Chapter 1
8 Years Later…
"Tou-san, Kaa-san look!" An eight year old Natsumi quickly bounced around, her red hair and blue eyes leaving no doubt as to whom her parents were. She showed her parents that she had conjured three long, thick golden chains from her back which were now floating serenely behind her.
"Well done Natsumi-chan, you're one step closer to becoming more like me and your tou-san; maybe you'll even take that hat away from him."
"Heh, she has a long way to go yet, but maybe one day, especially now that your one year older Natsumi-chan!" Exclaimed an exuberant Minato Namikaze who was taking a break while his Kage Bunshin did his paperwork duties in the Hokage tower.
Eight years on from the Kyuubi attack and all was well, Konoha remained the strongest of the Five Great shinobi villages and the next generation of clan heirs were growing up together and forming strong bonds with each other.
Minato had adverted two disasters within recent years, dealing with the kidnapping of Hinata Hyuuga by refusing the demands of the Yondaime Raikage to hand over the killer of one of his Jounin and instead threatening to publicly denounce him and Kumo and then threatening them with war. Not wanting to go up against the Kiroi Senko who had trumped even his speed, the Raikage backed down.
Secondly, Minato had prevented the coup d'état that the Uchiha clan were preparing by giving them an ultimatum, continue on their current path and he along with the village would execute them all in a single night, or become a more public figure within the village, having his own endorsement and regain the trust of everyone thus bringing the Uchiha back to its former glory. Needless to say, the Uchiha feared the Yondaime's retribution as not one could react in time to his speed, even their eyes couldn't keep up and so they chose the second option, with some Uchiha now becoming Jounin-sensei's which reassured the population of Konoha about the Uchiha's role within the village.
This increase in popularity with the village made the Uchiha clan scrap any and all plans that they had to try and overthrow the current village leaders and set up their own dictatorship within Konoha.
As far as both the majority of Konoha, Minato and Kushina were concerned, all was well, although there still remained the puzzle as to who the masked man was and what he wanted, Minato and Kushina had pushed this question to the back of their minds in order to focus upon their child who they thought was the child of prophecy, the promised saviour of the world.
As such they had given her early training and had not been disappointed, she was a prodigy in most of the shinobi arts, inheriting her mother's vitality and chakra chains whilst inheriting her father's genius for the shinobi arts. Thus by the age of eight, Natsumi was all but a chunin in capabilities, this only cemented their belief that she was the child of prophecy, such talent had to mean that she was destined to change the world for the better.
However both parents had been extremely disappointed with their son's lack of progress, he seemed to have no real talent for anything, despite the minimal training they gave him. Oh he was smart, but his body was weak and so he struggled with the ninja arts barring genjutsu. In this his imagination and intelligence provided Naruto the means to catch everyone except Hyuuga's and Uchiha's off guard but neither of his parents really focused upon genjutsu and so they mainly ignored him in favour of the loud, talented daughter that they had.
As Naruto gazed down at his 'family' who were once again celebrating Natsumi's achievements and Natsumi's birthday, he proceeded down the hall and entered the large library that their family had due to all the scrolls his mother had retrieved and brought over from Uzushiogakure.
Naruto resented his family for ignoring him, blaming them for never training him and blaming Natsumi for taking his strength. He believed she was only so strong because she had robbed him of his strength, therefore having the prodigious talent she does now.
Being so quiet, Naruto never made any friends, all the clan heirs and the whole village were attracted to his loud sister so no one ever noticed him or got to know him, meaning he was always left alone, even more so because his sister had always spread rumours about him also stating that anyone who played with him was a loser. This was enough to make everyone else reject him when he asked to play thus he was forced to stay behind.
Books and scrolls were his only solace, books and scrolls couldn't ignore him, or refuse to acknowledge him or look at him, disappointed. They could only give him information which may one day help him gain a stronger body and prove to everyone just how strong he is compared to them.
Naruto was only allowed access to a small section of the library which contained only the beginner books regarding the shinobi arts and any academic books that didn't contain shinobi secrets. Yet this was still a large amount of information to go through and so Naruto had looked at each section, hoping to find something that he could use to prove he was strong and had talent, but he never found anything except hints at what could be done with fuuinjutsu.
Now while fuuinjutsu is a very strong art, especially as you get to the higher levels, Naruto only had access to the basics and so learnt little that could help him. He had decided to have one last look at this section before moving on elsewhere; perhaps a futile attempt but nevertheless, he may find something of use to him.
So Naruto began to take all of the reading materials out, thinking that there might be something he had missed behind all the other scrolls, lo and behold there was one, tiny scroll which had been randomly left on one of the shelves.
Opening it, Naruto saw a sealing formula the likes of which he couldn't even begin to comprehend, yet hoping that it would reveal some great secret to him, he began to channel what little chakra he had into the scroll after dropping a speck of blood upon it just in case it was a blood seal.
Before he knew it, Naruto was locked in place, paralysed as he felt some sort of presence judging him, analysing his worth, until he had seemingly passed this test and a second scroll appeared from within the first, this one far larger than the previous one.
To the young Uzumaki who has just opened this scroll,
If our predictions and calculations are right, then you are one of the last Uzumaki alive, with only four other direct relations and one who has tenuous ties to the Uzumaki heritage.
What you have just opened proves you are a True Uzumaki; we are a separate order to the rest of our clan, who have devoted ourselves to learning every secret, studying it and replicating it. We are not the frivolous fools the rest of our clans portray us to be, we study the secrets of the world in the hope that we can one day grant one of our own the abilities the Rikudou Sennin had, the power of a God.
We have been able to, using fuuinjutsu, pick out certain genes from within other people, graft it onto our own DNA and gain their abilities. For example, imagine you are a slow shinobi, merely find someone who is fast, take but a few drops of their blood, apply the correct seal and you will gain their speed, no adverse effects attached to it.
We can become stronger, faster, have more chakra and more chakra control than anyone in the world, we can even copy bloodlines, having gone so far as to recently gain Uchiha blood and have just granted the Sharingan to one of our own, our greatest achievement so far!
You may ask why we haven't already taken over the Elemental Nations, I tell you that even if we have the ability to obtain the Sharingan we still have to train it in order to get the other tomoe in the eye. We have also only been able to graft one bloodline at a time, to do more results in… dire consequences. We are sure that it is possible but we haven't yet breached that boundary, our skills are not great enough. In addition the rest of our clan are soft-hearted fools who let their precious morals and beliefs get in the way of the strength they could achieve and hence these imbeciles would kill us because of the things we have done in the name of elevating our status.
But we know that soon there will be attack on our village, the blockade is already in effect and we cannot escape now, trapped not only by outsiders, but also by our own wretched clan, who hold us responsible for the invasion we are about to face. Someone must have let the outside world know of just what we True Uzumaki do, why else would they come after this village? The other Uzumaki are fools, only bearing the successes of our research but never learning the true secrets of fuuinjutsu, feeling safe that their vitality and pathetic knowledge of fuuinjutsu will protect them.
So it is up to you, young Uzumaki, to continue our work and one day figure out the secrets of the Rikudou Sennin himself. Inside this scroll, you will find all the materials you need to advance from a beginner of fuuinjutsu, proceeding through the regular 10 pathetic levels and onto the 10 levels of Uzumaki fuuinjutsu; after accomplishing this, you can finally advance to the 10 levels of True Uzumaki fuuinjutsu. This will teach you the secrets which led us to copying the abilities of others, see partially into the future and even going so far as to develop the Shiki Fūjin, a seal which called forth the Shinigami himself and bound him to do what we asked of it, although at the cost of the user's life.
No True Uzumaki have ever been able to advance beyond what we consider the eighth level by our own standards, it is our firm hope that you can do this young Uzumaki and learn the secrets behind the Rikudou Sennin, the Bijuu and what happened to the Great God Tree, the Shinju which was the primordial God we once worshipped?
Our hopes rest with you,
Uzumaki Arashi,
72nd Head of the True Uzumaki branch
This was… outstanding, beyond anything that Naruto had ever hoped to find, it was exactly what he needed to surpass his sister, his parents and every shinobi in existence. He felt pride that he was considered a True Uzumaki, but obviously his mother wasn't, after all she must have tried to open it if she had brought it from Uzushiogakure and failed to do so, as a result it was left forgotten.
He would start straight away, knowing that he had a lot of work to do in order to reach the level he wanted to be at, it would take years, but it would be worth it.
Heading out of the library and into his room, a place which was bare along the walls, containing only his clothes and writing equipment for fuuinjutsu, as well as a small bed; Naruto again placed some blood on the scroll, which then released a cloud of smoke that dispersed to reveal a plethora of equipment necessary for fuuinjutsu as well as all of the scrolls to advance him through the first level of fuuinjutsu.
Naruto would continue to read until the late evening, doing his best to ignore the birthday celebrations going on below, until he had to come down to greet guests. Halfway through greeting the many different clans who had arrived to wish the Hokage's daughter a happy birthday, Naruto heard a loud commotion, automatically identifying it as his 'godfather' Jiraiya of the Sannin.
"Ero-Sennin, you're LATE!" Immediately running up to the white-haired man, Natsumi jumped into his waiting arms, soon being spun around by Jiraiya who had a look of delight on his face.
"Hey gaki, what have I told you about calling me that! Haven't you missed me, the gallant Jiraiya?"
"I think it is a rather accurate name, although I would change the 'Sennin' to 'Baka'."
Approaching the family from behind Jiraiya, a heavily busted woman with two blonde pigtails appeared, Tsunade, another legendary Sannin, had also come to give her birthday gift to the girl.
"Baa-chan, it's been ages, I've missed you!"
Natsumi leapt out of Jiraiya's arms, straight into those of Tsunade's, who had a slight tick mark over her head about being called 'Baa-chan'. Jiraiya was laughing in the background.
However, lurking even further in the darkness from which both Jiraiya and Tsunade had appeared, lay Naruto, who knew what would come next, it always happened the same way; the two Sannin would appear, catch up with his parents and Natsumi, being greeted by everyone and then…
"It's time to open your presents Natsumi! Come quickly into the living room."
Ahh, there was the call from Kushina, following them into the living room, but sticking to the shadows in such a way that only one who intimately knew the corners of the house could, Naruto saw the 'picture perfect' family surrounded by the clans and a huge pile of presents.
"Can I start now, pretty please?"
Seeing the indulgent nod from her parents, Natsumi tore into her presents, giving thanks where it was due to each person for every present, garnering a wide range of ninja tools, books and many other esoteric items.
But of course, the best came last, only four presents remained.
"So where're your presents, baa-chan, ero-Sennin, kaa-san, tou-san?"
Stepping forward, Tsunade presented a scroll to Natsumi, explaining what it contained.
"That is my personal guide to chakra control, something I know you still struggle with, as well as containing some basic Iryō ninjutsu techniques that don't require such a fine chakra control, study hard and I might give you some more."
Giving a large thank you, knowing that this was just what she needed to advance her training, Natsumi next turned to her mother, who was also holding a small scroll out to her.
"This is the first of the Uzumaki scrolls, I know that it might be a bit advanced for you, but it contains information on both our clan's fuuinjutsu techniques as well as how to utilise our chakra chains, which I'll help guide you with. Your tou-san will also help with the fuuinjutsu, but he has an additional present for you."
"That's right, Natsumi-chan, I'll be teaching you the first steps to creating my Rasengan, I know that you're still young, but it should also help your chakra control, as well as giving you an awesome move to use. But Jiraiya has topped us all this year, though it is sort of a joint present from both of us."
Turning curious eyes to Jiraiya, Natsumi saw that he had laid a large scroll in front of her, which had a list of names on it.
"My present, gaki, is to offer you the Toad Summoning Contract, if you'd like to sign it that is. All you need to do is sign your name in blood and BAM you're the youngest Toad Summoner ever!"
With sparkling eyes, Natsumi leapt at the chance to sign the contract, creating a messy signature on the scroll, but it was accepted nonetheless and Natsumi became the next Toad Summoner.
As the family and all the guests celebrated such fine presents and the evening, Naruto burned in jealousy, outraged that his sister would be given so many priceless presents. He should have had the same presents, but was instead denied his heritage as a Toad Summoner, a member of the Uzumaki clan, learning one of his father's prized techniques or even being given chakra control exercises that he could have used to increase his reserves and potentially strengthen his body.
Instead he was forgotten, just like the past two years, since everyone had given up on him becoming anything more than an average Chunin. Well he would show them; from now on he would look out for only himself and would use every opportunity to advance his own studies. For the moment, that meant collecting as much blood as he could in the most innocuous manner possible so that no one discovered what he was up to.
'I'll prove to them that I'm better, I'll become… a God.'
