Chapter 6: Echoes from the past


It didn't take a genius to tell that something was up with Konoha's resident demon container. His eyes were steely, his features cold and stone-like to the few people he passed by. The air around him as he walked from the schoolyard just seemed to vibrate as though energized by some unseen malicious power. A power source unlike any felt before that seemed to cause everyone's hackles to rise in alarm. Whatever it was, the message it was sending out to the casual observer was clear...

Stay

...

the Hell

...

BACK!

And for once the civilian residents of Konoha, many of whom with rare exception normally fell under the category of too dumb to live, given their proverbial poking of the resident living WMD, had enough brains to listen to their common sense and avoid harassing the blond boy on his journey.

'The main roads are a little different than I remember...but given that a hundred years have passed it's to be expected. Make a left at the next crossroad ahead and keep your eyes peeled. Unless they've totally redeveloped this area there should still be an old hiking trail that cuts into the bushes. That will take us the rest of the way to the compound.'

Naruto's only response to his immortal companion was to nod in agreement. Despite the image he put up though, some vague, tiny part of his heart even after all that he had been through still held on desperately to idea that perhaps the former god-like being was wrong in what he had said. A part that held onto the idea that even in just this small way this village...his village, had not totally lied and deceived him. If they had though…

Well frankly he didn't know what he was going to do but whatever it was it was not going to be pretty. Thus with alternating bouts of doubt, fear, hope and the excitement at possibly having a connection to his true family eating at him Naruto continued his trek.

After several minutes he at last came to the crossroad Xy had mentioned and hung a left following the road that ran parallel to irrigation channel that wound its way through this part of the city. For some time he saw nothing, but then, as he rounded a bend in the road he saw through the wooden guardrail on the opposite side a faint worn path barely visible through the overgrown bushes.

'There it is!' Xy mentally cried out as the discrete scrying spell he had cast to monitor their progress pinged upon their reaching the spot.

Without a moment's hesitation Naruto, unseen by anyone, hopped over the guardrail and plunged into the brush. The path had evidently not been used or maintained for some time. Bushes and thorns scratched at Naruto's skin but the Kyuubi's energy quickly healed any damage so fast it was like it had never happened. Eventually the plant life became so overgrown and tangled that the path was becoming almost impossible to see. Fortunately it was at this point that Xy, upon quickly scanning the area with his spell and throwing out a counter scrying protection for good measure, decided to finally make his appearance by floating out of Naruto's backpack.

'I'll take over from here Naruto. Follow me.'

With Xy's help the two quickly got back on track but nevertheless progress was still quite slow albeit steady...at least until they literally smacked straight into an unexpected obstacle.

*Thump*

"Ouch! What the hell Xy?!" Naruto called out the pain at running into the obstruction momentarily causing him to forget to use the mental link

'Hey don't look at me! I'm just as surprised as you are. And keep your voice down!'

The object in question that had caused their distress was...a wall. More specifically a blindspot along a piece of the wall that was supposed to surround the outer perimeter of Konoha. Something which based on Xy's recollection should be at least half a kilometer further out then it was evidently.

'By all the hells and the demons that dwell in them! What's this piece of wall doing here?'

'Are you sure we went the right way? Maybe we got turned around somewhere.'

'Maybe...no that can't be it. I may be old but I'm sure as hell not senile! I distinctly recall this being the right direction.'

Confounded by this development Xy looked about and took in what was around him, until a sneaking suspicion began to dawn on him. With a muttered incantation he cast a glowing green bolt of energy. It bounced off the wall before stopping in front of them and revealing some symbols.

'As I thought! This IS the right direction! This piece of the wall is less than a decade old. In fact judging by what I'm reading here it must have erected shortly after the Kyuubi attack. Which means either somebody screwed up something royally while they were doing the reconstruction...or someone was attempting to ensure nobody came this way.'

'Then how do we get past it?' a thoroughly disturbed and incensed Naruto responded as the words sunk in.

'I could try to levitate you over the wall...no that's too obvious, one of the sentries up there might see us. Teleportation is also out, the flash from it would again be too obvious. Naruto do you know how to walk up walls with chakra?'

'...ninjas can do that?!'

A blank expression seemed to come over Xy's drawn image at that comment before the book suddenly shut itself and began to bang against the wall in apparent frustration.

'Just how gods damned far has ninja education fallen since I've been asleep?! Why back in the era of warring clans it would have been the first thing you learned so you'd better know how to control your chakra when it came time to learn ninjutsu. Hell at your age you'd have already learned water walking by now, if only to ensure you could escape when an enemy clan came along! Grr...never mind, and before you think otherwise, no I'm not mad at your ignorance Naruto. If your reaction is any indication both those thing sound like things you would have been eager to learn, and I will teach them to you once we get a chance. I have no choice really even without the terms of our bond, if I wasn't certain before I sure as hell am now, you're obviously getting a crap education at that academy.'

With that out of his system and Naruto calmed by Xy's words the book once again turned its attention to trying to find a solution to the issue of the giant wall before them. A solution which at last presented itself when Xy perchance happened to spot an oddly colored rock beneath a tree in the corner of his vision.

'Hello, what do we have here?' he said as he floated over to it, Naruto following close behind. At first glance it looked as previously stated like just an oddly colored rock, specifically an unusually bright blue one. Closer inspection revealed it to have what appeared to be channels in a spiral shape carved onto its surface.

'Bingo, one Uzumaki clan escape tunnel complete with a sealing stone.'

'Really? That's so cool! So how do we get this tunnel open?'

'You have one of your Kunai with you?

'Yep!'

'Well then, take it and give yourself a little nick on your finger. Then let the legacy of of the Uzumaki take care of the rest.'

For a moment Naruto looked confused before he looked at the stone and what Xy said earlier about Uzumaki seals finally clicked into place. Even with all the injustices his subpar education had done for him he still had managed to hear of blood seals, so why wouldn't his ancestors have used them? He reached into his backpack, pulled out his kunai pouch and popped one one of the blades out before using it to give himself a knick. In the relative silence that seemed to follow that action one could have heard a pin drop. So to Naruto the sound of the bright carmine droplet bubbling out of the wound and proceeding to drip down onto the stone was as clear and reverberating as if someone had smashed a fine china set in an empty cave.

Instantly a faintly luminous red glow began to fill the spiral pattern on the stone before it suddenly shot out in a thin swirling beam that arced over Naruto's head to strike a larger stone near the center of a nearby clearing concealed from above by interlocking tree branches. At this the larger stone began to spin and the sound of crumbling dirt could be heard as the ground around the stone suddenly began to descend to reveal a spiral staircase descending into the earth, the first several steps of which were covered with clinging grass.

'Open Sesame.'

'What?'

'You know...from the bedtime story about the 40 thieves?'

'I've never had someone to read...'

'STOP! Just...stop. I'll tell you that and others when I can...gods' damnit it Konoha…!'

Without another word between them the two people headed down the staircase and descended into the bowels of the earth. Some thirty or so feet down the stairway ended to reveal the tunnel they had come looking for. As Naruto stepped into it a rumbling sound began to reverberate behind him and he was momentarily plunged into pitch darkness as the staircase rose up to seal the entrance. Then above him, one by one a set of glowing seals emerged to fill the tunnel with illumination to mark out a gradually upward turning passageway which Naruto proceeded to follow. For about 10 minutes the odd pair proceeded along the path till at last they reached a dead end with a small platform with another small stone. Yet again a kunai emerged and a drop of blood was released to fall onto a stone. This time when the blood hit the stone a ladder suddenly began to arise from a groove in the platform.

Mounting the ladder Naruto climbed up, up and up until...

*SMACK*

...he smacked his head on the ceiling.

"OW! KAMI DAMNIT WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!?"

'Aw quit complaining! Consider it karmic retribution for losing control and nearly choking that kid to death in public earlier. Seriously bad move, no losing your shit until you have the means to ensure losing control won't go and bite you in the ass.'

After shooting the floating book a dirty look Naruto began to feel around on the ceiling and after a bit he found a small release lever which he set about pulling. There was a clicking sound as he did so and then the panel in the ceiling above him popped upwards allowing a faint sliver of light. A quick shove and the panel fully swung open revealing a darkened room, the only light being provided by a small grime streaked window, the light beams from which perfectly outlined the gap in the floor which Naruto was poking his head through. All around the smells of dust, must, mold and mildew hung in the air. Surrounding them various boxes and scrolls all marked with the spiral symbol could be seen and it soon became apparent that they were in a storage room of what was presumably the basement of a building of some sort.

Not seeing any other choice Naruto proceeded to pull himself up through the gap with Xy following soon after.

'Where the hell are we Xy?' asked the confused boy as he attempted to take in all that was around him.

The only response the subject of the question had to give was to float upwards nearly to the ceiling of the room, then smirking after seeing something and heading toward a stairway on the far side of the room. Confounded but eager to not be left alone in this strange place Naruto's prompt response was to weave between the various crates and quickly follow after the book.

As the two of them headed up the ancient creaking stairs Naruto felt the tension grow heavier and heavier and heavier...till at last they reached a door at the very top of the stairs.

'Well?' The book said with eagerness evident in his 'voice' as it awaited his action. Naruto felt his body trembling, electricity seeming to course through his very being. Even so...for a time he almost felt as though he wouldn't be able to go through with it, fearing the repercussions if he took this last step into the unknown…

Almost.

In the end though, the urge to feel a connection to SOMETHING he had longed for so long about won out. He put his hand on the knob and pushed. The door however refused to open fully, the wood having swollen from the moisture in the air and the hinges grown rusty from years of disuse. Backing up a bit he ran toward it shoulder first and managed to force the door open with a crash to reveal an ancient gathering room with a large red spiral painted on the wall.

Silhouetted against faint light which seeped in through the flaking rice paper sliding doors danced the image of innumerable dust motes kicked up by the abrupt entry of the boy. Like the stairs before the floors in here creaked under the weight of his footsteps. In the corner of the room ancient cobwebs clung fast only adding to the decrepitude of the place.

Looking upon this place, Naruto didn't know what to feel. Was this really the place that Xy spoke of? The famed Uzumki clan compound? Was this truly the place his family had once claimed as their own? The tension felt so thick a kunai could have cut through it. Cautiously with his companion floating nearby the boy stepped forth further into the building. Reaching one of the sliding paper screen doors Naruto slid it open to reveal a hallway which he began to traverse. He passed numerous rooms of various sorts, several bedrooms with long untouched tatami mats, a large clan sized kitchen, a strange long room with odd masks of various makes and designs pinned to the wall. To each did the boy give careful scrutiny, examining things with gentle shaking hands as though afraid that like a mirage or a genjutsu the slightest move one way or the other might shatter the vision before him like glass on a hard floor.

It was while doing so that he found it.

A scroll long forgotten, lodged between the wall and the cupboard it had seemingly fallen from. It was a diary of some sort. Lighting a nearby candle with some matches he found in a drawer Naruto brought it and the scroll over to a nearby table and began to read. His eyes were drawn to the most recent of the dates...

Feb. 6

The Elders try to hide it but like the rest of us, the more time passes, the more and more we grow concerned about our fellows back at Uzushiogakure. There has been little correspondence from the village for some time which is rather odd. Given the numerous hostiles patrolling the border of the fire country and ease of interception messenger hawks are out of the question. Some of the others talked about possibly sending some runners out to the docks a few towns over, others push for caution. All I know is that if nothing is heard back in a week I'm going to Lady Mito. She may be old and no longer the spouse of a Kage but she still has pull with the heads of this village, a few words and we might be able to get permission to launch an expedition.

Feb. 12.

Finally some news! A small team from the village stumbled out of the woods escorting a young lady of the main branch of the clan. It seems she barely managed to make it here in one piece, her bodyguards having sacrificed themselves to get her more time. The girl was thoroughly dehydrated and collapsed into her rescuers arms. The medic-nin said to give her some time before questioning her. I look forward to seeing what news she might bring.

Feb 15.

It is worse than we thought! The girl finally awoke today and the news she bares is grave. Our homeland is under siege by no less than 3 major villages! Mito-sama has agreed to look over the young girl from the main branch. The rest of us are poised to return at once to the homeland. Hopefully we are not too late. May the kami bless our efforts! I'll be damned before I let the name Uzumaki die out without a fight!

Uzumaki…

Uzumaki…

Uzumaki.

There it was in black and white. There was no use denying it anymore…

'Welcome home Naruto'

Like always the voice of his companion echoed in his head...only this time though it seemed to be joined with something else. A ghostly echo of voices with warm and welcoming tones.

The tears began flowing and would not stop.


A/N: Shorter than I initially intended but I figured you folks have waited long enough for an update. Happy Halloween!