Title: It's All In The Blood

Word Count: 1356

Notes: Yes, I took the easy way out. Jiraiya is only tolerable in small doses, no matter that I love him dearly, and so he needed to leave for the time being.

It's All In The Blood

Naruto was certain that if he looked into a mirror, he would see his eyeballs spinning in their sockets like non-Sharingan Sharingans, and shut up, that made sense in his mind. Fuuin Jutsu's. The art of sealing. Practically invented by his mother's family, and raised to such a level that the clan – no, the entire country of Whirlpool was deemed necessary to destroy. The Daimyo's of each land had risen up in fear of the Whirlpool country, made almost entirely of Uzumaki's and their descendants, and formed a one-time alliance strictly to take them out in their entirety.

Why? Because the power of their sealing techniques was such that it apparently warranted an equivalent to genocide. That was really it. It had been two hours since Jiraiya had dropped this little mental bomb on Naruto's head and left, and Naruto still felt sick to his stomach.

On the positive side however, his clan members (all four of them) and his friends (the remainder of the Rookie 9 plus Team Gai) had vowed to protect him. HIM. His mind spun sickeningly as he tried to contemplate the ramifications of that kind of pledge.

As the only true Uzumaki (Yugao was one-quarter third cousin and he really needed to ask Shikamaru how blood dilution worked in this case), he alone possessed the extreme life spirit that was characteristic of blood Uzumaki's. Combined that with his enormous chakra reservoirs and add in the power of the oldest of the demons, the Kyuubi, Jiraiya had made sure to stress to the group listening to them that Naruto would always be a target to the outer lands. If he managed to master sealing, as Jiraiya hoped to have him do, he would conceivably be the most powerful person in the known lands.

But powerful didn't mean immortal. Naruto could still be killed, and make no doubt about it, Jiraiya warned them, once word spread that the Uzumaki clan was back in action, there would be assassins after his orange-clad ass.

Which was when Neiji had stood up and vowed that he would help protect the new(ish) clan with all that he had. He had been immediately followed by Lee (who swore he would punish himself by climbing the Hokage mountain one-handed one thousand times if he allowed any harm to come to clan Uzumaki – at which point Naruto flung the scroll he'd been hiding from the mini-Green Beast at his head), Tenten (who jumped for joy at the idea of more sealing training in one breath, and vowed instant dismemberment to anyone who attacked her clansmen with the other - which basically resulted in everyone watching her jump for joy while talking about dismembering people, and that made everyone take a few steps back just in case insanity was contagious) and Sakura who clenched her fists and let out an all-purpose war cry 'let 'em try' (there was also an internal 'SHANNARO' from Inner Sakura which made it a very rare time when both inner and outer personality were completely in synch and really, nothing good could come of that).

Even Sasuke had glared a little harder at Jiraiya at the thought of harm coming to Naruto.

Naruto could have handled this. Really, he could have. But Lee told Hinata what Jiraiya had said, and she told Shino and Kiba – who managed to spill the beans to Chouji over a barbeque dinner that night. Sakura told Ino, which meant Shikamaru heard it from both teammates, and since all of the rookies knew, that meant their families and sensei's did too – including one Umino Iruka (informed by Asuma who filled him in over a shift at the Mission Desk), who upon hearing about the inevitable upcoming attacks on the son of his heart, immediately began raiding the Academy storage wares in order to help Naruto better defend his home with more complicated traps. In searching for more ninja wire, he recruited the help of Konohamaru who wheedled the true purpose out of his sensei's impromptu scavenger hunt and immediately told Moegi and Udon before deciding to take it upon themselves to provide body guard duties for 'the boss."

So now Naruto had three tiny and rather inept shadows, a house he was having trouble getting into without blowing himself up, a bug infestation that was meant to be comforting and protective but just made him feel itchy, and a rotating shift of people watching his every move. In the case of two of them, literally every move, walls be damned. And since the shifts were made of people he adored, that meant he couldn't kill them to get them to leave him alone.

And all this before he even really knew what sealing was (other than the obvious – to keep something in. Between his growling case of living indigestion and Tenten – who carried more weapons on her in sealed scrolls than most countries entire armies, that was kind of a no-brainer). Talk about overkill.

The best thing he could do at this stage, he decided, was study the scrolls Jiraiya had left him. Rarer than rare, they were the few remaining scraps of history that had survived the destruction of Whirlpool Kushina Uzumaki had inherited them down from the First Hokage and had guarded them with her life – not even Minato Namikaze learned of their existence until after they were married, and even then, he'd only been allowed to look at one.

Ironically, that had been the same scroll that had taught him what he needed to do regarding the Nine Tails seventeen years ago - eighteen this October. But who was counting?

Only Uzumaki blood would open the scrolls – not even Jiraiya had viewed them. Naruto had agreed though, to limit himself to one scroll – one that had written on the front in scrawling kanji (apparently Naruto actually came by his messy handwriting honestly, and he would be sure to tell Iruka-sensei that the next time he saw the man) that had said, quite frankly, 'Newbies and Idiots, Begin Here.'

It had taken Sasuke all of three seconds to decipher the handwriting, process the words, and then calmly ask Naruto under exactly which heading did he think he was qualified? Naruto had retaliated with a spinning kick, Sasuke with an open palm – and that's when Sakura picked both of them up by their ankles, squeezed the pressure point in their feet that momentarily reduced chakra usage, and then flung them both bodily into the lake.

Anyway, Naruto had to study the scroll along with a beginner's manual on seals Jiraiya had dropped on his head. Luckily it had been the same book Tenten had apparently studied to create and modify her own vast cache of scrolls and storage seals, so anytime he had a question, he could go to her.

Unbelievably, another person who was good with seals was – again, unbelievably – Kiba. The feral nin had studied seals under his mother and his sister who used them to transport practically an entire operating theatre with them when they went on missions with their canine companions. Kiba himself carried various medicines, ingredients, nin-ken medical books, carriers and doggy treats in sealed scrolls in his backpack. He was more equipped to deal with an injury to Akamaru than he was to himself (apparently this stemmed from their first failed mission to rescue Sasuke; when he had faced a two-headed nin that had injured Akamaru badly, and using the local herbs had only prevented Akamaru's immediate death).

When it came to himself, Kiba was a bit of a fly-by-night kind of ninja, but when it came to Akamaru, only the best would do, and he would have a backup plan for his backup plans to keep the dog safe. And after a few hours of taunts and teases, he joined Tenten in helping Naruto break down the basics of sealing.

To Naruto's immense surprise (not to mention to the surprise of everyone who knew him), he picked up the theories behind the scrolls fairly quickly. And well, why shouldn't he?

Apparently sealing was in his blood.

End

Feedback pleaded for, ideas welcome! I'd love to get a couple of side-plots going (besides Danzo, yes, Sai's back in the next chapter) but this is my relaxing fic – I don't want to strain my brain to hard over it or it will turn into my other fics – something I dread working on because it requires more thought and work.

Loooooooove, feeeeeeed me reviews, I'll beg – I have no dignity or shame. I'm like a drunk Rock Lee – I care not for how I look as long as it gets the job done. In this case, drawing out your feelings and opinions. *throws self on the floor* Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?