Second Shinobi World War

"Get the children out first!" Uzumaki Kazama ordered, blocking the child in his mind from seeing the gruesome bodies of both his clan and not. The medics did as ordered, sealing the tunnels behind the frightened children.

Not even Kazama's personal stalkers hesitated or acted stupidly as another assault rocked the island.

He was an old man, now. Older than he had a right to be.

"Kagami, my friend," he said to the silence in the chaos, "I think that I'm going to die here."

His wife, a woman who was an Uchiha and given the blessing of the Uzumaki longevity, stood next to him, her Sharingan eyes spinning and memorizing as people evacuated.

And then, silence. No children cried. Those standing as the final assault's forces felt the tremors.

Kazama focused.

He reached deep inside himself and felt the island itself crying in pain.

And he felt an inhuman presence.

And he was frightened (a little bit). He turned to his wife and stalkers (of whom he still didn't know the names of, oh, yeah, wait... No, he really didn't know their names).

"My love, run," he ordered. "You five, run."

His stalkers did as they were told.

"Wait, stalker-sans!"

They were instantly looking up at him with wide, starry eyes, and despite the utter seriousness of the moment, Kazama allowed the ghost of a smile to cross his lips.

"Get this lady somewhere safe."

"Hai, Kazama-sama!"

They carted his wife out, despite her yells, pleas, and curses.

Kazama ordered everyone else to evacuate, too.

When the room was empty, he sensed the seals were finally unraveling without the presence of hundreds of Uzumakis. And the island was bombarded.

He sat on the throne, watching it fall.

And then there was a black blob.

He watched it, hardly impressed, as it unfolded, two yellow eyes- completely yellow, unlike human eyes - the only color it had.

"Hi," Kazama said, as rubble appeared. He stopped shielding the child in his mind. He grinned as the blob smirked.

"You will die here."

"Yep," Kazama said cheerfully. "I know."

His people were a threat.

He felt nothing but true amusement as he died.

~:~

Naruto gasped awake.

Kazama died here in Uzushio. Remnants of his soul would still be here as well. Kurama sounded amused.

Like a ghost? Naruto chuckled.

Kurama snickered and her smile dropped as she felt a chill.

She turned. And there the ghost stood.

"...hi?" she offered.

Uzumaki Kazama stared at her for a moment. "You're the gaki who was in my mind?"

"Um. Sorry?" she offered weakly.

"Che. I'm sorry about earlier, I was kinda bored. Projecting. Man, I wish I had my therapist."

"Your... Therapist."

"All Uzumakis had a designated therapist until they were an adult," Kazama sagely informed her. "But I'm not here to talk to you about that. I'm here as a one-time thing to offer advice."

"I don't know anything about leading an entire clan." She looked at him, her worry clear. "I don't really know what to do."

"I didn't, either," Kazama agreed. "And I lived for a long time. Older than normal humans. We pretend in the face of others that we are not insane because of their own idiotically short lives, they cannot handle the truth of the matter. When you live as long as we do, being true to ourselves is something that we cannot stop doing."

"Is that what you were doing when your seal was painted on my apartment ceiling in Konoha?" Naruto demanded angrily.

Kazama looked surprised. "It's still there?"

"It was you, then," Naruto grumbled, surprised the apartment had even lasted this long. "And no, we kinda had to knock the ceiling out. Kiana didn't want Tayuya or Karin to have to deal with the fact that they couldn't say a name of a person without gaining their powers and their memories."

"Huh. Cool." Kazama looked briefly happy about that. "Do you know anything about my wife?"

"I didn't even realize it was possible she was alive," Naruto admitted.

"I was a few hundred years older than her," Kazama deadpanned. "There's no reason she should be dead."

"Point," Naruto acknowledged. "But I have no clue on how to find her."

Kazama frowned. "She's an Uchiha."

"If she went back to the clan, she's dead," Naruto said, pushing away the pang that the word 'dead' brought to her. "The clan was entirely decimated... Well," she amended. "Almost." Aside from Shisui, Itachi-san, Sasuke, and Obito-san (who was, according to Nagato, going to therapy to deal with his issues). "If she went back to Konoha -"

"I wasn't talking about Konoha," Kazama said in exasperation. "There's an Uchiha settlement not far from where Konoha lies. I'm not surprised they don't know about it, really. It's not an 'Uchiha' settlement, exactly, more of a retreat for Senju and Uchiha. And Uzumaki. If you used the Call, then Korra will come."

"I used the call," Naruto nodded. "Are you... Is your daughter..." Naruto cleared her throat. "Was your daughter Uzumaki Kushina, and was she sent to Konoha on request by Lady Mito?"

Kazama gave her a dry look.

"You're the clan heiress. Yes, you idiot. Uzumaki Kushina was my lovely daughter. I regret not telling her that I loved her with all my heart." His regret was clear on his ghostly face. "But onto different - your hair. It's blonde."

"I'm well aware," Naruto said defensively. "But every time I use the seal, it gets more red."

As a matter of fact, every time she used any seal her hair had gathered red in it. From what she recalled in her father's mind, she'd time-traveled backwards with red hair, which only meant that A) it was recent, because she could hardly crack a smile now because she'd had Kiana, and B) Kazama was possibly going to make her hair red.

Somehow.

"That won't do. Every leader of the Uzumaki has to have red hair! It's -"

"I'm part Hyuuga, too," Naruto mentioned absently as she turned away from the ghost. "And Senju and Uchiha."

He was silent. "I'm so proud of my daughter. So many clans in one child!"

"She had a threesome with my dad and a branch Hyuuga," Naruto deadpanned.

"So proud!"

Naruto just sighed and yawned.

"Tomorrow we'll make sure your hair is red." He gave her a once-over. "And we'll start your training to become a true Uzumaki."

Naruto accepted it as he faded away, not even realizing he really was going to be there. He just needed to gather a little more chakra from the island in order to keep being there.

~:~

"Ow!" Naruto flinched away from the seamstress as she sewed. "Look, I get - ow - why you have to do this for formal - jeez! - occasions, but do you have to - damn it! - be so rough?!"

The seamstress glared up at her.

"Do you Uzumakis always kidnap people with the vague promise of sending them back?"

"We did that to a monk," Naruto blurted.

The seamstress paused. "A monk?"

"There was a funeral." Naruto swallowed. "One of the Uzumakis kidnapped him. He was quite upset."

He'd also been a Guardian of the Fire Daimyo.

Kazama appeared, making the seamstress scream.

"I had Miri set up an appointment with the Fire Daimyo," he told her. "Seamstress, our apologies for kidnapping you. We don't have seamstresses yet. But if you would like to relocate here -"

"Grandfather, as much as I love you, I'm the clan head," the irked teen said with a fake smile on her face. "And yeah, you wanna get paid a decent living, you can stay."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Kinda forgot," the sheepish ghost said. "Oh, and I found this seal. It brings out your dominant features."

He showed her the ghostly rendition of the seal, and Naruto took out her sealing supplies. It seems that the Uzumaki really did love sealing and even had a treasure room dedicated to sealing ink and paper.

The seamstress huffed.

"Before I forget, the Wave Daimyo also asked to meet with you," the dead man said. "So Miri decided that you'd meet them later."

"When are the meetings?" The seamstress continued working.

She looked up at Kazama, who looked guilty.

"Tomorrow night."

The seamstress and Naruto paused in what they were doing.

"...In Wave."

"SOMEONE GET MORE TAILORS!"

"ON IT!" several Uzumakis called back.