The Wonder Years

Two weeks had passed since Naruto's disguised walk out of Konoha. Keeping to Civilian Routes, he kept his Chakra suppressed with seal #4 of 20 of the Uzamaki Seals. He kept in the groups of merchants and families going from place to place for there he was just one of many. Each Night he would check into an inn on the road he was on, get a shower, a nice quiet meal, and a good night's sleep. Each morning, he would be up earlier than usual, Make a quick group of Bunshin for reconnaissance, searching for groups heading in the direction he was going. Once he found one, he made sure to get into conversations during the breakfast hours at the inn of the day and worm his way into travelling with them. After 3 weeks, he had made his was half-way to his goal. The tropical coasts at the far end of the continent, granted this took him away from the other elemental countries, but for now was exactly perfect for his plans. Being the furthest south, they had the fewest if any shinobi present, the fire county to the North shielded them from the other lands. Their primary economic assets had no need of shinobi. Farming, Vineyards, Orchards, Beaches, Bars and Hotels provided plenty of work, plenty of cash floating quickly and cleanly.

Now a month later, Naruto found himself at the gates of one of the larger orchards in the region, sign on the gate, "Seasonal Workers Wanted", He went in, applied and 2 hours later had his credentials. Approaching the Main store house, He found the foreman, climbed on the wagon and started what was to be Routine every morning following for the next 3 years.

Mornings were best for training, the humidity got worse as the day wore on. Up at 5, Brisk 2 hour workout, The normal body building along with Dragging weights while running for resistance, All done with his chakra suppressed. With the high quality nutritional items he could now buy, the daily 2 hour workout provided serious strength and stamina building. A quick swim for hygiene and a cool down and off to work. Get to the Orchard by 8, Work till 6. Lunch being 2 hours at the peak of sun. Arrive back at the bunkhouse for the seasonals, Change, put on his well hidden weight simulation seals. Most shinobi went for gravity seals, Not an Uzamaki. The weights were specifically tailored for speed of the extremities, hand speed and foot speed. What good were thighs and buns of steel when you were to slow to move out of the way of a death blow? While the weight seals had chakra power to keep active, he once again did this workout without the aid of chakra, 20 sprints, Timed, a short cool down, again simulating combat. Quick strike movements, followed by a long run timed, followed by 20 sprints, simulating fighting, running to the next battle, fighting again. He did this workout first for an hour the first 6 months, adding length till he could go flat out with twice his body weight on him for 2 hours.

The physical workouts without chakra allowed him to make a few bunshins a night, going to the beach late, they had ample water to learn and practice Suiton and Futon Jutsu's. Water Dragon, Water Wall, Water Bullet, Water Cyclone, Water Arm finally mastered and 1 hand sealed. Water Tsunami required full sets of seals because of the chakra draw of a massively wide, tall and deep speeding wave that would wipe out a ½ dozen city blocks instantly, whenever a rowdy crowd was in a hotel and pissed him off, that hotel almost always found it flooded from that jutsu.

The Futon of his fathers, as much as he had little faith in Konoha, he at least gained some respect for the prowess of his father. Wind Wall of Blades, Single Wind Blade, Hurricane wind wall, Wind Cyclone and the over powered Version of the Cyclone, the Wind Tornado. Mastered sealless from his wind affinity.

He loved the land, on weekends, you could, if employed there, venture into the orchards and do whatever, just no damaging the trees. He would lay there in the midday, under a shady tree, read and re-read all the Uzamaki clan scrolls. Seals, Clan history, Clan Laws, and his Mom's Journals. It allowed him to regain his sense of identity. Where Konoha had tried to take it away as a child, the stories of her own childhood gave him a sense of how his mother thought and felt on a variety of subjects. The colorful metaphors when she was mad, the poetry as she debated home versus loving his father, he grew in many ways with the journals.

His Mother's retrieval of the Seal holding the Kyuubi was what he focused on from the 4th to the 6th year after leaving. He had 3 goals for Years 12-14 for learning, the details of the seal, Could he manipulate it? Could he cut the influence on his physique from the Kyuubi? Could he alter the seal to suit what he wanted, an untraceable, undiscoverable chakra source without the grief? The seals in the Uzamaki scroll included a Medical Chakra conversion seal. Chakra control of a medic was rare in an Uzamaki, so they created a conversion seal. If he could use those, he could simulate Kyuubi healing without the visuals of the Kyuubi Chakra. His Mother had retrieved the Demonic Chakra conversion Matrices, and Mount point diagrams, but he didn't grasp a way to completely force the flow of Demonic chakra fully through whatever matrix that he designed.

Goal number two was his father's 2 non-futon jutsu. The seal s of the Hiraishin were brilliant, each kunai had an array of conversion and focus seals. Each time he pealed a layer off, a more complex layer was below. Months of Weekends would be required of dozens of Bunshin, each working on each layer to learn the design, flow, and purpose. The regular Rasengan he thought to be easy, simple chakra manipulation and control. With him having gone as far already as he has on the elementals, he felt the base Rasengan was a few months of work. The finished Rasengan with elemental infusion would probably take years; His body just wouldn't stand up to that training for quite a while with the Kyuubi seal as it was.

Goal Number 3 was more of a personal goal. What was his future? Did he really understand all he needed to? Philosophical debates erupted between clones, and they confused him greatly. They were worse when his father's memory seal kicked in. The idea that you could sacrifice everything you love for a place, versus sacrificing your place for everything you love. The Uzamaki valued family blood over everything, period. His father had valued a village and a state of mind over everything, could he choose 1 over the other? Was it right to? Was a mix of the two possible or practical? He was getting lost in the confusion. Eventually, he decided he could never get the right answer until he was in that awful situation, but that even worried him just as bad. What he didn't know was that until he had as his mother asked him to restore the clan, it wasn't important.

When his 15th birthday arrived, He packed up his belongings, bade farewell to his boss, the few acquaintances he had made, and decide to follow the coast line and see what life had to offer to him. That night, he was caught unprepared for a Tsunami was that came suddenly with no warning. The quake that spawned it was a 1000 mile away. Luckily he kept his belongings in the first storage seal his mother had put on him, so no losses occurred, but the impact had pinned him under a large amount of broken trees and debris.

He woke up in a darkly lit Black Marble hall, a red aura in the air. The aura wasn't as malevolent as he thought it would be. Nor in anytime in his meditation had he been able to get here. He knew where he was, and he had a good idea why. So he got up, marveling at the beauty of the marble, and walked towards the aura. The hallway opened up to a large hall, a set of bars with a large seal in the middle.

"Jailer, you have arrived" spoke the giant fox behind the bars.

"Yeah, but I have no idea how." Naruto muttered.

"Matters not, jailer, the seal drew you here, It is unique…."

"In what way?"

"It has changed, it was small, now it is large, and it has notations and runes in extremely ancient languages. I have been slowly translating."

"_______"

"Stunned are we jailer? I always thought our meeting would be the stunning moment."

"No, I've known the truth for a long time. Neither of us wants to be here. Together, we apparently have to make it Better. My mother and Sensei, have prepared me to begin my quest to find my place in the world. I've gotten a better education from my clan materials than most Jounin have. I've trained and saved funds, I've seen the beauty a shinobi free land has. I've seen the need for shinobi in the lands of the lesser peoples. My biggest dilemma is yours as well,"

"Shall we start with what has now appeared Jailor?"

"Have you translated it?"

"Yes"

in aevum of proeliator, in the age of the warrior, A curator mos cado Caged per virtus, A guardian will fall, Caged by courage, A champion mos orior oriri ortus , victum vereor of populus of terra, A champion will rise, overcoming the fears of the peoples of the land, cado cannot exsisto resurrected, The fallen cannot be resurrected, such is the fate of those who anger the Gods, Talis est fortuna illorum quisnam ledo filiolus, novus champion must planto a novus semita , vox of cado est suus utor ut is commodo.,The new champion must make a new path, The power of the fallen is his to use as he pleases, vox of cado habitum valde inflecto. champion must planto a choice,The power of the fallen holds great sway. The champion must make a choice.

"Damn, why do I feel like a puppet here? "

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, Just a puppet Jailer? We are both puppets if I interpret this right. I wanted to break out of here, but reading that, I know if I do, I face trials that make death seem appealing. The Gods do not normally create human sacrifices; rather men create sacrifices to try to become Gods. I have been in this position once before Jailer; I was rather easily able to escape. Clearly the Gods have at least helped in the creation of this seal. There are many questions we both have to find the answers to; clearly you have already started unknowingly gathering the answers based on your own investigations"

"WHHHAAT, How?"

"Your Families seals, the seal shows those designs you have been studying, when the seal changed, Access to your knowledge was granted. They are in the seal; if you study the seal you can see the layers and mount points. But the question remains, is that all? Ponder this for some time; I will push through my chakra to heal you for now, Find shelter, rest. Come to me when you have intelligent thoughts,"

With a Bright flash, Naruto was thrown from the seal, Kyuubi chakra flaring, instantly healing his wounds. With a level of pure force he had never felt before, he dug out of the debris, trees tossed about the land like toothpicks. He dusted himself off, Activated Seal # 13 of the Uzamaki 20 and his clothes were clean and fresh. Another one of those times where looked up in the now dark sky, thanking his mother profusely, looking at the stars, wondering which one was where his mother was.

"Thank You Mom, If it wasn't for you and Itachi-Sensei, I would have been either dead or a mindless tool of the Leaf. For someone such as I to survive and grown strong and reasonably sane, Damn Clones, I think is a miracle. Even in death, you protect me from harm. "

Walking away to find a place to sleep for the night, He knew he needed some answers. His mother had mentioned Godparents in her journals; they were supposed to be there in his early years. Why weren't they? Could they have the answers to his questions? Should he assume they could answer his questions? His head started to hurt again from thinking about it.

Authors Notes:

Next Chapter is Itachi and Konoha Centric. What was the fallout of the Uchiha slaughter? Who made up the Rookie 9 without Sasuke and Naruto? How does the Akatsuki deal with a Naruto whom no one knows is alive and hasn't been seen or heard from since making the Hokage's clowns?