Underneath the Underneath

By: FlameXFullmetal

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto despite having a collar and bed for him.

A/N: I am back once more. I went back, finally, and did some revisions to the chapters on the grammar and spelling that I could find. Hopefully, I got it all. This chapter was delayed because of it, my apologies. Anyway, I hope that you like the chapter and as you may already know the drill let's go!

Mikeblade: I apologize. I had thought that I had posted a warning about that but it seems that when I re-wrote the story I deleted it for some reason. The original story was written before it was revealed that Obito was the one that attacked and not Madara. I'll post a warning in the first chapter and update it.

Lara5170: I didn't think about how odd that would seem until you said something lol. Although, bear in mind that Naruto is no ordinary child and training under Kyuubi would have some effect on his emotional control...

"hello" people (bijuu in human form) speaking

'hello' people (bijuu in human form) thinking/coded hand signals

"HELLO" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity yelling

"hello" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity talking

'hello' bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity thinking

hello jutsu

**********Family Treasures*******

The walk through the empty streets and destroyed buildings did nothing to alleviate Naruto's depression. Everywhere he looked was a reminder of what he had lost and what could have been. The empty feeling he had had before meeting his parents was coming back and in all honesty, Naruto was no longer familiar with the feeling making it worse. Inside, Kushina's sobs were finally quieting as Minato rubbed her back soothingly. He had known for years that she had kept her sorrow buried inside but he had never once considered that coming back to her home would bring it all to the front so quickly, or strongly. If he had known, he would have had Naruto wait and tried to prepare her for the onslaught of emotions that would overcome her. It was the third time in his life that he had felt helpless and had to watch as someone suffered knowing that there was little he could do to help them.

Naruto, oblivious to his father's turmoil, stopped as he reached a partially destroyed gate that had the Uzumaki spiral engraved right in the center. Tilting his head he came to the realization that he was standing at his clan's compound and that the gate was still firmly shut. Was it possible that no one had managed to break in and ransack what could have been his home growing up? Cautiously he stepped forward biting his thumb and placed a small amount of blood in the center of the spiral. The old gate creaked in protest as it swung open and granted him access. Hesitating for a mere moment he stepped through the gates and closed them behind him. Carefully making his way to the front door he found himself experiencing the most foreign of feelings.

'Dad? What is this feeling?'

'Kushina once told me that no matter where an Uzumaki was born and raised they will always feel as if they have just come home when in Uzu...that is the feeling you get when you are home Naruto. A feeling that I hope one day...your mother and I will be responsible for.'

'You will dad. I promise that I will fulfill my end of the bargain. You and mom will be out here soon.'

'Thank you, Naruto. How is it that you were so...receptive when you met us?'

'Admittedly, I thought I was dreaming at first but when I realized that it wasn't a dream I had already...adjusted...I guess to it. No need to make a big fuss right?'

'I...thank you..' Minato allowed himself to say as Naruto pushed the door open and entered the building that didn't seem to be affected that badly by lack of maintenance. Walking through the foyer he wondered how Kimiko was doing. 'Probably trying to freak them out or something.' He thought to himself. The building inside was bigger than he expected and cleaner. 'Must be seals keeping the compound clean and intact.' He thought as he continued to wander.

With Kyuubi...

"Of all the secrets that I considered you could be keeping that was not among them," Kakashi confessed staring at the girl in front of him. The nine-tails he had been told, was still confined securely in the seal after it's chakra had washed over the village some time back. All of the jonin had been assured that there was nothing wrong with the fourth's seal and not to worry. However, now he was being told otherwise. The thing that concerned him the most was that he barely cared.

"Well, I am full of surprises."

"You...you're..." Hinata stumbled. She honestly had no idea what to say. She had been told her whole life that the nine-tails was evil and that it was impossible to live with it peacefully. Yet, now she was being confronted by the same "evil monster" and all she could feel was sadness and not fear.

"Is that a problem?"

"No...I always thought that I would be afraid when I came face to face with the Kyuubi and yet now all I feel is sadness. I don't understand."

"Sadness..." Kimiko whispered taking a closer look at the girl in front of her. She had never had anyone say that they felt only sadness when meeting her before. Only that she didn't belong and that she was a mass of hatred that needed to be confined. This was a new experience for her.

"Yes...I can't explain it but I feel as if you haven't been truly happy for a long time. I feel that you are not angry or violent just tired of the way that the world never changes. That humans never change." Hinata struggled to explain. Kimiko felt her eyes widen in shock.

"Interesting. You are turning out to be far more interesting than I originally thought." She mused out loud. Shaking her head she looked at the two of them and shrugged.

"I take it that you are fine with this?"

"I have one question. How is it that Naruto is still alive? I thought that the jinchuriki die when the bijuu is removed from their seal." Kakashi asked.

"Not always there are those that are lucky. Kushina survived having me extracted after giving birth. She may have survived if she had been allowed to rest and received medical attention she may have been alright. She may have never been able to use chakra again but she would have lived. With Naruto as the seal was breaking, I was crafting a link that would act as a seal and allow a majority of my chakra to remain inside of him sparing his life. In essence, the seal is still functioning to restrict my chakra I am just outside of the seal instead of inside of it. Does that make sense?"

"Sort of. What does this mean for Naruto, however?"

"Nothing really has changed. The only difference now is that he may have more of a difficult time controlling my chakra since I will have to consciously control the flow and that may be impossible if we are in a fight. If he loses control odds are I will also lose control. So you would have two rampaging shinobi using bijuu chakra instead of one. Furthermore, as the link isn't one way I am also borrowing some of his chakra as well. Not much mind you. I am just siphoning off small amounts of his yin chakra to replace my own. The Yondaime did tear me in half when he sealed me. Since I need both yin and yang to exist in the outside world I needed to borrow some of his. This means that he will be even worse at genjutsu though..." The vixen trailed off.

"Ouch." Was all Kakashi could say in response. However, in his opinion so long as Naruto was fine he really didn't care.

"There is something else that we have been keeping from you both, however, that will wait until we meet up with Naruto. It's not bad I promise and it is better to see the secret than to hear of it." Kimiko said with finality. Nodding the two smiled at the fox and it almost felt as if things were going to change for the better.

With Naruto...

As Naruto wandered down yet another winding hallway he felt himself become exasperated. He had been walking for what seemed like hours and yet all he had found was bedrooms, bathrooms and the kitchens. Not that it was bad as they would need them later but he was really hoping to find clan records and the library. Unsealing yet another locked door Naruto prepared himself to see another bedroom only to gasp as he was greeted with row upon row of books and scrolls. To his happiness, he had finally found the library and it was breathtaking. He doubted that Konoha had a library at one fifth the size of Uzu's. Slowly stepping into the room he had to force himself to release the breath he had been unconsciously holding. Almost as if he was afraid that the knowledge in front of him would crumble away if he breathed.

Heading to the first shelf he found himself staring as it was clearly labeled as 'Taijutsu' and seemed to be filled to the brim with scrolls. Just how much knowledge had the clan assembled over the years leading up to its destruction? Was the library one of the mitigating factors that drove invaders to attack or was there more? After searching some more he found that the library had been broken into sections for scrolls solely relating to that topic. There were sections for taijutsu, ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, genjutsu (which seemed to be the smallest), bukijutsu and more. The separation was just limited to the ninja arts either. Science, history, math, and languages were also among the sections. Everything seemed so organized and yet chaotic at the same time. None of the sections were alphabetized like most libraries that he had come to know and it seemed as if no one had bothered to straighten the shelves since the library was built.

"How do you even find anything in here?!" He unknowingly yelled out loud. Dropping to a table in the center of the library he found a seal etched into it. Looking more closely he felt his eyes widen in surprise as slowly worked out the seal based on what Minato had already taught him.

"Of course! There are seals on the tables. By using the seal and focusing what it is that you are looking for you can summon the scroll or book to you! They didn't need to organize anything!" He yelled out feeling stupid for not considering fuinjutsu from a clan that was world renowned for it. Shaking his head he moved to place his hand on the seal and then stopped.

'Mom? How do I use the seal?' He asked sheepishly. There was no way that the clan would allow their knowledge to be so easily accessed even if it was in a protected room.

'...ask Kimiko...' Kushina whispered as she struggled to stay awake.

'Okay, mom. Get some sleep you sound tired.' A soft snore was all that he received in response and he reached out to the vixen near the front of the island.

'Found the compound and it is surprisingly intact. Mom said I should ask you how to use the seals in the library.'

'You use the seals for the summoning. Push your chakra into the seal and apply some blood to be keyed into the seal and security system.'

'Do you want me to bring them to you?'

'If you are done with your take you might as well.'

'Alright heading your way.' Cutting the connection Naruto ran through the seals and added himself to the seal. Afterward, he sat back wondering what he should start on. A few moments of indecisiveness later he leaned forward and placed his hand on the seal. 'Might as well start with the clan history.'

Sometime later...

Leaning back in his chair Naruto sighed as he closed the massive leather-bound book. He had no idea that the clan had so many ties to different clans dating back centuries. Or that a small part of the clan broke off to form their own clan in another country with the blessing of the Uzumaki. He had learned so many things that he felt as if his head was spinning. 'Cousin clan to the Uchiha and Senju huh? Lovely, just what I needed. I always wanted to be related to that bastard Sasuke.' Groaning Naruto leaned forward and sighed. Just thinking of the brooding ego was making him mad. As he was beginning to devise ways to make him suffer through pranks a mouthwatering smell caught his attention. His stomach growling angrily he stood and made his way towards the source of the smell only to find his team sitting at the kitchen table looking at him in amusement.

"To think all I needed to do when you were little was have you read a history book to sit still and be quiet all night." Kimiko teased.

"All night?" He asked in confusion.

"It is currently 7:12 in the morning," Kakashi added making Naruto groan.

"No wonder my stomach is growling so much." He said sitting as Hinata pushed a plate towards him and then looked at her lap blushing. Several seconds later Naruto felt his body filled with a sense of euphoria as the taste registered in his mouth.

"This is awesome! Did you make this Hinata?"

"Hai.."

"You're an amazing chef!" Squeaking Hinata felt herself begin to stutter and turn bright red in a way that she hadn't for months.

"Thank you Naruto-Kun." Flashing her a smile he dug into his food and felt his body rejoice at the nutrients that it was finally receiving after a full day of not eating. Leaning back when he was done he looked over at the heiress and beamed.

"Did you know that the Uzumaki clan was the one that created the original caged bird seal and gave it to the Hyuga on the condition that it never be modified and that it never had the ability to harm the wearer until after the Hyuga got their hands on it?"

"Really?!" She yelled sitting up and staring at Naruto in shock. If what he said was true then the original design was here in Uzu and that placed her one step closer to her goal of abolishing the caged bird seal! Especially since they would be able to figure out what was modified and how to fix it.

"Yup. The Hyuga signed a contract stating that they would never modify the seal. By the time that the Uzumaki found out that they had the Hyuga were closer to our clan's enemy and there was no way to enforce the contract without starting an all-out war that they neither wanted or could afford. By the time that they could the hidden leaf was being built and bringing it up may have caused everything to be in vain. So they waited trying to find a moment when it wouldn't cause many problems. I found a letter in my clan's history book that was supposed to be delivered to the Hyuga the day that they were attacked demanding that they stop the application and use of the caged bird seal due to a breach of contract."

"You are the best boyfriend ever Naruto-Kun!" Hinata yelled launching herself at the blonde who was now blushing.

"Not really..but since the letter is written and is legal...I can seal it and send it..." Naruto trailed off noticing Hinata's ecstatic expression. "After that, you would just need to design a seal that couldn't be tampered with to replace it with."

"I would need to learn fuinjutsu though.." She trailed off frowning.

"I'll teach you! Mom taught dad some of our clan's seals like the shikifuin that was originally used to seal Kimiko so I don't think that there would be any problem with teaching you." Hinata almost seemed to be outshining the sun at this point as she snuggled into her boyfriend. Her goal seeming to be closer and easier to reach than she thought.

"Speaking of mom and dad...I think that you should meet them." Kakashi's head snapped up at the sentence and he felt a foreign feeling settle into his chest. "Place your hand on mine." As soon as they did, Kakashi and Hinata found themselves inside of a forest that they knew that didn't exist on Uzu. In fact, it looked more like Konoha's than anything.

"Mom? Dad? I brought some guests!" Turning to look at the baffled expressions he smiled. "I'll explain in a minute." Just as Kakashi opened his mouth to ask a question all of his words died on his tongue as Minato and Kushina came from behind a tree and smiled at them.

"Long time no see right Kakashi?" Minato teased slightly at the silver-haired jonin.

"Sensei? How?"

"Right now you are in Naruto's mind. When I sealed Kimiko I sealed what was left of mine and Kushina's chakra and apparently a small portion of our souls inside of him as well." Minato began. Naruto sat down and motioned for them to do the same.

"I met them some years ago actually. It wasn't too long after I met Kimiko that..."

One lengthy explanation later...

"...and now we are here!" Naruto finished to his baffled audience.

"You...made a demand...of the...death god..." Kakashi managed to stutter in shock. Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and nodded.

"In all fairness, it is my head and I am the one that has to suffer the headaches if they fought in here."

"Naruto-Kun, you are the most reckless, selfless, kind-hearted, dense baka I have ever met and yet that is part of the reason that I love you..." Hinata ranted and then squeaked as she covered her hands over her mouth as she realized what she had said out loud. Naruto felt his eyes widen in shock at the confession and Minato just smiled. Kushina and Kimiko, on the other hand, were on the ground holding their sides laughing hysterically.

"You love me?" Not trusting herself to talk, Hinata just nodded shyly. After a few seconds of silence, Naruto sighed and leaned back.

"I...don't know if what I feel is love yet...but that is part of what dating is about. Trying to discover how you feel about someone else right? I can't say I return your feelings..yet. When I'm sure though you will be the first to know...outside of the people that can hear my every thought." Naruto admitted hesitantly not sure of how she would react. Smiling Hinata just leaned against him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Take your time Naruto-Kun, I'll wait." She whispered. Minato smiled warmly at them.

"That being said, Kakashi...I must say that I am thankful Kimiko's lesson made you realize how reliant you had become on your Sharingan. Otherwise, I would have had to teach you that lesson...painfully if necessary." Kakashi gulped and nodded at his sensei and surrogate father quickly. Sometimes Minato could go overboard with his lessons and those were usually only done when someone did something that they knew was wrong. He never wanted to do another one of those.

"Good. Hinata I must say thank you for looking after Naruto as much as you have. As his father, it means more than I can say in words knowing that there was someone there for him when everyone else abandoned him. As a kage, it makes me happy knowing that the next generation is slowly starting to look past centuries of bias in order to make the future brighter, happier and safer." He said bowing to her in gratitude. Blushing Hinata managed to stutter out a quick reply before burying her head in Naruto's coat.

"I have to agree. Thank you for being there for Naruto. Even when you didn't have the courage to speak to him. Also, I have no problem with Naruto teaching you the clan's fuinjutsu. As long as you understand that you will be unable to teach anyone else the arts that you learn. He will let you know when you begin to learn the clan specific seals."

"Thank you Kushina-san."

"No problem. Besides Hitomi and I were pretty good friends as kids. I did want the two of you growing up to know each other and at the very least be friends or considering each other as siblings. Dating is more than I could have hoped for!" She chirped making the girl turn bright red again. After a few moments of silence, Naruto turned to look at his mom with a curious gaze.

"Mom, is there any way that I can take the library back to Konoha? There is no way that I will be able to read everything here, even with the help of thousands of shadow clones before we have to return ad I know that I won't be able to come back frequently either."

"Yup. On the southeastern wall of the library, there should be an array. Since you have been keyed into the system you should be able to activate it. Once you do there will be a blood seal on your arm that will have the whole library inside of it. You will have to seal the tables separately though. It was put there when it became apparent that the clan compound would need to be expanded constantly by our ancestors. It was also used when we needed to safely make a duplicate of a very old document. We would seal the whole library and then go through it to find all of the scrolls, books, and manuscripts that were showing their age and make a new copy and then store the originals in a different place." Naruto felt his eyes widen in shock.

"I see."

"Also, I am going to send you a mental map of the island. There is a hidden vault under the kage mansion that stores the clan records, original documents, and clan summoning as well as the other summoning contracts that we have found and the more dangerous items among our armory. That shouldn't be left here either and you deserve your clan's contract."

"Thanks, mom." Smiling Kushina rubbed Naruto's head and smiled.

"If you find a contract that you think will suit you Hinata you are more than welcome to sign it. Just know that every contract will test you to see if you are worthy to be their summoner. So you should prepare to be tested. It can be anything from a test of character to combat depending on the summons." Nodding in understanding Hinata thanked Kushina as well.

"Naruto, if you ever head towards Kaze no Kuni you may be able to find some of my clan's old scrolls as well. There weren't that many left when I was a kid so I doubt that we had them all. The Namikaze originated in Kaze no Kuni and moved after Konoha was formed when our numbers began to drop drastically due to a complex number of reasons. All I know is that when they moved they were forced to leave quite a bit behind." Naruto felt his eyes light up at the prospect of even more knowledge.

"Careful Naruto. Knowledge is power and far more dangerous than any jutsu. Remember that just like any jutsu you must wield the knowledge you have carefully and never let it corrupt you. Nor should you let it become conceited. Furthermore, a quest to know everything was what drove Orochimaru to become who he is today." Minato cautioned Naruto who nodded in understanding. Smiling the group leaned back and proceeded to tell stories while at the same time catching up. The group of six spent nearly a whole day inside of Naruto's mind despite only a few minutes passing in the outside world. Even if for just a moment they felt as if everything was right in the world.

*********T.B.C*********

A/N: Well I hope that was okay. I don't intend to spend to much time with them in Uzu but I think that perhaps the next chapter will also be in Uzu as well. After that, I can't say. I think instead of constantly losing my notebook I am going to make the notes and flowchart on my computer and save it there. In any case, I hope that you liked it and as always if you find a spelling or grammar mistake that I missed while editing let me know and I will go back to fix it. As it is I just got done fixing the last twenty chapters. Until next time! Ja ne!