Disclaimer: I googled if these were even necessary for 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.

Author's Notes-

I've finally decided to revise this chapter. When I wrote this chapter, it was my first time ever writing anything and as you can guess, it was very choppy. I haven't made any significant changes to the story or added/removed plotpoints. I just wanted to improve my writing.

Chapter 1

Kushina Uzumaki had dreaded this day; she knew giving birth would be an ordeal for her more so than when any 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 knowledge of where she would be giving birth had been compromised and now… the kyuubi, it was free, set free by the masked man with a lone sharingan.

She could feel her strength waning but not from giving birth. It was because the prison that was her body and soul had been broken. The simple fact that when a biju is ripped from them, the container would inevitably die was bearing down on her mind. As she lay there trying to muster the last dregs of her willpower to move about, trying to think of a solution, she could not help but tear up. The desire to curl up and cry her pain away felt overwhelmingly tempting.

She would no longer be able to see the warm sunrise, the cold touch of dewy grass, the soothing feeling of running water, she would try and lose herself in when she took a shower to wash away her frustrations.

Gasping through her tears, her mind struggling through details, she thought of countermeasures. The lump in her throat was growing painful as she had trouble swallowing, 'Maybe they could seal the rampaging biju back inside her so she could take it to the grave, only if temporarily. It would reform, but it would take years to do so, and Konoha would be ready to seal it back in.'

As much as she felt this to be the right course of action, her resolve was shaking, desperate for an alternative. She felt like a coward, before giving birth, she would have regretted dying but ultimately would have accepted it as another aspect of her journey. She was a proud kunoichi, brace and deadly. That was identity. Now, she was a desperate mother.

Growing up alone after the death of her parents in the Ushizo massacre, she had blossomed in her heart a fierce desire, for a life surrounded by those who loved her, those she could love in return. Now, the mere thought of parting with her baby boy, her Naruto, was too painful for her to bear. She loved him so much. Today was supposed to be a happy occasion, a bright memory shining a way for many more to come. She was finally here, she was finally going to start her own family, but now she would be losing it all.

Her handsome, loving husband and her beautiful son, all she could do for them was pray. Pray that they find happiness without her.

At least she still held some peace knowing that Minato would look after their son. With a new sense of purpose, she moved, unleashing chains made unbreakable by her chakra towards the Kyuubi.

She wasn't willing to let Minato bear the entire burden alone. Even if she were dead, she would still help raise her child. She would make sure that Naruto would still grow up with the knowledge of 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. Opening the box and she looked inside. It already held a couple of items, a diary, some money, a few storage scrolls and a 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 and carefully placed it in; it would increase the chance of them finding the box. She gently closed the container and secured the lid. Quickly performing a variation of the reverse summoning jutsu tied to the box, she sent it back so it would not be destroyed.

Just after finishing the task, she became aware of her husband approaching her with Naruto in his arms.

"Minato-kun are you ready to seal the Kyuubi back inside me?" She whispered as she took Naruto from him gazing at her baby boy intently, desperately trying to take in every little detail of his face for the last time. From his red hair to his small face with no marks or blemishes, she felt that he was the most adorable thing ever. God, she could keep watching him forever.

"Kushina-chan… there's no need for you to die and 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 half of it within Naruto using the Reaper's death seal."

Kushina quickly looked up at him, her eyes wide open mouth slightly ajar in befuddlement. "But Minato the Reaper's seal will result in your death. 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 you have to use the reaper seal. You could live on… you could teach him… watch over him because I could not." Kushina sobbed clutching Naruto to her bosom.

"I'll need its power to split the Kyuubi 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. Why was there a need to seal the Kyuubi now rather than later? They could use a similar seal to own when it reforms. By then Naruto would have grown older; old enough to understand this burden like herself at the age of 12 when the Kyuubi was sealed inside her.

"You don't have to die Minato, just wait, I'll take it with me it will be years before it comes back, and you could be better prepared Naruto… Naruto will be older too, as old as I was when I accepted this burden, then you could seal it within him, whole of it." She begged, tears freely falling. She was tired, her mind was sluggish, she could not fight, all she could do was ask her husband to take a different route.

"To forsake your country is to forsake yourself. Kushina, I know you understand that. The Kyuubi reforming would be an event. Konoha might not survive its onslaught as well as defend against the other villages. Besides, 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 naive, right now. 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 human, not some noble 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 seals. As she watched Minato trying to complete the sealing process, she completed a small seal of her own. She gently placed it onto Naruto's palm, creating a spiral mark 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 massive red stones transported from the Land of whirlpool. The Senju created it as a symbol of their alliance. A promise that Konoha would grant a home to any Uzumaki that would come seeking shelter.

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 studied the seal from a distance and understood the use of it immediately. She slowly closed her eyes as her mind ran through the implications of it.

"Kushi-chan, please be all right." She whispered as she faded again from existence. All she could do now was preserve her essence and wait.

Five years old Naruto Uzumaki was bored, even aimlessly wandering around the outskirts of the village had lost its charm after the hundredth time. There was not much he could do honestly, as he had no friends to play with, or even someone to spend time with. He always felt his apartment to be unfeeling and small, as if in the next moment, the walls would move in and swallow him whole. The only things he owned that were distracting to him were a couple of storybooks, but he had already read through them 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 and even tried shouting once, but it had no effect.

The old-man in the funny hat, the hokage he had later found out, had told him that people will understand someday and will accept him. He frankly couldn't understand what there was to accept, did he do something wrong or was it that something was wrong with him. He wasn't stupid, he knew there had to be a reason, 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 hadn'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 kitty-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 had even seen a girl that had no black spot in the middle. Later he found out that there was a whole family of people with those grey eyes walking about.

He just couldn't figure out why he was treated differently; he was just a kid, right? He had seen how the adults 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. Then he would feel that familiar feeling of anger and hate he always felt, trying to overwhelm him, creeping and crawling within him. He would then want to break something, lash out at someone. He hated that feeling because it only made him sadder. He had promised himself he won't get angry; he won't cry. If he behaved maybe someone would want him… maybe.

Suddenly, he felt something from his hand, a faint pulse of warmth. Naruto would have thought he had imagined it only 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 under some fences and through the woods, ducking and weaving through the foliage, never did he have to turn, the path was straight. His hand was leading him somewhere.

After a while, he came upon an old building behind the clan compounds some ways off 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, and as he placed it on the door, he felt a faint prickle. He was reasonably surprised when a lot of squiggly lines of writing appeared where he had touched the door. Moved by an unseen force the door opened.

The inside of the building was quite dark, but Naruto could still make out a lot of stuff. It was so cool, even if it was dusty, and 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?" Naruto heard a soft voice come from behind him, and he turned, prompting him to turn quickly and see if he needed to run.

There, now in front of him, stood a woman. She had long bright-red hair like his own, 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 slightly darker 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 princesses; they often 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 shinobi.

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?"

Mito 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 those were scarce. The boy looked remarkably like Kushina when she was this young, same pair of eyes, same hair, albeit a lot shorter, framing his chubby face making him look like a tomato she mused fondly, albeit with some very curious markings on his cheeks. Honestly the child in front her was adorable.

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 had happened to Kushina all those years ago, only for the feeling to strengthen as Kushina had failed to revisit her.

"I'm Mito Uzumaki."

"Uzu- UZUMAKI, like me, lady? Do you know my mommy 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 perhaps she could help him find them wherever they were.

"I'm not entirely certain, but I can 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 jump really high and- and shoot fire from their mouths." He asked excitedly mimicking blowing fire with his mouth.

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

"But if I don't know what it is, 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 wider; little Naru seemed bright. "You didn't. Did you feel it on your hand?" she asked already suspecting the answer, seeing him nod she continued, "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. Finally, he would know.

"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, more so for the Uzumaki ones. Still, they, the Uzumaki, were usually blessed with more chakra to feel around for, so it shouldn't be impossible even if Naruto was too young.

And sure enough, after an hour or two of coxing him gently to stay still, he had succeeded, 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 very 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 should remain. Uzumaki always have possessed an incredibly potent chakra that resulted in creating more enduring seals; it was one of the little things that made their seals better. 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 the palm of his hand and was delighted to watch a small seal appear onto it. He looked towards the nice lady in barely restrained anticipation, 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. It looked to be unmoved in ages, there was an undisturbed layer of dust covering it.

"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 little knickknacks, but his interest was quickly 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. Your mother, Naru-chan."

Old 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.

New Author's note-

This chapter was revised and reworked when I was writing Chapters 10, 11 and 12. So it should be closer in style to those. I haven't started working on chapter 2, so going forward unless I sate it at the start of chapters 2-9, you might experience a slight dip in quality.