I don't own Naruto


Naruto sat down on his stool in the dark abyss and watched as the scenery changed around him. He was stunned at the vividness of his new surroundings.

Yuusuke laughed at his shocked expression. "Naruto, m'boy, I have had dominion here for longer than most people have lived, and the only thing to entertain me has been my memories and this infinite space that I control.

Naruto simply nodded, mesmerised as he now looked upon the city he had just left, realizing he was looking at one of Yuusuke's memories. Except now it was not in ruins, it was massive and bustling. Many throngs of interesting people walked past. There was a man selling giant fish at a booth, and a couple of carnival games set up. There were many shops and at least three different ramen places.

Yuusuke looked on with admiration. "Uzushiogakure was once the greatest city in the world. I was not there for it's destruction, but I have heard horrible things from the people that have come here since."

Naruto finally snapped out of his stupor long enough to ask a question. "Wait a minute. If time doesn't pass in here, how is it that you...?" He stopped, confused by himself.

"I know where you were going with that Naruto." Yuusuke began with a smile "The truth is, time only stops when I am not alone in here. I do not age, but time passes by as it does in the normal world when I am by myself. It is a way to balance out the inconsistencies."

"Huh?" Naruto said with a dumb look on his face.

"I know, the only reason I can somewhat understand it is because I have been in here for so long and have had not much else to think about." The bearded man said while scratching his chin.

Naruto nodded and began another question "My dad said it took my mom a day and a half to master Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu, but if time doesn't exist here, how come she didn't just reappear at the same time she left?"

"It all has to do with the seals to get in and out." Yuusuke said matter-of-factly "The time in here does not count outside, but the way in and out is a different story. Even though your entrance into this place felt momentary to you, it actually took around two hours for your body to materialize here."

Naruto's eyes widened "Twelve hours?! I don't have that kind of time! It'll be another twelve to get out?!"

"Actually, no, the time it takes to exit is based purely on the chakra you put into it. Now, before I forget again, who are your parents?" Yuusuke said, brushing off Naruto's outburst.

Smiling with pride, the younger Uzumaki told of his lineage "My dad is Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, and my mother was Uzumaki Kushina."

"Kushina-chan huh, I remember her. She was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyubi. Her ability was controlling all-binding chakra chains, am I correct?"

"Yeah, and now the Kyubi, whose name is Kurama by the way, is sealed inside of me." Naruto said with a grin.

With a sad smile, Yuusuke said "Yes, It was a terrible burden for her to bear. I was there when the beast was sealed into the wife of the first hokage, Mito. Never have I felt such menacing intent from a creature. The fact that it is sealed inside of you explains the denser chakra exuding from you. Although, I must say it feels different now than it did then."

"Yeah, Kurama and I have worked things out, and he isn't filled with hatred anymore. Would you like to speak to him?" Naruto asked.

"I would very much like to address him if he is in my realm. I tried when he was with Kushina, but he was having none of it." Said Yuusuke with some excitement.

Naruto's body language changed slightly, and he hunched a bit. His voice was a few decibels lower when he spoke "It is true, I have changed. Do not think that this means I forgive what you witnessed and did not stop at my first sealing. I understand why it was necessary in the mind of you humans, but I would have done no harm if I had been left alone. I will not kill you, because I am trying to change my ways. Naruto needs you, and this means you are important to him. Therefor you are important to me."

Shaking in his boots, Yuusuke replied " I..I am glad you have changed, Kurama-sama. I will bring Naruto to a higher level. It will take much effort and concentration. I do not think you will be needed in this training much Kurama-sama. I once hated much as well, but I went through a similar change to you I think. I find that hatred breeds many a sleepless night. Might I suggest you take a long needed nap? You have a whole year to kill."

"Haha, that actually does sound wonderful. It will allow me to gather much chakra for the coming battle. I will give Naruto my goodbyes and hand him over to you. Try anything funny though, and I will not stay sleeping for long."

Naruto once again took over, and was about to speak, but his eyes quickly closed. He nodded a couple of times, and made a couple of disgruntled faces, but when his eyes reopened they were accompanied by a smile. "Kurama says this training won't need him, so he's gonna sleep a bit. He says to trust you, but understand that you might not be everything you appear, whatever that means."

"He is probably referring to my involvement in parts of his life, and my mentioning of long gone hatred. It is time for me to remove all doubt by telling you my life story."

Naruto leaned forward in his stool. Normally he would be dreading a history lesson, but now he would be getting a first hand account of the history of his clan. He was anything but bored.

"I usually like to begin at the beginning, so I will. I was born one hundred and fifty two years ago, in real world time. It was thirty years after the end of the reign of the Rikudou Sennin. He had two sons. I was the fifth child of his younger son's daughter. The name Uzumaki actually comes from my father. He was a retired soldier from the wars the Rikudou Sennin put an end to. He did not have access to chakra, but he was strong and kind. My mother was quite a bit younger than him ,but as they say, love has no bounds. He was wealthy from a few mines he owned, and the mining village he started for his workers grew with the influence of the lineage of my mother. It continued to grow into a Ninja village, Uzushiogakure. My uncle, and the older brother of my mother, joined and started his own family. He took the name Uzumaki to help what he saw as a great opportunity to begin the one of the first of the ninja clans. The clan grew quickly with his help, and soon it was as strong as the Senju and Uchiha. The difference with our clan was that we would not join the fight that our relatives were engaged in. This gave us the ability to prosper, and Uzushiogakure was a beacon in a world that was unfortunately still being ravaged by war."

Naruto had a sad look on his face when he interrupted the story "So after all of the ideals the old Sage passed on, only one village even tried to bring peace?"

With an understanding sigh, Yuusuke continued "It was not for lack of trying. The first son was extremely upset when the Rikudou Sennin made his younger son his successor. He became bitter. He respected his father's wishes, but he did nothing to stop his own eldest son from picking fights with his cousins. Thus the Uchiha and Senju were born, and war came with them. Among the Uchiha, many thought they were in the right. Only a few knew the truth, that they were fighting out of hatred. The senju all knew their reason to fight. They did not want to, but they needed to survive.

The Uzumaki had the luxury of making a choice. We chose to support no one, and only to intervene when the fights subsided and peace could be once again be reached for. When Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju agreed upon making a village, we thought peace was in sight. We gave great assistance in building Konoha, and other warring factions throughout the lands also put down their arms and followed suit.

The five great nations were born, following the archetype of Uzushiogakure. Peace was finally being reached, then Madara got his bright ideas of hatred. You probably know the rest of the story. In the Uzumaki village, it was discovered that while we were strong in most aspects of ninja art, we excelled most in fuuinjutsu. None more so than your's truly. I was considered for a time to be the best user of sealing arts since my great grandfather. I taught at the first school in the ninja world. It was a wonderful idea. A place where children could learn the shinobi arts in a controlled environment, instead of the battlefield. Many of my students began to surpass me, and I was truly happy.

It was not long until certain students of mine began to do things that were not before even considered possible. It was after much study and realization that I discovered that these abilities were singular occurrences, and everyone had one, whether it was impressive or not. Some could do amazing things, such as binding air into shapes, and sealing water into objects, engorging or breaking them. Many had much more simple yet useful abilities, such as being able to change hair and fingernail length by sealing portions back into themselves. I realized that all of these people had, in one way or another, asked for these abilities. That is the strange thing about Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu. It takes the desires or tendencies you have and indirectly applies them to your new Kekkei Genkai. I realized I had one that I never even thought about. I picked up Fuuinjutsu very quickly, and I realized that when I had turned sixteen, all I had wanted was to be able to help people as quickly as possible. After my birthday, I could not forget any fuuinjutsu I learned. My ability was to seal away all knowledge related to fuuinjutsu, and keep it all locked into my mind."

Elated, the blond who had been sitting silently jumped into the air "So you mean I can choose whatever I want and I can do it! All right!"

Chuckling at his excitement, Yuusuke spoke "I'm afraid it may be too late for that. How long has it been since you turned sixteen?"

Stopping his celebration, Naruto began to scratch his chin. "Hmm, I don't really remember actually. I've been training so much in the past year, the days have sorts run together. What is the date?"

"It is March Twentieth" Yuusuke replied, awaiting a reply.

"Woah, well since my birthday is October tenth I guess it's been..." After a painstaking thirty second pause, Yuusuke finished the math for him "five months and ten days, Naruto"

"Oh, well that was when I began My sage training."

Yuusuke questioned "Do you remember any specific changes to your skill set?"

"Other than turning into a total badass? Not really. Everything that I did was the same as what Ero-sennin did before me, at least that was what geezer frog Fukasaku said. The only thing weird was..." His eyes got wide, as if finding a sudden realization.

"What is it Naruto?!" Yuusuke was now on the edge of his seat.

"Well, on the second day at the oil waterfall, I was slipping to the form of a toad faster and faster, and I had gotten so used to latching on to Kurama's chakra once I lost mine, I tried to do the same. Instead of his however, I latched on to Fukasaku and drew from his reserves. He stopped me, and told me it was too dangerous to try and reach out like that. The thing is, I felt in control. I don't know if it was because of the Nature chakra I was absorbing or just me being used to drawing from Kurama."

Yuusuke turned very serious. "Have you done it since?"

Naruto, sensing the change in the portly man, also changed his tone. "I have. During my internal battle with Kurama to gain his chakra, I managed to take enough of his chakra to leave him alive but still make me powerful. The eight tails Jinchuuriki did the same thing years before me, but my beast form changed, while his stayed the same. I wonder if my supposed ability had anything to do with it."

"What do you mean your form 'changed'?"

"Well, Killer-bee's form stayed dark and unrecognizable, while mine became light and much purer. Later, when Kurama gave me more chakra, I could actually give it to people ,shielding and enhancing them"

Yuusuke sat silently. Then, after a minute of silence, began speaking "Naruto, if these are your abilities, you may have the potential to be one of the strongest Fuuinjutsu users in the history of the shinobi world."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted as he fist- pumped in the air above his head.

Shaking his head, Yuusuke began speaking "Naruto, if you are this powerful, you could also be extremely dangerous. The strongest Fuuinjutsu users often become the most unstable."

Confused, Naruto asked "What do you mean, I would never hurt..."

Interrupting, Yuusuke stated "I know you would not intentionally hurt any good hearted person, no true Uzumaki would, but often, powers are too much to handle. It is time to tell you why I held so much hatred for so long."

Naruto sat back down, ready to again listen.

"Mamiyu was one of my brightest students. She was already a high level user of Fuuinjutsu before she came to me at my school. By the time she was fourteen, she was a base level user of all of the seals I knew. By the time she was nearing her sixteenth birthday, she had surpassed me in many aspects. She was one of the most impressive people I have ever met." He continued, the pride evident in his voice. "Mamiyu would have been a master, had she been able to devote more time to her studies. As it was however, both of her parents were much older than your average people. She was the last daughter of my uncle, and her mother had fought alongside my father, they had her unexpectedly when they were both in their late forties. So, by the time she was in school, it was not surprising that they were nearing their ends of days. She loved them more than anything. So when she turned sixteen, her only desire had been to spend time with them. The only way to do that was to stop time."

He stopped, needing a break before telling the next part, which was clear even to Naruto, was going to be a painful memory.

"She gained the ability to do this" Yuusuke spread his arms, showcasing the void around him. "I was the only one there when she accessed it. We suddenly appeared in here. She was scared. I did what I could to console her, and find a way out of here. I failed. I watched helplessly as she went crazy over time. All she wanted was to spend time with her family, and now she was gone. We didn't know that time wasn't passing by for them. I was with her, so time did not pass in the main world. When she was nearly dead, refusing to live any longer, she managed to somehow transfer control of the realm to me and create the beginnings to a seal for escaping. I did not know how to finish it, but it turned out that she had written down the seal she had used for entering the place, and had included a means to leave if you entered through it after we had."

Naruto was again confused, but decided to remain silent and let Yuusuke finish his story. "When she... passed, I decided to try and test her seal. I used it on her body, trying to at least send her back to receive a proper burial."

"I did not receive word for years, and I didn't care. I was starting to go crazy as well. Then, just as I was nearing my point of pure insanity, someone came to visit. One of the students who was up and coming when I had left two years before, was now in my presence. He brought me back to the brink, and explained what had happened. He told me... he told me..." He began to choke up "He told me that all that had returned to the world was the seal. Mamiyu was not returned to her family. Her body is probably stuck, cold and alone, in some third dimension."

Naruto was now also at the point of tears. To be alone for eternity? That was the ultimate horror of his.

Yuusuke tried to perk up when he saw Naruto becoming depressed. "At least her work was not completely wasted. For the longest time, I hated fuuinjutsu for doing this to her, I hated the world for allowing people to go old. I hated many things, but after seeing each person come to see me, after seeing the world change one Uzumaki at a time, I regained my love for the good in people. I regained my hope."

Naruto perked up at hearing this, and began speaking "I am sorry about your student, and I am sorry that you hated for so long, but I will not give up on hope. I will always push forward, and I will save the good in the world."

Yuusuke stood up, and began stretching his arms. "Well then Naruto, it is time to make sure you can be powerful enough to do good on your word."