I do not own Naruto and I never will. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and whoever else has claims to it. Please read and review. Also a shout-out to A Helpful Review yes I'm still relatively new to writing. I don't really do it often. Your constructive criticism is appreciated. To everyone no there will not be any bashing of any type in this story. Remember Sakura is a seven year old girl and Naruto is the bully victim of the entire village. She's just doing what the adults around her are doing.


The first place Naruto went to go look for information after school wasn't so much as a place as it was a person.

His Jiji. The Sandaime Hokage. One of the very few adults he trusted and looked up to.

After all, his Jiji was the Hokage so he had to know everyone and Jiji was also known as 'The Professor' so his Jiji had to be really really smart.

His Jiji was also almost always in the Hokage Tower so he was relatively easy to find.

Naruto burst into his Jiji's office after having ran up three flights of stairs, avoided running into paperwork ninja who couldn't even watch where they were going, and skirted around the chirpy secretary siting at the desk in front of Jiji's office.

Honestly, sometimes he thought Jiji kept her around only because she was pretty. It's not like she did much.

"JIJI!" he bellowed as he slammed open the door. Regardless of the fact that there might have been important dignitaries in the office holding a meeting with the Hokage.

Fortunately for Naruto there weren't any important meetings with important dignitaries going on.

Siting behind his desk writing up reports and signing documents sat Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, with his trademark pipe in his mouth. "Hello Naruto." Hiruzen said, acknowledging Naruto's presence as he languidly smoked his pipe. He started to put down his pencil that had been busy writing just a few moments before.

With Naruto talking could range from five minutes to five hours. Not that Hiruzen didn't mind it. Naruto was a welcomed escape from all the paperwork he had to do.

The Hokage office was rather bland and spartan in its appearance. The only things in the room besides Naruto and Hiruzen were a desk, a chair, and the paperwork on the desk. Naruto quietly decided in his mind that when he became Hokage that he would paint the room orange and make it more decorative. If he was gonna work here he needed a him kinda space.

Shaking his head free of interior designing ideas Naruto started talking about what he wanted to ask in the first place. He had to make an impressive introduction before he even asked about it though.

'He goes nothing.'

"Jiji I wanna ask you something."

Sarutobi smiled.

"Of course Naruto. What is it? Some ninjutsu theory confusing you again?"

"No no." Naruto paused and looked thoughtful "I mean, maybe later. Today there was a lesson on history and we heard all about all the Hokage. Even you!"

"Oh really?" Hiruzen asked amusedly.

"Yeah yeah." Naruto responded with an energetic nodding of his head. "Hashirama built Konoha, Tobirama was like your secretary and did a lot of paperwork, does she do paperwork? You helped out with the Second and Third Shinobi Wars, and Minato Namikaze defeated the Kyuubi."

Deciding that now was the perfect time to ask his question Naruto looked down shyly. Partially because he was a little afraid that his Jiji wouldn't answer it like he wouldn't answer his questions on why the village didn't like him or who his parents were and partially because it worked wonders on guilt tripping Jiji.

Hey, call him manipulative or whatever else. He knew his Jiji better than anyone and Jiji just couldn't resist that hurt puppy look. Especially on himself. Don't get him wrong he loved his Jiji, but he needed answers.

"Could you tell me about Uzumaki Mito." as he looked up hesitantly. Hurt Puppy Eyes on full blast.

Hiruzen's brain came screeching to a halt. Whatever he thought about Naruto requesting to see a 'cool' ninjutsu went out the window.

"Wha-"

'Gotta move fast before he questions me!' Naruto though frantically.

"It's just that she has the same name as me and no one talks about her name like they do mine." Naruto explained quickly, "Also, all that the books really said about her was that she was from Uzushio and married Hashirama, but she seems like a really really cool kunoichi! So Jiji can you tell me more about her!?"

Ok, so maybe Naruto was laying on the enthusiasm too thickly; he'd have to judge Jiji's reaction to see if he needed more or less.

Hiruzen let out a sigh, feeling relieved that this wasn't about Mito's status as a Jinchuriki and also grateful that he got to talk about one of the many unsung heroes of Konoha. Hiruzen launched into tales about Mito, her homeland, and her clan.

Naruto was enraptured with them.

After all if they were about her, her clan, and her homeland then they were about the Uzumaki. Naruto wanted to know more about the Uzumaki.


"...and that Naruto is why the ninja of Konoha wear the seal of Uzushio on our uniforms. To represent the eternal alliance between Konoha and Uzushio."

"Wow." Naruto was suitably awed by the tales his Jiji told about the Uzumaki. Seals sounded awesome they could do practically everything! Although he did feel a bit angry at some of the shinobi for ignoring him. He was an Uzumaki, didn't they know their history?

It was sad for him to have learned that the Uzumaki clan was in diaspora though. If Uzushio existed Naruto fantasied that they may have come looking for him and given him a family.

"The Uzumaki didn't have a clan compound in Konoha. They usually resided with their Senju cousins when they came to visit. They did however have a mask storage temple."

… That was new. The history books didn't say that the Senju and Uzumaki were cousins.

Did this mean it was his destiny to be Sasuke's rival?

"...mask storage temple?" Naruto asked confused. How could people so awesome leave behind so little? Leaving behind masks at that. Why couldn't they have left behind seals? Or super cool jutsu that could blow up mountains?

"Yes, the Uzumaki held certain beliefs about masks and their properties. Such as that masks connect the living and the dead. Funeral masks were a big part of Uzushio's traditions. It was said that if the body had a proper mask then a spirit would keep it's face and not go looking for others to possess as the body decayed."

"Didn't they have preservation seals though? Also can I get a funeral mask when I'm older?"

"The Uzumaki used preservation seals yes, but never for their bodies. What was dead was buried in the ground with the mask and allowed to rejoin the earth. The mask was the only thing given a preservation seal. If you were to go searching through graves of the Uzumaki the only thing you might find for the older ones is a mask. Yes, when you're older you can have a funeral mask commissioned to be made."

"That's so cool! Seals can do anything!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed this talk Naruto," Hiruzen said gently."but it's getting late now so you might want to go back home."

Naruto had to look out the window to see that it was already dusk now and getting darker.

"Ok Jiji," Naruto said turning back to face his Jiji. "also just to let you know you're better than any other teacher at history that I know."

Naruto gave Hiruzen a hug and left in a hurry to get back to his apartment.


Naruto decided to look for the mask temple on Sunday the only day they had off from the academy. His mask temple. After all it was the Uzumaki Mask Storage Temple and he was, to his knowledge, the only Uzumaki left in Konoha.

After much searching, running into a green spandex wearing ninja and asking him for directions, and recalling the descriptions in his Jiji's tales he finally found it.

He felt very cheated at that moment as well as very disappointed.

"This-this thing looks like it's about to collapse in on itself!" Naruto wailed clutching his head in horror.

"How could they have let it go so far!"

The Uzumaki Mask Storage Temple had seen better days, much better days.

The entrance was barely hanging on as it was tilting dangerously to its right, the support beams angled awkwardly and one of them was looking like it was about to snap. One of the red walkways had completely collapsed to the ground while the other was in relative mint condition. The stairs were cracked and missing a chunk of stone. The roof while not looking like it'd collapse at any moment was dotted with gaping holes.

What had once been a beautiful, if simple, building was nothing more than an unsightly and dilapidated work of Sengoku-go architecture. The one consolation, if you could call it that, was that the paint had stayed even after all the years it had gone through and that the mark of the Uzumaki stood proud for all to see over the entrance.

Getting over his mournful wailing for his precious building Naruto carefully made his way up the cracked stone steps into the building. Ready to make a run for it at a moments notice if the building actually did decide to try and collapse on him.

He might have been a bit of an idiot, but he wasn't a suicidal idiot... yet.

Front and center for all to see as they entered the building were the masks. Naruto immediately avoided them. The only reason Shinobi would be confident to put things up front and center was if they were sure nothing could touch them or if it was a trap.

After hearing how the Uzumaki were fanatics for their funeral masks he didn't want to find out if there were other masks that involved ghosts in the same room as himself. Or worse.

It was probably a good thing Naruto didn't know that there was a mask that summoned the Shinigami in the same room as him. He would have freaked out and ran away screaming.

Searching around the front room where the masks were yielded no results so he decided to head to the back of the building and search there.

He wasn't disappointed.

Shelves and shelves of old scrolls and books were pushed up against the walls of the room. Most looking like they were ancient and had been better looking a long time ago, but a few had managed to endure the years still looking relatively brand new despite still being covered in dust.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." Naruto said as a foxy grin spread across his face.

"Let's see what we got."

Careful not to touch any of the books that looked like they would crumble into dust if he even breathed on them; Naruto took more of an interest in the newer looking books. Dusting them off with his hands as he went.

There was one problem though.

That problem was Naruto's reading skills were almost as bad as his writing skills, and his writing skills were comparable to chicken scratch. The professors were to blame yes, but the did teach him the basics. Even if they were the bare basics.

So skimming over books and trying to read the titles he finally choose one. He didn't know what the book was about, but it had the words "self" and "Uzumaki". Naruto figured if it had his name and the word self then it probably belonged to him. After all he was himself and he was an Uzumaki. Granted it could have been Mito-san's book, but Jiji had said that she was long dead and he was the only Uzumaki in Konoha. Therefore the book was his by default.

Seven year old logic.

Grabbing the book from its place and handling it like a normal book since it didn't seem like it was going to fall apart. Naruto walked back to the front room for some better lighting to read.

Cracking open the book Naruto was disappointed again for yet the second time this day.

The book was blank.

Naruto's disappointment turned to anger at being cheat out of something he felt was important. Throwing the book down in his anger he started to go back to the backroom when he realized he'd gotten a paper-cut from the book when he threw it.

A paper cut.

"Ouch." He whined looking at his poor finger that had a deep line of red. "Why do books hate me?"

Still grumbling to himself about the discrimination of books against him Naruto looked back with a glare at the book; then stopped.

It had lines.

It had names.

It looked like one of those family tree things he saw in the history books at school.

"Awesome..." He breathed his eyes taking on a look of wonder.

Then he descended onto the book like a man without water.

He could see his name. He could see his name. He could actually see his name with a family tree thing! He wasn't an orphan he had family!

That was all that he had ever really wanted.

He could see a lot of Uzumaki names on what he thought was his mother's side, but he couldn't be sure it was his mother. It could have been his father for all he knew. Unless he was born when his parents weren't married.

He touched the Uzumaki name above his fondly. Suddenly the book started to warp words and ink moved.

Needless to say Naruto was freaking out. None of the other books he had ever touched had decided to make their ink move.

He only calmed down when he realized that now the entire page was dedicated to this Uzumaki. That one that had been above his that he had touched. It even had a picture of a pretty red haired women with warm violet eyes. Naruto liked her, she seemed happy and friendly. She was also smiling kindly in the picture.

Pushing on an arrow with the word "home" written on it Naruto returned back to the family tree thing. Naruto automatically decided that this book was now his favorite book ever.

Even if he couldn't read most of the words in it.

So he had to find someone he knew that could read and that he could trust to keep quiet. Not that he didn't trust Jiji, but whenever he asked him about his parents all he would get was a sigh, a sad smile, and being told that "They were good people who loved the village and gave their lives to protect it."

Who knew what Jiji would do if he found out Naruto had a family tree thingy with pictures.

Naruto wasn't gonna find out.


Thank you for reading so far. I hope you enjoyed the story constructive criticism is appreciated and the author would love to know what you think about the store. Updates will be sporadic, but I will try my best to do them quickly.