summoning World

It seemed he was on top of a mountain, he couldn't even see the ground from where he was. He was suddenly pulled out of his musing when a huge black dragon came out of nowhere.

"Who dares to use our old contract with the Uzumaki royal family to come to this sacred place?" roared the creature as it landed in front of Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I found the scroll inside the ruins of the ancient village of Whirlpool." answered the blond.

"Uzumaki you say? Be warned that you will die if you lied to me. Now come here and pass the test to prove your worth." said the dragon.

As Naruto approached him, the dragon suddenly lashed at him and bit him on his forearm. Naruto winced at the pain but chose to stay calm as this was most likely part of the test.

"You have indeed the blood of our loyal friends the Uzumaki flowing through your veins. You may call me Ryuou, I am the leader of the dragon family. We will answer to you call each time you ask for us Uzumaki Naruto." Said the dragon king as he bowed to his new summoner.

"It is my honor to unite once more the Uzumaki clan to our old allies the Dragons." replied Naruto with a bow too.

"I will see you soon young hatchling." Said Ryuou as he unsummoned Naruto back to his original position inside the ruins of Whirlpool.

Back in Uzu

Naruto reappeared in the sealed room, he noticed a tattoo with the form of a dragon on his left forearm where Ryuou bit him. The scroll said it was the sign of the dragon summoner, from now on Naruto just needed to spread some blood on it and he could summon Dragons.

Having found what he looked for, he left the ruins and joined Jiraya back at their camp.

He spent the remaining days they had on the island to master the last chakra exercise Jiraya was making him perform. Turns out those exercises were the key parts in mastering a technique invented by the fourth Hokage called the Rasengan and Naruto managed to learn it in only 2 weeks.

When it was finally the moment to leave the island, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little sad to leave behind the only place in the world where he could feel some sort of bond to his long lost clan.

Timeskip – One week later

They were finally back in front of the gates of Konoha, just for the day of the finals.

A/N: What do you think? I didn't want Naruto to be a Toad summoner this time as I though I could find better to complement his godlike skills in the wind element.

I also took the liberty to make Kushina's seal different from the one Naruto has, I don't think it was ever mentioned in canon if she had a Shiki Fuujin Seal too. It serves in making Natsuki oblivious to Naruto's link with Minato.

Anyway as usual please Read & Review.