"Ow-ow-ow!" Cries of pain filled a room in the house of the Hokage. Every time the rag briefly pressed against Nartuo's cheek caused him an immeasurable amount of anguish.

"Hold on…" Stopping for just a moment, Kushina reached for a bottle of alcohol and slowly poured it on the rag. "So tell me again… How do you accidently ricochet several shuriken off each other back to yourself?"

That was something Naruto could not even fathom to answer. He didn't want to admit it but he felt lucky that he got away with little injury after he achieved what would probably consider a travesty.

"It wasn't on purpose…" Naruto grumbled.

His mother kneeled back down in front of him, a coy smile spreading across her face. "I did say accidently."

"I was just trying to hit the target; how can they bounce off each other back at me!?" Naruto loudly complained.

"Hold that thought."

Without warning, Kushina dabbed the alcohol drenched rag against Naruto's face, the sending the hysteric child spiraling around his bedroom.

"Why does that hurt so much?!" he cried.

"'Cause I'm not a medical ninja. Now stop hopping around so I can put the bandage on already."

Doing as he was told; Naruto cautiously approached his mother. She giggled slightly at the sight of his hands pressed tightly over his wound.

"You know, I can't do it while you're like that," she pointed out.

"…You're done using that rag, right?"

"Yeah, I'm done."

"Okay…"

Naruto slowly removed his hands away from his right cheek.

"Mm… Maybe a little more!" Kushina shouted, raising the rag up for Naruto to see.

"I knew it!" Naruto screamed, quickly covering his wound once more.

His mother burst into laughter, filling Naruto with embarrassment.

"That wasn't funny…" he muttered.

"It was hilarious," Kushina chuckled. "But seriously, let's get this bandage on before something happens."

Naruto violently shook his head.

"Come on, I promise no tricks this time."

Naruto shook his head once again..

"If you don't, I'll start giving you extra vegetables at dinner."

Naruto didn't respond that time. After a minute of silence, his hands slowly dropped back to his side.

Hm? Something peculiar, but familiar caught Kushina's eyes. Naruto's wound was already closing. In a few short moments, it will be as if it was never there..

"Mom?"

Snapped out of her trance, Kushina was met with a confused stare from her son.

"R-Right. Here you go."

She quickly placed the bandage over Naruto's healing wound and softly patted it in place.

"Should be fine soon," she said. "Now, time to get into bed."

Naruto gently rubbed his cheek as he slipped into his bed.

"Hey, Mom…"

"Yeah?"

"Do we have any cool clan stuff?"

Kushina eyes lit up with curiosity. "'Cool clan stuff?'"

Naruto jumped up and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"You know, like the ability to shoot fire out of our mouth or having a giant, cool place to live at."

Kushina snickered at her son's imitation of the most basic fire release technique. She also found humor in the irony once reminded of why there was as once a hole in ceiling of this very room.

"Well, not everyone can be Uchiha or Hyuga." Kushina said with a playful shrug.

Naruto crossed his arms, dissatisfied by that answer.

"Actually, now that I think about it, how come there's no other Uzumaki Clan members in the Leaf except for us?" he asked.

"Our clan…?"

"Yeah, every other clan here has a whole lot of people, but we're the Uzumaki here."

That was one of the questions Kushina knew she had to answer one day. It was something she knew she needed to think about since the day Naruto was born just in case it came up earlier than she expected. She needed to be prepared.

Unfortunately, she was not.

"That's… Well, it's really because… It's because, I'm not from around here."

"You're not?" Naruto gasped.

"Haven't I told you before; I came here from another village as a kid."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. The reason we're the only Uzumaki here is because our clan hails from a place far away from here."

"Another village…" Naruto's head bobbed from side to side as he took in what he's seen as just told. "So how come we've never gone there to see the others?"

"I guess… We just never had the time. I mean, there was always life and death missions and then your father became Hokage and then I gave birth to you…"

"Well, how come no one you knew came to visit… Wait, was that pink-haired lady an Uzumaki too?"

"'Pink-haired...'" a stern, almost angry look landed on Kushina's face. "Wait, were you spying on me when you missed class that day?"

"No way!" Naruto waved his hands at a speed that seemed inhuman as he denied Kushina's claim. I just happened to see you when washing the ramen bowls… twice!"

"Mm-hmm…" her expression soon softened into an inquiring smile. Anyway, no, she isn't. She's an old friend of mine."

"Oh… So, how come I haven't seen any other Uzumaki come to visit?"

"They… Most likely can't make the trip."

"How come?"

"For one, my old village was surrounded by tides and steep hills and also… A lot of things happened that keeps that from happening."

"Like?"

"Too much to tell you all at once."

"Come on, can't you tell me one thing?" Naruto begged.

Kushina crossed her arms in the shape of an X. "Eehh. No way."

"Come on!"

Kushina went silent as she pondered her son's request. "Well… Maybe if you let me add more vegetables to your dinners from now on."

"Bleh… Never mind…"

"That's what I thought."

It was at that moment when Naruto realized his mother had another weapon to use against him, a fact that did not sit well with him.

"So, it's just us?"

"Just us," Kushina confirmed, nodding her head. "Ya know, being the only one here's kinda the reason you have my surname instead of your father's."

"Really?"

"Yep. Plus, as soon as I laid eyes on you, I could tell you were more Uzumaki than anything else."

"You mean I have something that's really Uzumaki?"

"Definitely."

Naruto didn't know what about him would lead his mother to believe that, but it nonetheless filled him with pride.

"Wait, is it that I can jump higher than the other kids?"

"No, that's squarely you."

"Then what? Is it some cool thing our clan has over others?"

"That's right, you did pretty much ask what our clan brought to the table. Um… Give me a minute."

Kushina turned and left the room. Moments later, she returned with her old flak jacket. She casually flipped it over and drew Naruto's attention towards the center.

"Alright, Naruto, notice anything interesting?"

"Like what?"

"You don't notice anything eye-catching on the back?"

Naruto stared at the jacket hard.

"Um… That red circle in the center?"

"Yep. You've noticed these before, right?"

"Yeah, they're on the back of all of them."

"Well, guess what? Those circles are actually the spiral that represents our clan."

"Wait, really?"

Though previously confused at what his mother was hinting at, Naruto was now astounded by what he just learned. It was almost unbelievable.

"You know how the Uchiha are always walking around with their clan crest on their back. Well, a lot of the ninja in the village walk around with our clan crest on their back."

"That's so cool!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs."Did Dad make them wear them?"

"Nope." Kushina replied, trying to fix her nearly blown away hair. "It's been a tradition since the village was founded."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. Our clan was good friends with the clan of the First Hokage: Hashirama Senju. It's because the Uzumaki and Senju were such good friends that Lord First put our crest on every flak jacket ever made."

"Wow… That's even cooler than Uchiha crest on the police force."

"Yep."

Kushina leaned in closer, the once playful atmosphere she held vanishing immediately. The amount of seriousness she displayed perplexed Naruto. "Just remember, the crest worn by the shinobi of our village isn't meant to symbolize power or bragging rights. It's a symbol of friendship."

"It's still pretty cool though! We may be the only two here, but our crest is really important!"

Kushina laughed. Though she knew the meaning of her words flew over son's head, she hoped that they would remain with him.

"Oh, but that's not the only cool thing Uzumaki's are known for."

"Really? What else is there?"

Acknowledging her son's continued interest, Kushina opened her mouth, "I'd tell you, but you'd be up all night. Time for bed."

"Aw, come on!" Naruto complained.

"Can't give you all the secrets now, now can I?"

"Ugh…"

"Hehe. Good night.

The next morning…

"Hey, Minato."

His wife's call seemed like a well-timed wake-up call. He looked up and discovered her eyes transfixed on the report he was just reading.

"What happened?" she asked.

"…Last night, I received another report of missing-nin."

"Which kind? Rogue ninja?"

Minato shook his head.

"It was another group of young genin."

"Again?"

Kushina hands were clenched tight upon hearing that, seemingly to keep her alternative response at bay.

"Hey, I know you said 'genin' but does that report happen to mention-?"

Minato somberly shook his head again.

"Okay… What happened now?"

"Seems like a team from the Hidden Stone were taken while on a standard delivery mission."

"The contents weren't important?"

"No, they were delivering plush toys of Lord Tsuchikage."

"Say no more."

Kushina jumped up from their coach, throwing her hands up in amazement. While Minato did not share wife's feelings regarding the Tsuchikage, he did find her "It all makes sense" reaction somewhat humorous, if not also a little worrying.

"Wait…" A realization hit Kushina like a ton of bricks in that instance. "If you're theory's right, doesn't that mean that whoever's responsible has a full set by now?"

"And they're all young genin, fresh out of their respective academies. At least for the most part."

"What's throwing a wrench in the theory?"

"The world's no stranger to ninja disappearing at a moment's notice and faking capture is one of the most common tricks to go rogue. The reason I considered the possibility of someone being involved with those disappearances was due to the age of these new ninja.

But at the same time, it's not like age is always a good measuring stick for a ninja's skill. Just look at Kakashi when he was younger; he was jonin and could most likely pull something like that off if he wanted to."

"You remember Kakashi was a jonin due to a need of ninja at the time, right?"

"It's still a testament to his capabilities."

Minato had been wracking his mind trying to find some way to definitively figure out what was going on, but he always came up with one answer.

If no answers come up soon, this may lead to strained relations between countries again. It may be past time to-

"Morning, Mom. Morning, Dad." Naruto's cheery voice filled the room as he rushed in. He jumped up and landed right next to his father. "What're you guys doing?"

"We were just talking about what's happening in the world," Minato answered. "Did you know they have plush dolls of Lord Tsuchikage again?"

"Tsucha-who?"

"The respected old man with rocks," Kushina explained.

"Oh… Wait, who?"

"Aren't they teaching you world history at the academy?"

"Eh…" Naruto turned his eyes away and started laughing. "H-Hey, Dad, did you know that Mom's clan is super important to the village?"

"Of course. In fact, I genuinely wondered if she was a VIP when she was first introduced to our class."

"Y-You did?"

The moment Minato turned to Kushina, she quickly covered her faint red cheeks.

"You were escorted into the classroom like an important figure would be. That and along with your flowing red, I thought it was a fair assumption to make back then."

Kushina turned around, softly twirling strands of her long hair with her fingers.

"If only our other classmates had the same reaction…" she mumbled under her breath.

Naruto glanced at his father from the corner of his eyes. He looked as if he just saw something horrifying.

"What happened?"

"Nothing!" Kushina shrieked, flailing her arms. "Nothing, just a lot of 'peaceful' resolutions to some 'hard introductions'! Ya know what they say, when first impressions fail, you have to make stronger second ones."

"…You beat up your classmates, didn't you?"

"Whaaat, no? What makes you think that?"

"You chased me around the village over veggies."

"Any mother would do that. Granted, not every mother has a child that would run around the village several times over just because they didn't want to eat vegetables."

"They're gross!"

Though at this point, Naruto was not sure if there was anything else he could do to avoid vegetables now that he knew that his mother was willing to commit to chasing him down over them.

"Speaking of running around the village…" Minato spoke up, catching his family's attention. "Naruto, there are no classes at the academy today, right?"

"Yeah. I'm going to spend the entire day working on my shuriken throwing technique."

"About that…"

Naruto felt a chill. This conversation seemed to be veering towards a direction similar to how his talk with his mother went the day he skipped class.

"What would you say to working at the Post Office today?" Minato proposed.

Memories of the child's recent raid on the establishment came rushing back. Naruto remembered the differing expressions and hat his opposition held, none of them positive.

"Why do you want me to work there?"

"Do you remember the last time you were there?"

"…No."

"That means yes," Kushina translated.

"I've had some complaints on how you've acted while there and it may be best if you spent the day there to erase those bad feelings," Minato continued.

"Why? I didn't do anything wrong; I was just trying to pick up a package for someone and they wouldn't let me at," Naruto argued.

"I know you went there with good intentions, and I am proud that you went so far to help someone, but you did cause a major uproar there for those who were just doing their job and had no relation to the few that were keeping you out."

"I still don't get what the point of spending my day there. Shouldn't I be using my day off to follow my ninja way?"

Instead of a straight answer, Minato placed his hand on Naruto's head and explained thusly.

"Naruto, one thing to always remember is that everyone in the Leaf is one big family and knowing that, we strive to support each other in our times of crisis and try to right the wrongs that we've done. After you left, the staff had to spend time trying to get everything back in order and felt as if they were wronged for no real reason."

"You mean, I made their day harder even though I was trying to do someone a favor?"

"That's right."

It was a strange feeling. Up until this point, Naruto felt no regrets in charging in and grabbing what he needed. Now however, he felt some shame for his actions.

"But… I was just trying to help people."

Sympathizing with her son's feelings, Kushina sat down next to Naruto and pulled him close.

"Naruto, we know your heart was in the right place, but you're method was a little… it was relatively destructive. Maybe next time something like this happens, you could try a different approach."

"Like what?"

"You could call me. I'll sort out those that give you unnecessary trouble, because when I still think about it… Those guys giving you a hard time gets my blood boiling…!"

Before she even realized it, Kushina's left hand was tightly balled into a fist. She sheepishly turned her o her family, their faces saying enough.

"A-Anyway, diplomacy is the way to go."

"So… I should make it up to the post office people?"

Minato nodded his head. "That would be the right thing to do."

A bold smile crossed the child's face and he eagerly jumped on his feet.

"Alright, I'll do it!"

One hour later…

Sitting in the middle of the uppermost level of the post office was a giant pile consisting of nothing but letters and envelopes. It was so impressively massive that a child could easily be consumed by it.

At least, that was one of Naruto's thoughts as he stared at the behemoth. The other-

This sucks.