Chapter - 1

My name is...

"For the longest time, I dreamed of that day when I would hold her in my arms and weep with joy."

10 Years into the Future.
An Excerpt from a letter addressed to the Shinobi Council of Konoha.

Sometimes, the world surprises you in ways you can't even imagine. People have it in their heads that with enough effort and willpower, one could always change one's fate. But sometimes, no amount of effort will change the outcome, simply because it's inevitable. You could always argue afterwards. If only you'd done that differently… If only you'd been there… If only…

Sometimes, you'd be able to change things before it's too late. If you accidentally yell at a superior, you suck it up and offer a heartfelt apology before he decides to report you. If your team is injured, you always have the choice to turn back and get them to safety, the mission be damned. There is almost always a way to reverse a mistake.

Almost… Some things are irreversible and inevitable. Death. It would claim everyone… My sensei's delusions about immortality were only that. Delusions. I knew my sister would die someday. I knew it would be quite the gruesome end as well. That's our way of life. You can't hope for a peaceful death when you're a ninja. Fatal injuries are a common occurrence. Two of my closest friends met their end fairly early in their ninja career. Ninjas are used to dealing with death. They have to be.

But despite the many unfortunate encounters I've had with death, I never imagined that one day, my sister would just… be gone. She was a constant in my life that was now just… gone. Deep down, maybe I thought that I would be the first to go. After all, I am the S-class shinobi taking on the village's most dangerous missions.

Having sacrificed more in my 20 years in the elemental nations than most of these so called heroes of the ninja world, I often thought that tragedy wouldn't seek me out anymore. That death had taken enough from me. How wrong I was…

It occurs to me that I am not alone in dealing with this. Many shinobi all over the world are devastated by the loss of a loved one. I am no different. I lost my sister, her husband and their child in one fell swoop. In the span of just 3 hours.

If I'd been there, I could've prevented it. There's not a doubt in my mind about that. I became the youngest S-rank shinobi in the bingo book when I defeated a fully transformed jinchuriki at the small age of 11 and since then, I have improved… A lot. The kyuubi would not have claimed their lives if I'd been there. Of that I am certain.

But… I was on a mission, arriving only a few hours after the battle's conclusion. I found my sister and her husband and their newborn daughter with a sizable hole through their stomachs.

My niece had only a small kunai-sized wound where the tip of the Kyubi's claw pierced her. Not that it made a difference. She was still very much dead. The meagre amount of blood in her small body didn't need much time to drain out.

To think that I thought my life was turning around. I believed my sister when she told me that death had relinquished its hold on me. That I would no longer be cloaked in this… darkness. I believed her when she said that when I finally carried her daughter in my arms, I would forget about everything else. That I would feel as she felt when I was born. That nothing would be more important to me than her safety.

I was so eager to finally let go of this darkness in my heart. To finally be free. For the longest time, I dreamed of that day when I would hold her in my arms and weep with joy.

…

…

As always, this world has found it prudent to deny my happiness yet again. The same shit happens, over and over again. Why does my suffering never end? Even in a time of happiness, despair is right there to rear its ugly head. I am… tired. Where does this stop? When will I be free? Or does this world want even more from me?

I have no way of knowing. I have no reason to stay alive. And I would end my life now if I could. And why I don't just end things right now is simply because of the fact that I do not know how my sister died.

Even as I write this, I realize how insane I sound. Like, duh… A claw through the belly after having a bijuu ripped out of her? That would kill anyone, even a member of the Uzumaki clan. Ok, let's get to the serious bit.

…

…

How did the kyuubi get out?

Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash as most of you know him, is the best damn fuinjutsu user in the world. After me and my sister of course because… well, because we're Uzumaki and that's just how we roll. There is no way the kyuubi could have gotten out. And even if it had, there was no way the huge beast was going to risk attacking a village which had sealed him twice in the past 50 years. Especially not while it knows that the Uchiha clan still resides there. Unlike what most of you believe, tailed beasts are sentient. They have their own motives and goals. And kyubi's goal has nothing to do with burning a few houses and killing a few humans even after Madara Uchiha instigated the fight by enslaving him.

And this leads me to the possibility that the kyuubi was manipulated. How? Could be the sharingan. Could be an overpowered genjutsu. Could be something I haven't heard of yet. I have no clue.

If this doesn't convince you that there was something else going on, consider this…

Minato Namikaze had no other wounds on him other than the huge hole in his stomach… and of course, the large sealing array on his body from using the reaper death seal to seal the kyuubi into himself. Now, why was the village in such a devastated state if Minato just showed up and teleported the kyuubi away as soon as he could. He had to have been distracted or detained somehow.

Does that convince you? No? Well then, consider this.

Other than Minato, there was probably only one leaf shinobi even remotely capable of dealing with the kyuubi… Me… And I was sent on a mission to the Fire Temple to combat a large army of white plant-like creatures that proved too resilient for the resident samurai and the pitiful idiots they call the Guardian Twelve, but child's play for someone like me. The mission came just a day before Kushina-nee gave birth. Minato couldn't refuse a mission from the Fire Daimyo. Jiraiya wasn't in the village, Orochimaru was in Sunagakure, finalizing the terms of the peace treaty years in the making, and Tsunade? Well that bitch was gambling and whoring her way through the Land of Fire. Not exactly the most reliable person to deal with such a sensitive mission.

That left me. And 'me' was sent on that mission by Minato Namikaze himself. FUCK.

If all this doesn't seem a little too convenient, then I don't know what to tell you. I delivered my suspicions to the newly reinstated Third Hokage, despite the immense dislike I have for that… man. As expected, he has brushed it off as denial and paranoia on my part and even had the audacity to give me a mission. And not just any mission, an escort mission. Or in layman's terms, a babysitting mission.

I'm sure you can't hear my… um… 'client' in the background, what with this being a written message and all, but he's right here, gagged and bound, trying to scream. In case you haven't caught on, I'm leaving the village. Hopefully, you know better than to declare me a missing-nin. Over the past few hours, I've learned what I could from Konoha… Now, I'll head to the only other place where I know a bijuu is being controlled. The Land of Water. It's time I see Yagura again.

Oh and just to avoid any confusion, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, 'The Hunter of Konoha'. Although, I reckon I'll soon be just 'The Hunter', huh?'

…

…

Well… Bye.

P.S, Fuck you Danzo…

Hey everyone, this is my first attempt at a story. I have always been interested in previous timelines of stories. There's not enough official info about the Third Ninja War Timeline that I can use to map out all the events accurately. That said, this is fanfiction, so I will be redefining the timeline here and there to fit the story's needs.

AN1: This is a story where Uzumaki Naruto was born in Uzushio and lived there for four years until the rest of the world decided that the Uzumaki clan had to die and attacked the village. But against all odds, one small child managed to survive despite being in the middle of all that carnage (details of the fall of Uzushiogakure will be revealed later in the story). That is Naruto. This small boy will later grow up to be one of the strongest shinobi in the elemental nations and exact his revenge against those responsible for the death of his family. Only, it isn't that simple.

AN2: I don't really know how frequent updates will be because I'm still in school and therefore, can't spend much time doing actually interesting stuff. So, let's see how it goes ig.