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Heritage Arc.

Eternal Spiral.

Chapter 4: The Heir Returns.

The boat ride to Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools) went rather close to one side of Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves), and was not extremely far from Mizu no Kuni (Land of Water).

Naruto knew quite a bit about the history of her mothers homeland, and knew that most of the land was settled as a ninja settlement. There was no daimyō when Whirlpool Country had been founded, not traditionally anyways. The lands were owned by the Uzumaki, and its Shinobi Village, Uzushiogakure no Sato, had been founded by the Uzumaki.

Half the island, which was about half the size of Fire Country, had been home to the Uzumaki who were a rather large clan. The largest on the island. Half of Uzushio had been made up of the clan itself, and many people from around the elemental nations had migrated there in the beginning.

Wild life was still thriving she noticed, and there was only one entrance to the island and one exit because of the raging whirlpools around the island itself. They had been used as a defense against outsiders, but somehow that defense had failed them when it mattered the most.

It made her wonder exactly how they had been invaded, and in the end destroyed. Looking at the sky, she sighed. When one can't get somewhere by land or sea they learn to fly, she recalled reading something along those lines in a book some time ago.

Shaking her head from that thought she jumped from the boat onto the beach-like sands of Uzu no Kuni for the first time. She wondered if where she walked, if her mother had ever walked the exact steps? Her heart twisted at the longing of knowing, but she knew she'd never be able to ask her mother in this life.

"It's kind of creepy," Jiraiya muttered, suppressing a shiver at the solitude the island offered. There were sounds, of the water surrounding them, some wind, and the few animals still living on the island. All sounds one would expect from nature. They saw mostly large birds, tropical perhaps. The kind you'd find around sea sides.

Naruto rolled her blue eyes, her hair brushing her calves as she walked. On the left side her bangs were kept away from her face with three shiny silver clips. Her hair looked nearly identical to her mothers, unless she kept it short, and then it fell in a mess of choppy locks similar to her fathers hair. It was because she grew tired of trying to tame her hair she began growing it out.

She was wearing the same outfit she'd been wearing for years now, but this kimono-blouse wasn't orange. Instead it was navy blue, and there was no stitching boarding it. Her obi was bright orange, and she wore the black shorts under a black thigh length skirt. Her sandals were black, and she were black stockings which went up to her thighs.

"It's just not been lived on for a few years," she said, shrugging.

Jiraiya snorted. 'More like a few decades', he thought to himself.

Naruto smiled, looking over at Jiraiya.

"Come on, we need to find Uzushio. From what mom said in her journal it was nearly in the center of the island. There was a river that ran through it, sort of," she said, thinking of the few items she had from her parents.

There was a journal belonging to her mother, and it had detailed her homeland in detail. She'd always wanted to see it in person, and now, even if it wasn't in its prime, she was able to. It only took two hours, some arguments, and Naruto stalking off in the direction she thought they should have gone to find the hidden village. The river, which had small whirlpools running through out it (not near as powerful as the ones around the island) led them straight to it.

"And you said following the whirlpools was a stupid idea," she mocked, rolling her eyes as she entered through the broken down village gate after bringing down a barrier by shedding some blood.

"How was I supposed to know it was literal when they said it was the Village Hidden by Whirling Tides," he grumbled as he followed her before the barrier went back up around them.

Naru rolled her eyes and snorted. Of course it was literal, though she did notice once inside that there seemed to be calmer waters running through the part of the river that went through the village itself, but there was some crystal clear waters and small fish. It was very beautiful, like a tide pool. There were a few actual tide pools on the island from the little she'd already seen, and read in her mother's journal.

The river was probably the most beautiful part of the village now, and sadly most everything else was torn asunder by age and the invasion years before.

"Ero-sennin, do you think it's wrong of me to resent, even hate, Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo a little for destroying this place?" she asked as they walked around the rubble.

Some things were still standing but so old that it didn't look very safe any longer. The Uzukage's tower was one of the few things still in pretty good shape. She realized it must be because certain objects and buildings had seals on them for strong structural integrity and stopping damage by age and weather.

She recognized the seal as an Uzumaki seal she'd gotten pretty good at with the help of the scrolls and books left to her by her mother and father. She wasn't at a level in fūinjutsu that could match up with her parents or Jiraiya, but she was good enough for a lot of simpler ones, and of course most Uzumaki seals were seals only known to clan members.

"No," Jiraiya said, "This could have been your home away from home had it never been destroyed and your parents had lived. You may not have lived or been born here, but it's still your mothers home and in inheritance your own. Being the last true Uzumaki, the only one from the main family left alive to anyone knowledge, this land belongs to you."

Naru smiled with a hint of bitterness, but knew he was right. This was just as much a home to her as Konoha was. Though some had survived the massacre of Uzushiogakure, most of the survivors being Uzumaki, she knew none but her mother were of the main family. Her mother had been the heiress when she'd agreed to go to Konoha on her great-aunts request. Not many realized this seeing as it was agreed that Kushina's younger sister, Aiko, would be the acting heir. Her mother hadn't truly understood at the time of her moving to Konoha, but it didn't matter because not long had passed before the invasion.

Kushina had written long on her feelings over the whole ordeal. And though Naruto felt she would always resent Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo for what they'd done to Uzushio, she wouldn't out right blame them when it had been so long ago.

The Kages weren't even the same ones who ordered the invasion, and the ninja were mostly of a whole new generation. She wouldn't exactly like them like either, but she'd be civil. Soon the two travellers found a part of the village which was better preserved. It had chunks of material scattered around, but the large walls surrounding what appeared to be a clan compound was still standing.

There were spiral symbols in a deep color like Naruto wore on her clothes. It was slightly different from the same symbol she'd seem on some broken down buildings and pillars, this one reminded her a little more of a whirlpool. Through the broken down gate-like entrance they could see some homes and shops were not as unhurt as the walls, and some were completely collapsed.

The majority looked like they'd sustained little damage. One home, at the main end of the complex, and the largest of the homes they could see was nearly in pristine condition and had many seals around it. It had aged some, and looked as if it needed some repairs but otherwise it was the most intact building in the whole village. Walking over to a large tree that stood on the grounds surrounding the home she noticed kanji carved into a low point on it, and her eyes widened.

"The clans compound," Naru said. "This is where mom lived."

This house must be where the clan head and his family resided, which meant this was her mothers childhood home. He smiled, happy to see his goddaughter truly happy for once. He was also relieved to find the home looked ready to be lived in with a little work. Hopefully the inside was just as intact.

"Stay out here for a moment," he said. "I want to make sure the inside is secure before we go in. if so this will be where we stay until we're ready to head for Wave."

Naruto nodded, and a minute latter she laughed as the man was blasted away from the front door to land on his butt behind her, his hair sticking up and smoking as if struck by lightning.

"Shocking huh?" she quipped, and Jiraiya shot her a glare before standing.

"Right, new plan. Go undo the seal that closes the house," he said, then grumbled under his breath, "Damned paranoid Uzumaki's."

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Three weeks passed for the two, and it became exceedingly obvious Naruto was pregnant with heightened hormones and bouts of all day sickness.

Naru had vehemently denied it being called morning sickness when Jiraiya had tried correcting her. For her it hit her in the mid afternoon and lasted randomly throughout the day. Sometimes, but rarely, during the mornings. It made her cranky, and it wasn't lost on her that Jiraiya had been walking on egg shells around her, as if she were a landmine ready to blow with one wrong move. On another note, they had been exploring the village more and more.

Despite how long it had been abandoned many things were in good condition, probably thanks to the Uzumaki's paranoia and safeguards. The statues on a small hill overlooking the village, not far from where the river twisted out of the village walls, were still as tall and recognizable as when it had been populated – even if a few were cracked or missing limbs.

From the inscriptions they knew the three statues were the three Uzukage's. Out of the three only two were Uzumaki's. The other was a Himura, a clan second only to the Uzumaki in the Whirlpool Village. They had the ability to shadow walk, a rare bloodline which had died with the Himura clan of Whirlpool. It was similar yet very different from the Nara clans shadow based hidden jutsu.

The two of them spent the most time in the main Uzumaki house where they now resided, and in the Uzukage tower. It seemed during the invasion not much had been taken, documents inside the tower were still there. It seemed they were more interested in destroying them opposed to taking their techniques. Naru was sure some techniques had been lost, since there hadn't been any in the tower. They had either been taken or were kept somewhere else.

Naruto knew the invasion had lost the village plenty, many scrolls that were recorded to be in the village were not present. Many were sealing techniques, and though the Uzumaki were the leading clan for fūinjutsu, nearly all the clans in Uzushio were fūinjutsu experts and knew more than the basics. It was just the Uzumaki were the best of the best, and had the most material on the art. Other things the village were known for was kenjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. There were few that specialized in ninjutsu, as opposed to other villages where ninjutsu was one of the most common talents.

The Uzumaki, while mostly a fūinjutsu oriented clan, were also formidable in the other three arts. Something Naruto knew seeing as she'd been learning her mothers family style for years now. She had pretty much mastered it, but she didn't have the needed Lightning affinity to blend with it that a lot of Uzumaki had. So instead she'd taken a leaf from her mother, who had learned to blend her affinities of water and wind into the Uzuken (Vortex Fist). Naru's main affinity was wind, so she had a lot of help from her mother's notes, as few as they were.

It made the taijutsu even more deadly. She'd been working on improving it for a long time, even blending her two clan styles together, though it would take years to complete seeing as she'd just recently begun to master her father's fighting style (though she hadn't realized who exactly her father was for sure until recently). Taijutsu would never been something she was as good at as Gai or Rock Lee, but she no longer had to rely on a brawler style mixed with the Academy taijutsu style.

Finding scrolls on kenjutsu, more than the ones she already had written from her mother, was nice. She'd been working on wielding her mother's katana for a little over a year now, but it was slow going. She didn't have much talent with a blade longer than a tantō. The style was capable of being incorporating into shorter blades, which was why she still trained in it. She doubted she'd ever use her mother's katana in battle, especially not against someone who specialized in kenjutsu.

Despite being the 'dead last' of her year, Naruto actually was far from stupid. A lot of that had been a facade, since she hadn't wanted to draw unnecessary attention to herself. People already hated her for being a jinchūriki. A lot of the stuff the Academy shoved at her was too advanced for a genin, much less an academy student, to know. In a way that had been helpful because it gave her something to look into.

During the end of the second week she was looking around when she noticed a seal on one of the walls in the library/study of the family house. It almost seemed to glow the longer she looked at it, the faint blue of it pulsing. When she placed her hand over it the array pulsed against her hand, and then she felt a sting of short-lived pain as blood was drawn, along with what felt like a small amount of her chakra.

Seconds later the wall crumbled leaving a thick metal door, like a vault. When she opened it there was a staircase which led down, like a creepy dungeon. Upon seeing that she'd decided she wouldn't continue on without telling Jiraiya first.

"Holy," Jiraiya had muttered when they reached the room.

All around were scrolls, books, and other things. Tags for seals, scrolls, blank and otherwise, and others which contained things; weapons mostly, but also clothes and money.

"It must be a safe, for family valuables," Naru muttered. "It wasn't mentioned in mom's journal, but she might not have known at the time."

"I realized you Uzumaki's were paranoid but this is just – a little overkill isn't it?" he asked, blinking as he walked around, looking at the massive amounts of information. He briefly noticed there was a huge spiral on the floor, maybe the start of a seal – It unnerved him slightly.

Naruto snorted. "Please, it isn't paranoia if someone is really out to get you," she said. "In this case it was Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo. They must have moved all the valuable family techniques here before the attack, so they wouldn't be stolen. Or it was already here."

Jiraiya smirked.

"It's a good thing we came here, brat. It looks like we've found the perfect place to continue your training..." Looking over at his goddaughters no longer flat stomach he corrected himself. "Well, sort of training. Can't have you straining yourself now."

Needless to say the next week was them sorting through and choosing certain things for her to study and learn. Naruto was going into her fifth month soon, and her stomach was no longer flat, and hiding the bump would be much harder than it had been when they first arrived in Whirlpool.

It was actually rather large now, and she'd grown out of all her clothes. Thankfully there were clothes that had survived the invasion all those years ago, though few were actually fighting clothes. There were a few battle kimonos, but not something that would fit her growing stomach.

She'd settled on wearing regular kimonos, which fit much better around her baby bump. It was strange for her, having never worn many kimonos in the past. In fact she could count the number of times she'd worn one on one hand, and she only owned four, all gifts from the Sandaime growing up.

She'd probably had outgrown them now, but there was a seal she'd found in one of the Uzumaki scrolls which when placed on clothes made them more durable in battle and kept them cleaner longer. They also grew with a person, which seemed strange, but with seals there was a lot that was possible. If someone could seal an all powerful mass of chakra inside an infant, than someone could make a piece of cloth grow with someone.

This meant she wouldn't have to worry about out growing the kimonos as she got bigger. She might have been able to place the seal on her normal clothes, but they weren't quite as comfortable with her expanding stomach, and she wasn't doing physical training any longer anyway.

Currently she wore a warm orange kimono with white peach blossoms, and on the back was the Uzumaki spiral in white. It wasn't exactly noticeable with her hair covering most of it though.

As for food; there was food still in preservation seals. Jiraiya had made sure to check the food, not wanting her to eat anything that might hurt her. There was plenty of fruits that grew on the island and fish. Lots and lots of fish. It didn't bother Naruto, she was alright with fish. It wasn't her favorite form of meat, but there were other animals they could hunt and eat as well.

Though for some reason she'd been craving fish and tomatoes lately. It was kind of funny to watch Jiraiya run around like a chicken with his head cut off to find the two items when she wanted them. It was exceedingly hard to find tomatoes after the preserved food ran out.

"Do you think I could clean this place up and rebuild it one day?" she asked, placing her tea cup back on the table in front of her.

Jiraiya looked up from the scroll he was reading – with her permission of course. It wasn't anything she felt he shouldn't know. It was actually information on the bijū and the seal her father had used on her to seal the Kyūbi – who she noticed was exceedingly grumpy lately.

"Why? You're a Konoha ninja..."

Naruto shook her head, knowing where he was going with those words. "No, that's not what I meant, Ero-sennin. I have no desire to leave Konoha, or run my own village or country as it may be. But this place is also my heritage. I don't like seeing it in such a poor state."

Jiraiya chuckled. The girl before him was only fifteen, but at times seemed so much older. He couldn't help but feel proud of her. She'd taken the hand life handed her with grace, and never let the darkness from her own inner demons – both literal and metaphorical – get her down.

Now life was throwing her another curve ball in the form of a wayward lover that was obsessed with revenge against his own brother, someone who Naruto had known in her youth and seen as a older brother herself, and unexpected motherhood. And yet, she still stood strong, and reminded him more and more of her parents everyday.

Those words had been something Kushina would have said, even Minato come to think of it, but the way she'd said it; for a moment he'd thought he'd heard the echo of a noble woman before him, and technically speaking that was what she was. She owned a country, much like a daimyō would, that technically made her a very important person.

He snickered mentally. If the council even thought of giving his apprentice a hard time over her child and being a jinchūriki, they would be in for a surprise. Being who she was she didn't have to stay in Konoha if she resigned as a ninja. She could go happily to her mothers homeland and restart what had fallen years ago.

The biggest blow to Konoha was that she'd end up taking their precious Uchiha (that wasn't even counting Sasuke, though he might follow as well at this rate) with her. He didn't want to see that happen, but he could imagine some of the council dying from shock, which was a funny mental image. The civilian council should have been disbanded ages ago anyway.

Might even be worth seeing, maybe.

"With all the wealth you now have, and then there is the inheritance you have yet to receive from Kushina and Minato, I'd say it would be easy enough to accomplish," he replied. "It would make a nice vacation spot and training grounds if nothing else."

Naru nodded.

"I'll have to look into that. Something tells me this will take some political influence I'm not going to like," she said mostly to herself. "When we get to wave I'll ask Tazuna if he'll help, or knows anyone who can.

"The bridge builder you told me about?" the toad sannin asked. "Not much a bridge builder can do, unless you want to build a bridge to connect Wave to Whirlpool."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. That wasn't such a bad idea, but then again... The island had been invaded once, a bridge might make it even easier. There wasn't much for anyone to invade though, seeing as there were no longer any people living on the island.

'But maybe one day that doesn't have to be true,' she thought, but dismissed it a second later.

How would she even go about that? Not to mention Konoha was her home, she couldn't exactly leave. If she came here, leaving Konoha in the process, than she'd miss the few friends she had.

She'd probably have to become the official Daimyō of Whirlpool (much as Koyuki had when she'd taken her place in Haru/Yuki no Kuni), as she didn't see the other daimyō's allowing Whirlpool to operate as it had when it was founded. Now days having a daimyō to rule the countries was just simpler. Maybe if one of the Uzumaki had taken up position as official daimyō of Uzu no Kuni; Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo might not have succeed.

That was all speculation, it was impossible to know for sure.

"Hm, who knows," she said, shrugging.

"Have you heard anything from the Kyūbi lately?" Jiraiya asked, almost hesitantly.

Naruto looked up again, and blinked. "Not exactly. He doesn't actually talk to me, but I'm pretty sure he's semi-aware of everything that happens. We don't exactly meet for tea parties Ero-sennin." Narrowing her eyes she asked, "What, is there something you need to know?"

Jiraiya sighed, rubbing his temples.

"You know your mother was the jinchūriki before you, right?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"Well, you also should know that the fox was let out by someone who attacked your parents after your birth. You see, the seal on your mother was weakened during labor. Childbirth weakens the seal, but I don't know if it will do the same for you seeing as your seals are different. Kushina's wasn't done with the Shinigami, but it was still very advanced being Uzumaki made."

Naru frowned, one of her hands having dropped to her stomach.

"Will that happen with me? Do you think Kyūbi is plotting something, is that why you asked?" she inquired.

Jiraiya shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't even know if the fox attempts to get out knowingly or if it's just instinct. The point is, from what I read about the seal childbirth will still weaken the seal. Shinigami made or not, it's one of the drawbacks of having a female jinchūriki."

"But you'll be able to stop the seal from breaking, right?"

Jiraiya chuckled and nodded.

"Of course, who do you think helped Minato get ready for Kushina's seal weakening," he said, and then sighed. "I just wanted you to be prepared, because it'll make the birth more unpleasant then usual."

Naruto nodded.

"I understand."

Though that didn't mean she wasn't nervous, she just hid it pretty well at the moment.

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Kyūbi wasn't all that shocked when a few nights later his blonde container appeared in the shin deep waters outside his cage. Which, as usual was becoming so very uncomfortable for him. If only he had control of his containers gender like he did her healing.

He was beginning to believe this was some sort of curse placed on him for something he'd done. Destroyed one too many villages perhaps?

"What do you want, brat?" he asked, turning to face the girl with large crimson eyes, and teeth showing ever so slightly. Of course, as usual this did nothing to deter her. She simply smiled and came a few steps closer.

"I wanted to speak with you. About the seal when I..."

Kyūbi sighed and cut her off, "When you have your kits, yes I know. Your mother was just as concerned when I was sealed in her. Kept asking me all these questions about the little spawns health and then threatened to neuter me if I so much as tried to hurt it."

Naruto blanched, staring blankly at the large bijū before her. He was talking about her as if she wasn't even there. Or maybe he was just so old he was going senile?

Then her eyes narrowed.

"Hurt it? You better not be..."

"As annoying and bossy as your mother, kit," he snapped, cutting her off.

"I can't hurt the little kits, my seal does not give me that kind of power. I may be uncomfortably close to your womb, but I can't interfere with anything going on there. The most effect I have there is when you go into heat which makes you more susceptible to pregnancy assuming you find someone to mate with. The fact those things you humans take to stop fertilization is nearly completely ineffective as well, but that pretty much goes for all drugs."

Naruto's eye twitched, and Kyūbi might have found her annoyance funny if he weren't so damned annoyed himself.

"You couldn't have told me this before?" she snapped. Kyūbi growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"If I had known you would go mate with that blasted Uchiha..." He growled deeply against. "You just had choose that Uchiha boy didn't you, brat? Besides, it's not like you ever asked. Actually from your innocence, ignorance, and naivety I was hoping you'd be asexual. Kami knows I regret it now, one was bad enough but two..."

"Two?" she interrupted, deciding to ignore his words about Sasuke. "What do you mean?"

Kurama blinked, which looked odd on the large mass of chakra.

"There is two, I think you humans call it twins. You don't know that either, do you not have a medic around you, brat?"

Naruto blushed. "Right now I'm at Whirlpool Country..."

Kyūbi blinked and nodded.

"So that's where we are. I've only seen it in memories from Mito and Kushina," he grumbled. "Anyway, yes it's twins. Two very annoying twins."

Naruto snickered.

"Is that why you cage seems smaller?" she asked, and Kyūbi growled.

"You blasted people keep forgetting the seal is on your stomach around you navel don't you? Not far bellow that is your womb, were those two little Uchiha banes of my existence are growing. Which means I have to endure you getting fat and my space getting smaller despite the seal creating a pocket dimension of sorts. I hate sharing!"

She twitched at the insult, she wasn't fat, she was just... pregnant. But she chose to ignore it. Despite this, Naruto couldn't help but think the big fox was being a baby, and couldn't help but imagine the fox pouting after he'd finished talking he sounded so much like a petulant child.

"So how are we talking?" she asked, still process the fact she was having twins. "I thought this was my mind."

"No, not exactly. This is inside the seal, but it reflects your mind because you being here is in mind and spirit, not your actual body. Of course, I could give you a big headache if I wanted and maybe influence your dreams when the seal is at its weakest, which would be childbirth or if someone messed with it. The only other thing I have is the ability to be aware of your surroundings to a certain point and communicate with you telepathically. That is the most the seal allows me to do when it come to your mind. Like I said, the seal is more like a pocket dimension in your gut."

Naruto nodded.

"Thank you for answering my questions, Kyūbi," she said.

He snorted, and settled down once more with his eyes still narrowed.

"Whatever, now get out brat. Your annoying me more then your spawn."

Naruto snorted and seconds later Kyūbi watched as the girl disappeared, leaving him in peace. Twisting around like a animal trying to settle in, Kyūbi grunted.

"four more months of hell," he muttered. "If I ever see the person who created seals, I'll eat them, puke them up, and eat them again."

It was only after he'd closed his eyes to nap that he began to realize he'd been around humans much to often if that was the best threat he could come up with on the spot.

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Edited: 5/23/16.