Disclaimer: I googled if these were even necessary in fanfics, you know because they are 'fanfics' but apparently it is the polite thing to do and some authors of the original works even prefer it. So,

I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto does.

Chapter 1

Kushina Uzumaki had dreaded this day; she knew giving birth would be an ordeal for her more so than when other women went through labour. They had anticipated the complications of her pregnancy, taken into account the weakening of her seal, and even kept time and location of it a secret. It still had gone wrong… so horribly wrong. Somehow the location where she had been giving birth had been leaked and now the kyubi was free, set free by the masked man with the sharingan. She was feeling her strength waning; when a biju is ripped from their container the container would inevitably die. Maybe they could seal the rampaging biju back inside her so she could take it to the grave even if temporarily. It would reform but it would take years to do so, and Konoha would be ready to seal it back in.

Still it did not change the fact that she would not be there for her baby boy, her Naruto. She loved him so much and it hurt her to leave him and be unable to watch him grow. She knew the pain of losing family she had to grow up alone after the death of her parents in the Ushizo massacre; but she still had little peace knowing that Minato would look after their son. It was at this moment that she remembered that even if Minato raised their son to the best of his capability he would still grow up not knowing about her side of the family, the Uzumaki and their legacy.

As she tried to keep the kyuubi contained using her chakra chains she quickly performed a summoning jutsu causing a small box to appear. She opened the box, it already contained some items in it. A diary, some money, a few storage scrolls and couple of photos. She took off her wedding ring and her hair clip a cute black one she was partial to and put them inside. After thinking about it some more she tore off the collar of her dress carefully; the part which contained her husband's hiraishin formula, it would increase the chance of them finding the box. She gently closed the box, and secured the lid. Quickly performing the reverse summoning jutsu she sent the box back so it would not be destroyed. She watched as Minato walked towards her with Naruto in his arms.

"Minato-kun are you ready to seal the kyubi back inside me" She whispered as she took Naruto from him gazing at her baby boy intently, desperately trying to take in an every little detail of his face for the last time from his red hair to his small face with no marks or blemishes.

"Kushina-chan… there's no need for you to die to take the kyuubi with you." Minato Namikaze the fourth hokage of Konoha stood up and looked towards the towering form of the biju struggling against the golden chains. "Preserve your chakra. I'll seal it within Naruto along with half of the Kyuubi using the reaper's death seal."

Kushina's mind turned blank at this. "But Minato the reaper's seal will result in your death too. What… what about Naruto he would have to grow up alone with this burden, not knowing, not understanding what it means to be a jinchuriki. We need love Minato. To hold the demon, and not fall into its darkness."

"I believe in him. Do you remember Master Jiraiya's words about ending the curse of hatred? I believe Naruto will be the one to put an end to it." Minato said as he started going through the hand signs to summon the Reaper.

"But why do have to use the reaper seal. You could live on… teach him … watch over him because I could not." Kushina sobbed clutching Naruto to her bosom.

"I'll need its power to split the kyubi in half. Half of it I will seal inside Naruto and half of it I will take with me to the shinigami's belly. It will also allow me to put your chakra inside him so he can meet you, and you can help him when he needs it."

She couldn't fully understand it. The need to seal the kyubi now rather than use a similar seal to her own when it reforms, and Naruto has grows older; old enough to understand this burden like herself at the age of 12 when the kyubi was sealed inside her.

"You don't have to die Minato you could seal it when Naruto has grown older, whole of it, inside him, after it reforms."

"To forsake your country is to forsake yourself. Kushina, you whose village was destroyed understand this. The kyubi reforming would be an event. Konoha might not survive its onslaught as well as defend against the other villages. Beside there are some things that only you could say to him." Minato calmly said looking at her as he completed the seals for the shinigami to appear.

She felt Minato was being naïve. This was a very heavy burden something that was hard to understand for those who did not share it. She too believed in her son but she believed him to be a human too not some child of prophecy… he was a child…her child…he would make mistakes like she did…he would hate like she did…but would he love when no one loved him. Maybe Jiraya would raise him to be a capable person, he was Naruto's godfather after all, but what if he couldn't.

Making up her mind she did some quick one handed seal as she watched Minato trying to complete the sealing process, and gently placed her hand onto Naruto's palm creating a small seal and watched it fade into his skin all the while praying that he will find the way to their legacy using it.

(Somewhere behind the Senju clan compound)

It was a small building, one of the oldest in Konoha, and unlike the others of its time it wasn't made of wood. It was made of large red stones transported from the Land of whirlpool. A place made by the Senju as a symbol that would grant a home to any Uzumaki that would come to Konoha.

Inside only a few moments ago a small box had reappeared suddenly in a puff of smoke. Someone inside the building was watching it curiously when suddenly the box shined once as a small seal appeared on it.

Mito Uzumaki saw the seal and understood the use of it immediately. She slowly closed her eyes as her mind went through the implications of it.

"Kushi-chan, please be all right." She whispered as she faded again from existence.

5 years old Naruto Uzumaki was bored as he wandered around the village; there was not much he could do honestly as he had no friends to play with, no one to spend time with or even read story books, because the few he owned he had already read several times. He just couldn't understand why no one would play with him or even look at him for that matter. Everywhere he went he would be ignored, no look of acknowledgement, even when he bumped into someone they would simply walk on as if nothing had happened, and he hated it. He had tried asking why, even tried shouting once but it had no effect. The old man in the funny hat, the hokage he had later found out had talked to him that people will understand someday and will accept him. He frankly couldn't understand what there was to accept; he wasn't stupid so he tried to figure it out like he always did. It couldn't be because of his red hair he thought because he had seen several people with all kinds of different hair colours from white to pink to even purple granted he hasn't seen anyone with red hair but it shouldn't be that weird, right? Then, he thought maybe it was because of the whisker marks he had on his face, like a cat but he had seen people with different marks on their face too. It certainly couldn't be his eyes they were violet in colour (he had to look it up in his books, the one about numbers and colours) there were lots of people with weirder eyes than his. He just couldn't figure out why he was treated differently; he was just a kid, right? He had seen how the people treated other kids even when they did something wrong, maybe he did something so bad that they were punishing him; but he couldn't remember doing anything to anyone.

As he walked he continued looking down in front of him because if he looked up he would see them not seeing him, and he would feel that familiar feeling of anger and hate he always felt trying to overwhelm him. He wanted to break something, lash out at someone. He hated that feeling it only made him sadder. He had promised himself he won't get angry; he won't cry maybe someone would want him if he behaved… maybe.

Suddenly he felt something from his hand, a faint pulse of warmth. He would have thought he had imagined it if he didn't feel it again and again and again as he walked towards where he felt the thrum in his hand getting quicker and quicker. He walked through the woods and come upon an old building behind the clan compounds some ways of from their walls. He had never been here as he wasn't allowed near the clan buildings. He made his way towards the door. His hand felt a steady warmth as he placed his hand on the door and felt a faint prickle. He was fairly surprised when a lot of squiggly lines of writing appeared where he had touched his hand, and the door opened. The inside of the building was fairly dark but he could still make out a lot of stuff. It was so cool even if it was dusty, maybe if he cleaned this place he could make this place his secret hideout to bring his friends when he made some.

"And who are you little one?" He heard a soft voice come from behind him and he turned quickly.

There, now in front of him stood a woman. She had long bright-red hair like his wound in two buns held by pins with some sort of tags attached to them and she wore what appeared to be a crown on top of her head. Her eyes were a slightly darker colour than his. She wore a white kimono, red lipstick and had rhombus shaped marking on her forehead. She was smiling kindly down at him.

Seeing her smile he calmed down a little bit and asked the first question that came into his mind rather exuberantly before he could help himself. "Are you a princess?" He had read about them, they wore elaborate kimonos and crowns; they were very beautiful and kind. She had to be one, maybe he could help her like the heroes did and be a cool ninja.

She chuckled slightly "I might be. Why don't you introduce yourself first?"

"I'm … Naruto Uzumaki." He said with some hesitation after seeing that her expression didn't change much on the contrary she looked slightly happier, he asked tentatively "Who are you?"

She watched the little boy in front of her carefully. She already had a suspicion of his identity; he looked so much like Kushina it was unbelievable, sure she could see slight differences surely from his father, the blonde boy Kushina had once shown her a photograph of but they were scarce. The boy looked remarkably like Kushina when she was this young, same eyes, same hair albeit a lot shorter framing his chubby face making him look like a tomato she mused fondly, but with some very curious markings on his cheeks, honestly the child in front her was very cute. She had watched the same exuberance and energy come onto his face that all Uzumaki children seemed to possess when he asked her if she was a princess, but felt her heart sink as she watched apprehension and dread creep into his face and voice after. She had suspected something terrible has happened to Kushina all those years ago when the storage box had a locator seal appear on it, only for the feeling to strengthen as Kushina had failed to visit her again. "I'm Mito Uzumaki."

"Uzu- UZUMAKI, like me lady. Do you know my mummy and daddy?" Naruto all but screamed at hearing the name. She had the same surname as his maybe she would know who his parents were, and maybe she could help him find them wherever they were.

"I'm not entirely certain, but I could help you find out do you know what chakra is?"

"Catra?" Naruto was very excited if this catra thing could help him find his family he would learn all about in no time; he liked to learn anyway.

"I guess not." She chuckled. "It's pronounced chakra; everybody that is alive has it even the plant and the trees. It allows us to do many wondrous things."

"Like how those ninja jumping really high and- and shoot fire from their mouths." He asked excitedly.

"Correct. Now listen carefully you might already have felt what chakra feels like. When you entered here you touched the door in the front, right?" seeing him nod she continued "So when you touched the door you might have felt a tingly warmth when writing appeared on the door; that is your chakra being used to open the lock on the door." She told him slowly so he could understand.

"But if I don't know what it is so how did I use it?" Naruto scrunched his face in thought as he looked at his hand. He had felt this chakra as he had walked here but how did he do it.

She smiled a bit widely, little Naru seemed clever "You didn't. Did you feel it on your hand?" she asked already suspecting the answer, seeing him nod she said" I suspect your hand has a seal on it, that seal might have drawn your chakra for you."

"Wow"

"Wow indeed, how about we try to unlock your chakra so we can find out about your parents?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. He was ready.

"Good now sit down on the ground with your legs crossed and close your eyes. Try not to move too much, and feel around slightly above your stomach for that tingly warmth." She instructed him softly and watched him try to follow her words to the letter. She knew it would take some time as children were generally antsy and more so for the Uzumaki ones, but they generally had more chakra to feel around for so it shouldn't be impossible even if he was too young.

And sure enough after an hour or two of coxing him gently to stay still he had unlocked it, slightly quicker than she had expected. After that they had worked in accessing his chakra so he could pour it into objects and surfaces, the most basic of chakra application.

"Now try and push your chakra into your hand where you felt that pulse earlier, but try and push as little as possible." There was always a concern of pushing too much or too potent chakra into a seal that would result in eroding it or damaging it, but in this case Mito was not that concerned over it if the seal was made by Kushina it would be undamaged. Uzumaki always have possessed an especially potent chakra that resulted into making more enduring seals, it was one of the little things that made their seals better when they were drawn with their chakra. Even if someone had corrosive chakra akin to a biju it would take considerable effort to break an Uzumaki seal.

Naruto gently pushed his chakra into his palm and was delighted to watch a small seal appear onto it. He looked towards the nice lady waiting for her to tell him what to do next.

She motioned him to follow her as they went to a side room and stopped in front of a small box.

"Put your hand on the lid on top and push your chakra as you did before." She said as she made some room for him to crouch down before the box.

Naruto quickly did as he was told and heard a slight clicking noise as the box opened. He looked inside and found all sorts of thing but his interest quickly was grabbed by the photo of a young woman in her early twenties smiling at the camera he quickly looked towards Mito as if to seek confirmation.

She gently nodded "That is Kushina Uzumaki my great grandniece, and your mother Naru-chan."

Author's Notes

Now that the first chapter is done I would like to make few things clear please read this so you could be informed what this fic is about before you get invested in it.

First of this fic is heavily inspired by XxMeWxX4444's (Toxicmew on AO3) Mito' Stratagem but I'm not as good a writer as they are and I'm not confident is writing it in that eerie dark style that they have for it, in fact this is my first time ever writing anything so this will be more lighter in tone and atmosphere.

Moving on I'm the kind of guy who won't read a fic because of some ships (Naruhina –shudders-) that is why I'll say it upfront this is a NaruIno fic (woeful lack of this pairing), and I won't change it and it won't devolve into a harem fic or even a Narusakuino fic even though I love Sakura. I'll try to make sure that there are not many OC characters; I myself despise those. Now as I'm a newbie writer and have a very tenuous grasp of anything related to writing stories, some characters may appear to be ooc, I'll try to work on those too, but Naruto on the other hand would be very different from his canon character, but not dark or edgy, a little grey maybe but definitely not the Ninja Jesus he was portrayed as after the pein arc and not stupid either. There will be no bashing of characters but not everyone will be pleasant; case in point Minato in this fic; he had good intentions for the village but he did essentially sacrifice his child's happiness based on his ideals. I'll try to make the fic different and not rehash canon events.

One last thing before I wrap this up, if you enjoy Naruto and Sasuke's Ashura Indra dynamics this fic is not for you. Even after all these years I still hate Naruto letting Karui hit him. Still as I said no bashing just wanted to reiterate that.

Thank you for reading this fic if you find any typos, misspellings or grammatical mistakes please let me know. I'm studying for an English proficiency test and would appreciate any feedbacks or writing tips. The title of this fic is still a work in progress if you have any ideas I'm open to them.