AN: Hello and welcome to this short story/concept based around the idea that after the destruction of Uzu and the Uzumaki Clan Kushina was able to locate and rally a number of survivors. Once Minato became Hokage the Uzumaki were able to re-locate to Konoha and be established as an official clan. The 9 Tails attack still happens and Minato and Kushina still die, but Naruto has the remnants of a clan around him that stand up for him and protect them.
As I said, this is both a short story and a concept. There are story threads that are left unfinished because I do have some plans of where I might want to go should I decide to continue this story or make a sequel. As of yet I am still undecided if that will happen.
Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Please support the official releases from the IP owners.
Inside a conference room in the Hokage tower, a meeting was underway. A red-haired man in his mid twenties, clearly annoyed at the direction the meeting was moving in, spoke up.
"I don't see what the problem is here, Lord Hokage. None of you deny that Naruto-sama is Kushina-sama's child. The Uzumaki Clan, like most of the clans represented here, pass the leadership of the clan down via hereditary means. Naruto-sama is the next head of the clan. Of course, he's only an infant and can't rule yet, thus I am acting as the clan's regent until Naruto-sama meets both our clan and this village's requirements to take over the clan."
"The problem," countered Shimura Danzo, "is that the moment the Yondaime sealed the beast inside of his own child, said child ceased to be a person, it is only a weapon, and the Uzumaki cannot be trusted with it!"
"I will overlook your insult to Naruto-sama for now, lord elder," the Uzumaki regent said, his tone of voice conveying his extreme displeasure at Danzo's words, "and what have we done to earn your distrust? Were not members of the Uzumaki clan brought here to Konoha in the first place to serve as Jinchuuriki?"
"Indeed, while individual Uzumaki were brought here, the Uzumaki Clan was never present." Danzo countered, "Uzumaki Mito became Senju Mito after her marriage to the Shodai Hokage, and Kushina came over by herself. Ultimately, I don't trust the Uzumaki Clan to be loyal enough to this village. I suspect your loyalties still lie in your own homeland."
"Our homeland was destroyed!" came the fiery counter from a now very angry Uzumaki, "No thinks to our 'allies' here in Konoha who just stood by and let it happen! No, Danzo-sama, the Whirlpool village was destroyed. So few of us survived. We were lucky that Kushina-sama, the youngest child of our last clan head, survived here in Konoha and was able to set us up as an official clan before sending word to the few of us that survived the destruction of our home.
I understand that with Kushina-sama now dead there are no Uzumaki Clan members left who has lived in this village for more than 6 months, but you do not have to worry about our loyalty, Kushina-sama made sure this place would be our home."
"Even if you are as loyal as you say, it is clear that you are too emotionally attached to our village's greatest weapon. It must be a cruel, cold, and emotionless in order for it to reach its true potential. Clearly, your clan would raise it to be too soft to be effective."
Even more angry after Danzo revealed what his thoughts on how Naruto should be raised were, the Uzumaki regent realized he would not be able to sway Danzo, and changed tactics. After taking in a deep breath to calm his rage at the elder, he turned to address the other people in the room, most importantly the heads of the other clans:
"I ask this of the clan heads in this room. How would you feel if your clan found itself in this situation, being asked to give up the future head of your clan in order to turn them into a soulless weapon?"
Reactions were mixed, but seemed favorable to the Uzumaki. Danzo and his organization were not liked by most of the clans, especially since the elder constantly tried to take members from the clans for his special "training."
Thus far, he had only been successful in "recruiting" clan members a couple of times, instead drawing most of his organization's numbers from the many orphanages throughout the Land of Fire.
However, with the death of the Yondaime Hokage and subsequent return of the Sandaime, Danzo's influence would likely grow.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was a legend and loved by nearly everyone in the village, but he was known to have a glaring blind spot when it came to the shady activities of Danzo, his long-time confidant. The clan heads may only have a limited number of opportunities left to express their displeasure with Danzo.
Hoping to seal the deal, the Uzumaki Regent once again spoke up: "Yondaime-sama and Kushina-sama sacrificed their lives for this village. Their only request in exchange was that their son be treated like a hero. Should you allow Naruto to be taken from his clan, you will betray the faith that the Yondaime and his wife had in you."
The few clan heads in the room that had not already been swayed to the Uzumaki's side were now convinced. Few people in Konoha were more well loved than the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
After surveying the room, the Sandaime allowed himself to smile, clearly pleased with the result, he spoke, "Very well, Yoshide-san. Naruto will stay with the Uzumaki. As acting Hokage, I hereby recognize Naruto's hereditary right to lead the Uzumaki Clan. Seeing as how the boy is only two weeks old, I hereby recognize you as the clan's representative on Konoha's council until such time as Naruto has met both the village and your clan's criteria for him to take his rightful place."
Relieved to have won the battle, Uzumaki Yoshide, regent of the Uzumaki Clan, finally allowed himself to smile, as his thoughts turned to the two week old baby that was likely asleep back at the newly constructed Uzumaki Clan compound: Naruto-sama, you are safe, for now.
-–-
On a large plot of land on the outskirts of Konoha sat several recently constructed buildings. One clearly dominated the others in size. This plot of land was the new Uzumaki Clan Compound. The building in question was the clan's great hall.
In a room inside of this building, some 20 red-headed men and women sat around a long table, discussing the state of their clan. A fierce debate, not unlike the one Uzumaki Yoshide had participated in at the Hokage tower, was taking place.
"You fool." A middle-aged woman was saying, glaring angrily at a younger man. "Look around you. Less than 30 people. This is currently the entire adult population of our clan. In addition, we have 5 children and one more on the way. Growing our numbers has to be our top priority. Why wouldn't we focus on encouraging our single members to seek partners outside the clan, and why wouldn't we look to the orphanages for a temporary boost?"
"Because it will dilute our bloodlines!" The man countered. "One only has to look to young Naruto-sama to see this! Lady Kushina married outside the clan, understandable given her circumstances, but now our future clan-head is only half Uzumaki! If he marries outside the clan as well, his children will be only one quarter Uzumaki! Our bloodline deteriorates too quickly to allow this. We need to focus on keeping marriages inside the clan, and just having as many children as possible to keep our genetic purity!"
Such foolishness. Yoshide mused. I suppose it's about time I involve myself in this pointless debate: "You needn't worry about Naruto-sama's genes." The regent of the clan speaking for the first time since opening this meeting caused all other discussions to stop, and all eyes to turn towards the table's head, waiting for their leader's next words.
"True, Naruto-sama was born half-Uzumaki. However, that problem has already been fixed. You may not have noticed, after all he isn't seen out and about much, but lord Naruto's hair was blonde at first, much like his fathers. However, since then it has turned red."
"So?" The young man countered, still not grasping what his regent was implying. "All that means is that Naruto-sama will look like an Uzumaki, and hair color can and does change as children grow up, it doesn't mean his bloodline is any less diluted."
"True, it will make him look like an Uzumaki, and that is undoubtedly a good thing," commented another young Uzumaki. "The civilians of the village seem obsessed with the idea of a blonde baby that became the 'demon' upon having the Kyuubi sealed into him. But between the Hokage's laws about speaking openly about the identity of the village jinchuuriki, the fact that Naruto-sama hasn't left the compound since he was brought here just after his birth, and the fact that his hair color has changed, people just might not recognize him."
"And he will not set foot outside the compound for at least two more years if I can help it." Yoshide responded, "I want to put as much time as possible between the Nine-Tails Attack and Naruto-sama being among the general population of the village. Hell, if that means he doesn't leave our lands until he starts at the academy then so be it, I will not allow the village to treat him like some bogey-man."
Yoshide had grown a bit agitated as he spoke, but based on the expressions of his fellow Uzumaki, it seemed like the clan supported him on that. The fewer people that made the connection that Naruto was the Jinchuuriki, the better his life would be.
Offering a small smile, Yoshide added "But that is a bit out of scope of what we were discussing," before turning back to the young clan member who had brought up the point about Naruto being half-Uzumaki in the first place.
"Kozumu, you are young. You only recently turned 18, and because of that I will overlook your ignorance...this time." Yoshide responded, now just annoyed at the stupidity of his clansman. "Once it was confirmed that the village would not attempt to take Naruto-sama from us, the issue of his genetics was taken care of."
In an instant, a look of understanding came upon the face of the young Uzumaki Kozumu. "You performed the ritual?! When?"
"As I said, as soon as it was confirmed that the village recognized Lord Naruto as Lady Kushina's heir and our future lord. You know that the younger someone is when they undergo the ritual, the better their chances of survival."
Having dealt with Kozumu's ignorance, Yoshide turned his attention back to the whole of the clan. "I understand the concerns over bloodline, after all ours is very fragile. Had he remained only half-Uzumaki, Naruto-sama would only have enjoyed our enhanced chakra capacity and strong life force. Our other kekke genkai would have been impossible for him."
Everyone nodded with understanding. Healing chakra, chains of chakra, and some other genetic abilities of the Uzumaki were only accessible to those of a certain level of Uzumaki heritage.
"However," Yoshide continued, in an almost chiding manner, "did you forget that we are a clan of seal masters? Did you forget that we have a fuinjutsu designed to modify one's dna? Did you forget about our clan's adoption ritual?"
"Forgive me, Yoshide-sama" Kozumu said, bowing low as he spoke, and with his actions being mirrored by some others who had sided with him in the debate. "I did not forget about the adoption ritual, but I had heard that only the very best of Uzumaki fuinjutsu masters could successfully perform it, and I was unaware that such a person had survived the fall of Uzu."
As Kozumu finished speaking, an elderly man began laughing, before speaking up himself: "The foolishness of youth eh? Oh well, I suppose I had already retired from our Shinobi forces by the time you had been born, young Kozumu."
Grinning to the old man, Yoshide spoke once again. "Since apparently he needs to be re-introduced to some of you, allow me to present Uzumaki Takahiro-sama. Until his retirement some 25 years ago, he was considered our clan's foremost fuinjutsu master in several generations. We are extremely lucky that he and his wife were outside of the village visiting a resort in the Land of Hot Water when the attack on Uzu began. And we are even more fortunate that years later Kushina-sama was able to learn of his location and contact him."
Those who had not known just who Takahiro was prior to the debate beginning, mostly the teenagers such as Kozumu, turned and stared almost reverentially at Takahiro and Yoshide decided that the old man would be able to end this debate once and for all: "I would hear your opinion on this debate, Takahiro-sama."
"I am only 80 years old." Takahiro said, remaining in his seated position. "With our clan's strong life force, I should still have at least a decade or two left in me, if not more. As such, I don't see why our members can't pursue marriages with outsiders or adopt from the orphanages. I can always perform the ritual on any young children that are adopted. Someone who is married in to the clan should not have the ritual performed on them, it is just too dangerous once a person is over the age of 5, but I can perform the ritual on any resulting children. In addition, I would like to begin teaching someone what I know. I must not be the last fuinjutsu grandmaster, another must take over that mantle."
Takahiro's words settled any remaining dissent. The Uzumaki were far and away the smallest clan in Konoha, and if they wanted to become anywhere near as feared or respected as they had been before the fall of Uzu, they needed to prioritize rebuilding. For a clan with less than 30 members, growth was paramount.