A/N: Well, here it is. Chapter 11. I hope you all are enjoying the story so far and continue to do so. I got a question from a guest that I want to clarify. Since I can't PM this reviewer I will answer it here.
To Bombza: Yes, that is normally true. But remember, even in canon the Kyuubi was split in half, making the amount of chakra much more managable. Not to mention that it was the Shinigami who performed the actual sealing portion in my story. That's why a non-Uzumaki is able to handle having it done. Because it's only half, and the sealing was done by a literal god.
Anyways, on with the chapter.
A Mysterious Seal: The Path onto the Island of Death
The next day, team 7 find themselves searching the coast line for any way into the island. There seems to be no way to get across the water, not with all the whirlpools in the way. The search was fruitless. No one could find anything.
"Well," Kakashi began. "I'm at a loss for what to do here." Kakashi was in fact NOT at a loss. His sensei's wife had told him of the island defenses and sealing array. He just wanted to test his genin. "Any idea's you three?"
Sasuke and Hinata turned to Naruto, who had a thoughtful expression on his face the whole time. "I... don't know. I'm getting a... a feeling of some kind off to the north. Just up the coast."
Kakashi smiled internally. 'His Uzumaki blood is telling him where to go. Just as Kushina-sama said.' He then spoke up, "Well, this is your homeland by blood. I'd say lets trust your feeling. North we go."
And so the team walked a ways up the coast, taking in the different sights the whole time. "You know," Sasuke said. "I knew the sea was going to be different, but this isn't quite what I was expecting."
"I know what you mean, Sasuke-kun. It's so different from Konoha." Hinata was looking out at the horizen in wonder. 'I wonder what's out there, beyond the sea.'
Naruto, however, was completely unaware that a conversation was even taking place around him. He was so lost in his own thoughts and feelings, you could set of a paper bomb right next to him and he wouldn't hear it. 'What was it like, I wonder. It was a hidden village in it's own right at one point in time, complete with its own Kage. It was so strong it took three hidden villages to lay siege to Uzushio.' So lost was he in his own thoughts, it took Kakashi shouting out his name four or five times to bring him back to the real world.
"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted again.
"Huh? Did you say something Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Hai, I was calling your name for the last few minutes. Are you okay?" Kakashi asked.
"Hai, hai. Was just lost in thought." Naruto explained. "There are so many questions I have. So many things I want to know. So much I could learn about my clan and its history here. I just need to get on the island." Naruto got progressively quieter and quieter as he spoke until his last few words were nearly a whisper. "Maybe... maybe even rebuild the clan one day. And find any other survivors..."
Team seven looked at him in concern. They looked at him with understanding, particularly Sasuke since over half the Uchiha clan was wiped out in recent years. But no-one looked at him with pity, knowing that pity was the last thing Naruto wanted right now. So the team silently vowed to themselves that no matter what they found, they would be there for Naruto.
A few minutes later they found themselves walking up to a shabby, broken down pier. Naruto stopped, causing the others to stop behind him. "The feeling I'm getting is coming from here."
"A run-down pier?" Sasuke deadpanned. "You're getting a gut feeling from a run-down fishing pier?"
Instead of answering, Naruto walked up to the pier, following his instincts. After searching the remaining boards, Naruto comes across a sealing array that's been hidden on the underside of the pier. "I found something," he shouted back to his team. "Fuinjutsu. I'll need time to study it to know what it does. Maybe a few hours?"
Kakashi smiled at his student from behind the mask, though you couldn't really tell. "Alright, while Naruto inspects the seal we will relocate camp and such. Sasuke, you break down the tents and set them up here. Hinata you pack and move our supplies. After that's done, I'll teach you both how to set up good perimeter traps."
The two genin both nodded and walked off to start on their assigned tasks. Meanwhile, Naruto was going over every stroke of the sealing array he found. As he looked over it, he began to talk to himself, vocalizing everything he was finding in the seal. This was more habit than anything, as it helps him to make sure he doesn't miss anything.
"It's a five point seal. The Uzumaki swirl is in the center marking it as a creation of the clan. It looks like it takes both chakra and blood to activate. Most likely the blood of an Uzumaki. Lets see, the first layer of the seal contains a transference seal, converting the chakra into a construct of some kind, but only if it has the appropriate blood for the activation. The next layer is a containment seal. Looks like it has something massive sealed within it. It can't be unlocked until the above layer is activated. The third layer looks like it has something to do with the whirlpools, or maybe Uzushio itself? Or the waterway in general between here and Uzu? I can't tell. Kuso... Uh... let's see. The connecting arrays line up so that each layer is activated a fraction of a second after the previous one, starting with layer one. It doesn't look like there are any trap seals preventing it from being activated, odd. . . . Wait, What's this, an energy siphoning array hidden in the first layer. Looks like if your blood isn't right for the seal, it will siphon off your chakra till you're dead. Yeesh! Hmm, another odd part, the seal has an array I don't recognize hidden in the second and third layers. It looks almost like the transference seal, but... maybe a long distance transfer? That's beyond me..."
Kakashi, who had been listening the whole time, was very impressed to say the least. As Naruto stood up on the pier to think over the seal, Kakashi asked, "You understood that much of a high level seal with that short of an examination? I'm very impressed Naruto."
"Well, I recognized the majority of it from the fuinjutsu books that I read nearly every night. The few that I can't read have enough similarities that I'm able to decifer them with little problem. The only one giving me trouble is the one hidden in the second and third layer of the seal. I can tell that it's not harmful, I just can't tell what it actually does right now." Naruto explained.
Kakashi then asked Naruto the obvious question. "So what does the seal do then, from what you can tell?"
"Well, the first part of the seal takes in the blood and chakra of the user and transfers it to a storage seal in the second layer to unseal whatever is in it. It's massive from what I can tell. I'm not entirely sure what the third layer does. But..." Naruto paused, deep in thought. "Wait. It's not a long distance transfer seal at all hidden in the bottom. It's a timer. Whatever the array does, it's on a timer!" Naruto quickly goes back to the seal. "Okay, so if the array connects the second and third layer together here, then that means it's not a circuit timer. This array connects here and triggers this supplementary seal, then that causes the seal to reverse itself after about..." Naruto has a glazed over look in his eyes as he does his mental calculation. "10 minutes. Whatever this seal does, whatever is sealed in the second layer storage array, it reseals itself after 10 minutes. And the timer seal is connected to a long distance transference seal after all. This seal has a sister seal on the island itself."
Kakashi just looked dumbfounded as Naruto spouted off all this information too quickly for him to follow. Kakashi doesn't have much fuinjutsu training, despite who his sensei was. His knowledge is limited to exploding notes, storage seals for basic equipment, and his summoning jutsu for his ninken. "Um, Naruto? A basic explanation please?"
Naruto chuckled at that. "Let's wait until Sasuke and Hinata-chan are here. I'm still working it out in my head. I understand how the seal works, but without knowing what is actually in the storage array, your guess is as good as mine on what will actually happen.
After a few more minutes, Hinata showed up at the new camp location and started unsealing the equipment from the storage seals Naruto had made for the team before the mission. How he makes the seals so fast, Hinata still doesn't understand. It was another 10 minutes before Sasuke came back with the tents. After setting them up, Kakashi made a camp fire for them as they all sat around it and Naruto released some food stored in one of his own scrolls. They set up a pot over the fire and added water, meat, vegetables and spices and let the stew begin cooking.
Naruto then began to explain how the seal worked. "Okay, so from what I've figured out, it's a triple-layered Uzumaki blood seal. It takes in the blood and chakra of an Uzumaki to unseal a massive item stored in the second layer. The third layer is a timer and transference seal linked to a sister seal most likely on the island itself. The only way to know for sure what it does is to activate it. I'll draw counter seals on my hand that will activate only if the array on the pier tries to harm me in any way. I would recommend you all stay at least 20 meters away during this process. I think doing this tomorrow before noon would be best, since we're running out of daylight today and I don't want to go tinkering with an Uzumaki seal in the dark. Bad things can happen."
His team nodded in agreement. Kakashi of course, despite not understanding how the seal worked, already knew what it was thanks to his sensei's wife, Naruto's mother. He knew that it was in fact a bridge. He also knew only an Uzumaki could activate it. Why didn't he share any of this information with his genin? Well, he honestly wanted to see if Naruto could figure it out. And if he couldn't, he wanted to see what kind of crazy ideas the three genin would come up with to get onto the island. He wouldn't let them get hurt of course, but it would be a little funny to listen to. After all of that, then he would tell them what he knew. Now he didn't have to. Naruto was turning into quite the little Fuinjutsu prodigy in his own right. Both of his parents were accomplished seal masters after all. And it's in his blood to be good with seals anyways. All of these thoughts were going through Kakashi's head as he looked on his team with pride.
The rest of the day was spent in conversation until the stew was done. The team ate, talked some more, then went to bed after establishing a watch rotation. Naruto would be taking first watch this time. After activating his Byakugan to watch in every direction he sat back in front of the fire and thought more on the sealing array he would be activating tomorrow. Truth be told, he was a bit nervous about activating a seal that he didn't create himself.
Next was Sasuke's turn on watch. The whole time he was keeping lookout, he was also wondering just how far his teammates would go. How strong would the three of them get together. His thoughts constantly wondered back to the events of a few years ago in which his brother stopped an uprising by wiping out half the clan and running as a 'missing-nin'. No-one knew that of course. No-one except Sasuke, the Hokage and Danzo. Sasuke was just thankful that Itachi told him the truth, despite the fact that he was ordered not to by the higher ups. If he hadn't, there's no telling how Sasuke would have turned out. 'I probably would be some dark, emo punk obsessed with power and revenge pushing away anyone and everyone that cares about me, eventually abandoning the village and running off to train with some outlaw of Konoha to gain the power to kill my only brother... Nah, I don't think I'd go that far would I?' So caught up in his thoughts, he almost lost track of time as he swapped out with Hinata, who had third watch.
Hinata was keeping an eye out with her Byakugan as Naruto had on his shift, the only difference, she was walking the perimeter of camp as well, to cover for her blind spot. A blind spot that Naruto somehow didn't have. 'To this day we don't know how it happened. Why doesn't he have the blind spot like the rest of us do? Is there something wrong with the Hyuuga bloodline that prevents us from gaining the complete Byakugan?' There were many in the clan who put forth their theories, but in the end they are just that, theories. No one had any solid facts or proof to support them. These were some of the things on Hinata's mind that night, like many nights before, when she thought about the clan. Though, to be fair, she and Naruto both had an unfair advantage over the rest of the clan regardless. As Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, they had massive chakra reserves, combine with the healing factor and stamina, it meant they could keep their Byakugan active nearly 24/7 if they wanted to. The strain on their eyes would be healed by the fox, and it would use hardly any of their chakra due to the massive reserves.
But these thoughts would be for another time, as Hinata was about to wake up Kakashi for his shift keeping watch. Kakashi spent his watch doing the same thing he always did, reading his Icha Icha book while keeping all his other senses trained on the environment. He would listen, smell and sense any disturbances or oddities in the area long before he would be able to see it anyways. The former Anbu had incredible senses after all.
The next day, as the genin were getting up and preparing for the day, Kakashi informed them of what the day would be spent doing if all went well. "Okay team, if all goes well and we get lucky on what this seal does, we may be on the island by noon. If that's the case, we will spend the first few hours scouting the coast of the island for a suitable location for camp before venturing inland for Uzushio. This Island hasn't been inhabited by man in about two decades, so the undergrowth will probably be very thick. Stick together, got it?"
"Hai, sensei!" The three genin said in unison. After a small breakfast, Naruto began writing a seal on his left hand, leaving his palm empty of any ink, as that is where he will be cutting his hand for the blood needed to activate the array on the pier. He had the seal done within ten minutes, surprising Kakashi yet again. The one-eyed jonin had never seen Naruto writing a sealing formula before, and so the speed and clarity in which he had done it took Kakashi by surprise. 'Truly his parents' son,' Kakashi thought.
"Okay everyone, I'm ready. Please stand back, I don't want anyone getting caught in this if anything goes wrong," Naruto said.
Hinata stepped towards him, "What about you Naruto-kun? Are you sure the seal you made will protect you?"
"No, Hinata-chan, I'm not. I have no clue if it will work, because I don't know who wrote the array on the pier or how. Anything could happen, so please don't come over here no matter what happens." Naruto pleaded with Hinata not to interfere, much to her displeasure.
She hesitated a bit before nodding reluctantly in reply. She walked back over to the rest of team seven, getting reassuring nods from her other team mate and sensei. "Don't worry," Kakashi said. "I have a good feeling about this." Slightly reassured, Hinata could only nod again in response.
After everyone had backed up to a safe distance, or at least what they assumed would be a safe distance, Naruto went to the pier and sliced his palm open, letting blood drip onto the array. He then channeled chakra into his now injured hand and slammed it onto the array shouting, "Kai!"
The seal glowed a brilliant white, shining brighter than the sun for an instant before a massive construct of chakra began to rise up out of it and extend over the water. The force of the release blew Naruto back a few feet. Team seven watched in awe as the construct of chakra kept stretching out over the water towards the island. When it got half way, it stopped. Then the sister seal the Naruto assumed it would have activated with the same glow bright enough for the team to see it all the way on the island. It too had a construct of chakra emerge and stretch out over the water. The two constructs met and solidified into a single object stretching from the coast to the island, with support pillars of concrete and steel extending down into the water. It was a bridge!
Naruto got his wits together and shouted back to his team, "Hurry! We have to cross now! It will only be here for ten minutes!" And so the team ran at full speed. Well, full speed for the genin. Kakashi just jogged a bit at their pace, not needing to go at even a tenth of his true speed to keep up with the young trio.
They made it across in only half the time the bridge would be there. they stuck around for the remaining five minutes so Naruto could make sure that his analysis was correct. It was. After the remaining time, the bridge disolved into chakra before the concrete and steel dispersed into the seals. The chakra that bound it all together dispersed into the environment. They didn't know it, but the seal actually converted the chakra into natural energy when the bridge was dispersed.
The team turned around and faced the treeline. Just as Kakashi predicted, the undergrowth was a wild mess. This would take a while. The team began to do just as Kakashi had told them before, they stuck together and scoured the coast for a good location to set up their camp. There was no telling how long they would be on this island. They had only been out of the village for maybe half a week, but they could end up searching the island for months before they found what they were looking for.
As for Kakashi, from here on out, he was running just as blind as his genin were. He had never been on the island before. He only hoped there wasn't anything that his genin couldn't handle waiting for them on this island. If so, he knew he could protect them, but it could hurt their moral. A dangerous thing to happen on a mission as long as this one might end up being.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed. Keep those review coming, they are shaping this story just as much as I am. I will have my 'poll' open for about 4 more chapters, so don't forget to vote on the gender and personality of Kurama. How's he/she going to act. Is Kurama going to hate his/her containers? Get along? Help/train them? It's up to you, the readers. Next chapter should be posted in a week or two. Until then, Ja Ne.