Obonso: Finally! You are back! Is it…it real?

Me: I hope it is. No questions about your wife, please.

Obonso: Righty-oh then. Since you have all waited so long, no bantering this time. Just on with it, and enjoy J As a reminder, as well, Guardianmaster4 does not own Naruto, but does own his plots and original characters that he stole from me….including that he stole me from me, yes.

Chapter 2: The Arrival

Traveling by lightning, thought Naruto and Gaara as they felt themselves pulled along with it, did not feel as you would think, not that they had any idea what it should feel like. It felt, though, as if…as if they had become drops in a fast moving ocean, moving towards a goal. They were conscious of things as they went along, but there was a general feeling of being packed between things, as if they did not necessarily move between, or even through the air, but as if they were squeezed, somehow, between two ends of a bottle, but without flowing out. It was an experience neither they, nor Haku and Kimmimaro, travelling not far behind them, would ever forget.

Suddenly, the pressure seemed to change, there was a feeling of being in two places at once, and, coughing, Naruto and Gaara found themselves in the middle of some type of metal circle. It was a small space, no more than 10 feet, it was circular, and it was surrounded by a tall mesh fence of sorts. It took Naruto a moment to realize, as he and Gaara looked around, that the small circular place had a path leading out of it, as well as the more pertinent detail, that they were outside. The path that lead out of the area, though, seemed to lead into a building, but Naruto was unable to see much more than a hall inside the open archway of the buiding.

"This is…" Began Naruto, as he tried to make sense of where they were, but before he could finish his thought, Gaara interrupted.

"This reminds me of the roof top that Obonso took me too, before we came to where you were." Gaara told Naruto, facing him.

"He took me from a…." Naruto started to say, before he stopped, realizing that, not only could he not remember Obonso taking him, but that he also remembered something…something, hitting him in the throat. Wondering if he had missed something, and beginning to wonder if this was real, he suddenly realized he could hear someone speaking.

"Good! Obonso has done well, the two terrorized Jinchuuriki, arriving together, perfect, seriously perfect. He keeps this up with the others, we might just need to get him that sword he asked us to have made." It was, Naruto thought, a woman's voice, but he could not be certain. He turned his head to try and look down the path away from the enclosure, but he could not see anyone.

"Zeria, why do you hide us from the boys? C'mon dear, drop the cloaks. No need to use the white right now." This was definitely a man's voice, Naruto thought, but it seemed to have a strange undertone to it. Almost as if it were verging on the unreal.

"And yet you find an excuse to practice that sound technique of yours? Why do you have to always spoil my-" the female voice began, only to be interrupted by a shout of "Kai" from the man. This had the immediate effect of causing the air around the circular entrance to swirl and fizzle for a moment, before two people, a man and a woman, were revealed. Both wore the same dark cloaks that Obonso had been wearing, but with the hoods down, allowing there faces to be seen.

The man was the taller of the two, though not by much. He was about average height, Naruto would guess. The feature of the man that seemed unusual, though, was that he had shoulder length, dark green hair. It looked to Naruto like the man had, somehow, infused grass into his hair, the way it seemed to stick up in strands about his head. His eyes, too, seemed to be that grassy color. The color, Naruto considered, was indeed the color of older grass, that particular shade of dark green that sometimes made one stumble over it in the night. The black cloak blocked Naruto and Gaara from seeing any additional features of the man, though Naruto thought he could sort of see a strand of black wire on the man's neck.

The woman, standing on the man's right, had the same shade of hair, and eyes, though her eyes might have been just a little lighter than the man's. As with the man, Naruto could see no other features, due to the cloak, save the black wire he thought he could glimpse on her neck.

"Finished looking us over, have you?" The woman, previously identified as Zeria, remarked, causing Naruto and Gaara to look at each other slightly sheepishly.

"Sorry. That was so cool though. How did you two do that?" Naruto asked, getting slightly excited as he considered the illusion the two must have used.

"There will be plenty of time for that later. You two have just arrived here, so, please, identify yourselves, and state the name of the knight who sent you." The man asked, looking at Naruto and Gaara expectantly.

"G…Gaara…Gaara of the dessert, sir." Gaara stuttered a bit, nervously, as he said his name. Immediately upon doing so, he felt a pain in his head, and held it.

"Yeah, no, we are going to be, if you so desire, changing your last name. Of the dessert is not a proper last name, I think. Although, boy, why do you hold your head?" The man asked

Gaara, nervously, and with more than a little fear to his voice, said. "Momma screams at me sometimes, telling me to do bad things. She hurts my head, but, I am fine."

"Momma?" Zeria said, a note of confusion on her face, before her eyes widened as she understood. "Have you always heard that voice in your head?" She asked, a note of deep concern to her voice.

"Ye…Yes, ma'am." Gaara answered, still holding his head. To this, Zeria sighed.

"That is not your mother, Gaara. A mother wouldn't torment you to try to get you to torture others. No, if you are hearing a voice of that nature, it means that the beast inside you is influencing things. Tell me, have you had trouble sleeping as well?" Zeria asked, concern very evident in her voice.

At this, Gaara's eyes widened as he nodded.

"I thought so. Do not worry, but this means your seal is….incomplete. Don't worry, you will be able to sleep, it should be an easy fix for our seal masters. You are not the first Jinchuuriki to have an unstable seal that causes them torment. We'll get that fixed right now, even. Come with me. Zerio, since this one," she nodded to Gaara "has an unstable seal that needs fixing, I'll take him to the Whirlpool quarter. Tell Oritsio that I did so, and he'll have to do Gaara's check in later." The man, now identified as Zerio, nodded his head.

Gaara looked uncertain as Zeria offered him her hand. A frown crossed Zeria's face as she got down on her knees, placing a hand on Gaara's forehead so he was looking forward, into her eyes.

"Don't worry. It will be okay. You won't have to worry about that voice anymore, I promise. We have the finest seal masters alive, most of them, anyway. They have experience with your problem, it will be easy to solve. You are not a freak here, but Gaara, a child who needs some help, which we will provide. It's going to be okay." Tears in his eyes, Gaara threw his arms around Zeria, who returned the embrace, a tear sliding down her cheek as she just held him him for a moment.

After what felt to Gaara like an hour, but what was really only a few seconds, Zeria lifted him up, still hugging him, and turned to Zerio, who had a sly smile on his face.

"Don't you even start, brother. I'll see you at home later, but, yes, take the other one to Oritsio for his check in. You, boy, you have the scroll Obonso would have given you, yes?" Zeria asked as she began to walk, strangely to Naruto, back into the metal circle.

Checking his pockets, Naruto found the scroll and pulled it out. "Yes ma'am, I do. Oh, um, Mr. Obonso Raigo wanted me to say my name when I got here. Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!" Naruto stated, giving her a thumbs up.

Chuckling, Zeria stated. "Tell Obonso when you run into him, whenever that is, not to be such a stickler for protocol with that. Don't lose that scroll, though, but not for the reason you think. No time to dilly though, need to get your friend's seal fixed. Good luck, and, so Obonso won't beat us later, let me and my brother be the first to welcome you to the Village of Corrosion." With that, Zeria pushed her right hand so that it lay on top of Gaara's head, and opened her palm, which glowed for a moment before, to Naruto's shock, a seal seemed to grow over both of them. Once the seal formation was the full size of the circular area it seemed to tilt and form into a black cocoon around them, before lightning of a dark grey color struck the cocoon, temporarily blinding Naruto. When he could look back again, Gaara and Zeria were gone.

"I wish they wouldn't show off like that, don't you boy? Why my sister needs to use such a big effect for simply travelling to another part of the village, when a simple Shunshin will do, I will never know." Zerio said, coming up next to Naruto to place a hand on his shoulder.

"That was so cool!" Naruto suddenly jumped as he said. "Will I learn to do that?" He asked, looking up at Zerio, who gave him a look.

"What, how to be inefficient with your chakra use? I hope not, boy. If you mean to travel by lightning though, well, we consider that a basic, level 2 or 3 necessity skill. Now, though, we must get going. We need to get you checked in, and your living arrangements squared away. I'm sure Obonso told you that you would meet one of the leaders of the village, and you shall. As my sister mentioned, Oritsio is who we will be seeing. Follow me, please." Turning, he beckoned Naruto to follow him, and started walking along the path that lead toward the entrance of the nearby building. As Naruto began to follow Zerio, he placed the scroll back into his coat pocket.

It was then, as Naruto looked back at Zerio, that he heard a very loud lightning strike, causing him to pause in fear. Sensing that he was no longer being followed, Zerio turned to see Naruto standing stock still.

"Relax, boy, that was another group arriving. Could be Obonso's next group of two, could be another group, unknown, but relax. Sorry about the noise, though. Once we get into the building, properly, the noise should be much less." With a nod to Naruto, Zerio turned his back again, and continued to lead the way.

With Gaara and Zeria

The lightning that Zeria used, Gaara had time to realize, did not feel like the lightning Obonso had used. Whereas Obonso's felt clean, like the tide of an ocean held in suspension between two other tides, Zeria's felt like they were charging through some kind of a dark swamp, a thin line their only guide and lead. It would not be until he was given the chance, later, to understand and learn the principles of the lightning based transport technique that he would come to know why it felt so different between users.

All of this, though, happened in just a moment. No sooner had Gaara that moment to dwell on the lightning, than they had arrived. Zeria, gently, put him down on the ground, which was cobbled, of stones that were an orangy color, similar to that of rust, but just a bit darker.

Gaara immediately noticed the three towered structure in front of them. It was similar to a medieval style castle, which he had one seen in a picture book, but it was a lot smaller, only having 3 stories in the main area, with the towers going up another 2 levels, forming points. He and Zeria had arrived in a small circular area in front of the main door to the castle. Gaara also noticed that the building had, as decoration, a beautifully drawn circle, of blue, with spirals inside. There were three of the images, each on one of the towers, which, themselves, were grouped so that one was to his left, one to his right, and the third being in front of him, but towards the back of the castle.

"What is this place?" Gaara asked, as Zeria took right hand and started to lead him forward. Zeria gripped his hand gently as she answered.

"I told you I was taking you to the Whirlpool quarter. Specifically, we are going to see Sealmaster Sora. He, and his wife, as well as their young daughter, are some of the people who live here."

"Wait…Whirlpool?" Gaara said a bit nervously as Zeria and he reached the door, where she pulled a small piece of rope next to the door, which caused a low tune to sound for a moment. "As in…the village of the Whirlpool?"

"Indeed, Gaara, very good. Yes, the Whirlpool village. Lovely place, it was, until it was destroyed." Zeria said, beginning to tap her foot impatiently as she waited for an answer to the doorbell.

"How can anyone be from Whirlpool, though, if it was-" Gaara began, only to be interrupted as the door was opened inward, revealing a man not much taller than Gaara, with a shaved head. Despite this, it was clear that he was no child. He was a young, lean looking man, Gaara would guess no older than 27. Despite his short stature, the man seemed to ooze a warm strength, but not in a vicious way. If Gaara had to describe it, it was almost as if the man felt…fatherly. The man wore a clean, long sleeve, white robe that went down to just above his ankles. On his feet he wore light brown sandals, with white socks. He also wore a thin black belt with several pouches on it, in combination with a pair of light grey, fingerless gloves.

"Hello Zeria. What can I do for you?" The man asked, a calm note to his voice.

"Hello Kei. Is Sora available? We have a bit of a situation. One of the newest arrivals is a jinchuriki, who I am pretty sure has an unstable seal. We need Sora to check his seal out, and fix it, if possible."

"If possible," Kei said with a chuckle as he stepped through the open door to stand below Zeria. "if possible, come on. You know Sora would love nothing more than to be able to play around with a new seal. Is this the jinchuuriki in question?" Kei asked, turning his attention to Gaara.

"Yes. His name is Gaara. He was sent to us from Suna, who must have done some kind of a job on him. He says he has been hearing a voice wanting him to hurt people, and having trouble sleeping." Here, Zeria nudged Gaara with her foot, causing him to straighten.

"Hello, sir. I was told you could help me calm momma down?" Gaara asked, a note of hope to his voice.

"Momma? Oh dear. That's no good. I see why you were worried. If the voice is pretending to be his mother, that would drive anyone a little mad. I can only imagine what would have happened if he had had to live with this. C'mon then do follow me, both of you. Sora's library is this way." Kei said, turning as he lead them into the castle, closing the door behind them.

The inside of the castle, thought Gaara as Zeria picked him up again, was amazing. There were three chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the tall, main room that was on the immediate other side of the door. The chandeliers seemed to be made of a blackish metal, but, Gaara noticed, the light coming from them was of, not the traditional electric yellow, but pale silver. What was strange to him was that he could see neither light bulbs nor candles on the arms of the chandelier. What, he wondered, was causing it to be able to glow?

The walls of the castle were covered in, what seemed to Gaara, vast and beautiful patterns of black ink. Even the floors, he noted, were covered in intricate looking patterns, but not black. No, on the floors which was grey stone, were images of a brilliant midnight blue. It was, Gaara thought, almost like being inside a giant painting. Gaara, though, was unable to observe the other furnishings of the room as Kei, walking faster than Gaara would have thought such a short man capable of, walked to the end of the large room, leading them through a small arch, and into a room which had turns to the left and right, but in front of them at least 6 different staircases. Kei lead them to the right before Gaara had time to examine the room, and down to the very end of what turned out to be a long hallway, which a door at the end of it. Before Kei could even knock on the door, a voice was heard.

"Enter!" The voice, which was undeniably male, almost had a yelling quality to it. Immediately, Kei opened the door, and Gaara was able to see what, to him, was a strange, but amazing looking room.

It was a large, square shaped room, which Gaara would estimate as being thirty feet in all directions. They had entered from the western wall, although, as they stepped through the door, Gaara could see that the walls were covered in shelves, packed, completely full, with tomes, scrolls, and books. However, the strange thing was that they were not just large book shelves, but normal, six foot tall shelves. The thing that made Gaara stare was the fact that the shelves were not one top of the other. No, they were floating, at least one foot above another. Even the ones nearest to the floor did not sit on it, but floated. In between them, the walls were covered with beautiful looking patterns of reds, black, blues and golds, more paint colors than Gaara even knew existed. The markings ended at the floor, which Gaara could see was covered by a soft carpet of the same blue he had seen on the floors of the previous room.

At the fair corner, what would be the northeastern point, a staircase coiled up, going around, in a spiral, all the way to the ceiling, where it ended with a ramp. Gaara was just able to make out a door at that spot, and wondered how far the library went. Gaara also noticed that, unlike the entry area, there were no chandeliers here. Instead, to Gaara's amazement, there were small, what seemed to him, orbs, no more than 6 inches wide, floating, unconnected to anything, all around the room, as well as near the spiral staircase, and the ceiling. The orbs, like the chandeliers, did not glow any sort of electric yellow, but pale silver.

The floor of the library contained many pale blue tables and chairs, as well as a couple of large couches, though every surface seemed covered with scrolls and books. In the center of the room, walking towards Gaara, who had not realized that Zeria had put him down, was the man who had spoken.

Unlike Kei, this was man of above average height, Gaara would have guessed about six and a half feet tall. He was dressed in a similar style of robe to Kei, however, unlike Kei, his was a dark blue in color, with a red spiral in the center. Also unlike Kei, his was open below the belt, revealing that he was wearing pale white pants, and sandals which matched Kei's. More than anything, though, the thing that struck Gaara was the man's hair, which was a brilliant bright red, long, and tied in a ponytail behind him, which somehow seemed to make his skin, slightly tanned, look out of place. Gaara also realized, as the man neared him, that he was looking directly at him, eyes a sharp grey color behind a pair of half moon glasses.

"Hello little one. You must be the jinchuuriki who has come to-" only to be interrupted by Kei.

"Brother, no, this is the other one, although, we may yet have this one live with us as well, if it is decided as such by Oritsio. This is the jinchuuriki of Suna. He has a problem with his seal. Seems the voice of the beast is trying to torment him, even blocking his ability to sleep. It even is pretending to be his mother, from what I am told." Kei said, Zeria nodding in the affirmative. At once, a look of, first shock, then sadness, then anger, came across Sora's face.

"Suna's fucking seals man….kami damn it. How many times did our clan send emissaries there to try to upgrade the seals on a charity mission? At least fifteen times, but no, they wouldn't listen. Pricks. You did the right thing, Zeria, in bringing the boy to me. Kei, help me lift up the usual area of the carpet, we are fixing this seal now, not later. Then Oritsio can check him in." Sora said, in a tone of voice that demanded no arguments. Nodding, Kei proceeded to the center of the room, where he kneeled down, placing his hands on the floor.

"You…your clan…you wanted to help us?" Gaara stuttered out.

"Of course we did. Just because your village feared us, didn't mean we were in any way bitter towards them. Quite the contrary, any member of the clan, in those days, and in these, I like to think, could never stand by at that level of instability. The danger of a poorly done bijuu seal, it's just too big of a risk, in my eyes. Just because Suna never had a problem controlling there jinchuuriki before, didn't mean the seals they had were safe. Even with so few of us left, I still believe in that old spirit of our clan." Sora said, walking next to Kei, before kneeling down himself, trying to feel around for the flap that would allow them to lift up part of the carpet.

"But…how could your clan have such knowledge about that stuff?" Gaara asked, very curiously, just as Sora said "there's the seam", and placed his hands along a line of the carpet, which Kei mirrored. As they grabbed a portion of the carpet and lifted it up, revealing a three foot by three foot square of wood beneath the carpet, Sora answered, with a prideful note to his voice.

"We are the Uzumaki, formerly of Whirlpool, what some consider the greatest clan of seal masters to ever live. If we didn't have such knowledge, we couldn't be considered as such." Chuckling to himself, Sora took a brush, with ink, and a rag from the table, placing it down on the wood, as he beckoned Gaara to him.

"Please remove your shirt, child, I need to examine your seal if I am to place the proper stabilizing seal over it." Sora said, his voice still having the edge of irritation he had when he opened the door to his library.

With Naruto and Zerio

It was at about this time that Naruto and Zerio, having navigated their way through the arrival center, and then being forced to wait for several minutes, arrived, at last, at the room where Naruto's fate would be decided. They had wound up climbing to the top of rather large flight of stairs at the end of things, which would have left Naruto out of breath, had Zerio not, seeing Naruto struggling, lifted him up and given him a piggy back ride for the bulk of the staircase. This is where they stopped to rest, at the top of the staircase, just outside a door made from polished wood, painted red.

"Why did we have to go up so high?" Naruto asked as he got down from Zerio's back, shaking out his legs a bit.

"For a very good reason, boy. The top of the building serves, not just as the place where Obitsio keeps his office, but also one of the best places to catch a view of the village. Obonso would have told you, maybe, that we maintain a mythology cloak, of sorts, no one ever finding our village?" Zerio asked, to which Naruto nodded.

"Well, from the balcony of Obitsio's office, you will see just how we have kept ourselves so well hidden, all these centuries our village has been here. Don't ask me to tell you, either. All of us who are of Corrosion agree that words cannot do it justice, it must be witnessed with your own eyes." As Zerio said this, he walked to the door, and knocked, three times.

"You may enter, Zerio." Came a firm voice. With a nod to Naruto, Zerio turned the handle of the door, and opened it, revealing a, to Naruto, rather boring looking office. It was a room fifteen feet in length, by twenty feed wide. In the office, which was painted a silvery color, was a desk, four chairs in front of it, and one behind, which was occupied. Further back, behind the chair on the far side of the desk, was a closed door, which Naruto thought must lead to the balcony.

The man sitting in the chair behind the desk, beckoning to Naruto and Zerio to take seats of their own, was, what many would call, a contradiction. Despite his face having many wrinkles, and looking slightly sunken in, the man did not seem weak, or slow. No, his eyes, which were behind a pair of thick round glasses, despite the cloudiness of the glass, could be seen, and it was hard for Naruto to look the man in those eyes.

They were not a traditional color at all, instead of being blue, green, brown, or even red, they were a sharp, piercing yellowy grey. Where the white should have been, instead, there was a pinkish, but that is where even the normal structure, in comparison to the eyes of others, stopped. The iris and pupil were not shaped as they would normally be, round, but formed, instead, into a pointed, slitted, triangle. The middle of the triangle, which one would expect to be black, was not black, but was, in fact, colorless, entirely. That is, if one cared to look in the central area of the eye, they could see a white, shapeless, void. The iris around this oddly shaped pupil contained the strange yellowy-grey.

Unable to look the man in the eyes, Naruto, instead, looked at his eye brows, which were of a dark grey in color, matching the long hair the man had, tied in a bun, which, in combination with the hair being rather thick, made seeing the man's ears imossible. Although the man was wearing the same black cloak that Obonso had been wearing, Naruto was still able to see that the man was muscular. He looked, Naruto considered, like a young ox of a man, but it was hard to reconcile this, considering how old he looked from the neck up.

"Zerio, I thought you and your sister were bringing me both of the jinchuuriki that Obonso sent. I can tell from the hair color of the boy that this is the one from Konoha, but where is the one from Suna?" Oritsio asked, a stern look to his face as he eyes Zerio, who gulped with a bit of nervousness.

"Sir, sorry sir, I thought you would have known, as you tend to. The other one, Gaara…he complained of hearing a voice in his head telling him to hurt others. My sister, then, asked him if he had been suffering insomnia, which he stated he had. We, therefore, concluded that the boy was suffering from a faulty seal, and felt it was too dangerous to bring him here at once. Zeria suggested, and I agreed, that he should be taken to sealmaster Sora in order to have his seal taken care of. Most likely, she will bring the boy here after that. I apologize for not asking you first, but we felt it was truly urgent." As Zerio spoke, the nervousness ebbed from his voice, until he speaking calmly again. Oritsio momentarily looked Zerio in the eyes, before nodding.

"Not a problem, Zerio. You and Zeria made the right decision. Last thing we need is a bijuu breaking free from the seal at the arrival center. Now, though, that you have brought a new arrival to me, we must take care to see how the retrieval mission went. Boy," Oritsio said, as he picked up a small binder that was on top of his desk and opened the cover "please, what was the name of the man who collected you, and did he leave with a scroll of dark black?"

Nervously, Naruto looked to Zerio, who put a gentle hand on his shoulder, nodding

"Mr. Obonso Raigo sent me. There was a scroll, yes." Here, Naruto stopped his speaking to take out the scroll, still tied, and completely undamaged.

"Excellent, boy. Please, if I may." Oritsio said, reaching for the scroll. Naruto, still unable to
look Oritsio in the eye, wound up dropping it on the desk. Before Zerio could pick it up and give it to Oritsio, Naruto asked.

"What's with your eyes, old man? They look so weird." These words, spoken with a child's lack of fear, elicited a shocked eyed expression from Zerio, who opened his mouth to berate Naruto for calling Oritsio old, until he heard Oritsio begin to laugh.

"Hahahaha!" The tone of the laugh was louder, and more high pitched than Naruto would have expected to come from such an old man. It was also contagious, as laughter often is, as Naruto found himself smiling and joining in. This went on for a moment, before Oritsio raised his hand to adjust his glasses, which had shifted slightly.

"It's been a long time since any one dared call me old, boy. I like it, you have spirit. You shall fit in well here, I think." Oritsio said, reaching to his desk to take the scroll. As he did so, Oritsio caught the gobsmacked look on Zerio's face.

"Oh, come now Zerio. We should reward the boy for his honesty, don't you think?"Oritsio said, using his right hand to nudge Zerio, sitting on his right, on the left shoulder. This seemed to do the trick, as Zerio calmed down. Satisfied that Zerio was not going to have a heart attack in his office, Oritsio continued.

"Well, my boy, what I have is called a Kekkai Genkai, much like the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan, or the Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan, which you are likely familiar with. Unlike them, though, my gift is…shall we say, more visually interesting." As Oritsio said this, Zerio had to stop himself from chuckling, which earned him a nod from Oritsio.

"Good of you to calm down Zerio. Now," Oritsio began, turning back to Naruto "as I was about to say before that diversion of a side topic, we now need to decide where to put you. First though, do please tell me if we have your name accurately, Naruto Uzumaki?" Oritsio asked.

"Believe it!" Naruto said. It occurred to him, as he did so, that he no longer found it so unpleasant to look Oritsio in the eye, which he liked, since the old man seemed nice. Oritsio seemed to smile as he responded.

"Very good. You certainly do have the spirit of the Uzumaki about you. Tell me, Naruto, what do you know of your family?" This made Naruto frown a little, before he answered, a note of sadness to his voice.

"All I know is what Mr. Obonso told me, that my dad was the fourth hokage, and my mom was someone named Kushina Uzumaki. I don't know anything about them at all. I once asked someone at the orphanage if I had any family, but they said no one would want a demon like me, and my parents probably abandoned me out of shame." To this, Oritsio, and Zerio, had, for a moment, angry looks, before they instantly changed to a note of sadness.

"Naruto, never let anyone make you feel ashamed of your heritage. Your parents loved you very much, but they died the day you were born. I am not the one, though, to tell you the story of the day you were born. One more, question, though, what do you know of the Uzushiogakure, the village hidden in the whirlpools?" Oritsio asked.

Naruto thought for a moment, before answering. "It was destroyed, I think. It was a ninja village, an ally to the place Mr. Obonso took me from, but, I don't know anything, really, about what it was like, not really. Why do you ask me about a village that doesn't even exist anymore, though?" Naruto wanted to know. He was beginning to feel a bit angry at this whole situation, actually. So far, since Obonso had taken him, he had made a friend, who he had been separated from, and then traveled a great distance. He had met some people who seemed like they wouldn't hurt him, but he didn't feel any better off than he was before. What Oritsio said, though, would forever change his world.

"The reason I asked you about Uzushiogakure, Naruto, and the reason I asked you about your family is that they are one and the same. Yes, Uzushiogakure was laid to ruin, about 9 years ago, in what Konoha and the others of your world called the Third Great Shinobi war. Uzushiogakure, you don't seem to realize, though, was the seat of one of the most powerful, mighty clans to ever exist in this world, the Uzumaki. Yes, my boy, you are descended from a powerful clan, of seal masters, and users of the ninja arts. The clan was laid to ruin when the village fell, but," as he said but, Oritsio had to stop himself from putting an arm on Naruto's shoulder "many of your clan survived, and scattered around the world. Many of the village, as well, did survive. That too, the world knows. What the rest of the world does not know, though, is that we, the Village of Corrosion, got there first, before any other village's ninjas could get to the village after its destruction. They would find the village nearly empty, nothing of value left to pillage, because we, as is part of our job, were able to save a number of them. The Uzumaki who we saved, though, so close to dying as they were, ordered as, and we obliged them, to take all of the village secrets that we could. We have over a dozen Uzumaki alone here, my boy, as well as members of other clans and families that lived there. There were over fifty total survivors, men and women and children, many of them injured, but all of whom we recovered. There were so many people, we had to build them a compound of their own. It was one of our biggest and happiest successes, the saving of the great clans, families, culture, and people of Whirlpool. You have a clan, and you will have a family, if you want to, that is. It is your choice, but I have not the slightest doubt that those Uzumaki who live here, would love to have you, with open arms. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Throughout Oritsio's little speech, Naruto had been looking at him, first with wide eyed shock, then with disbelief, until he had the look of a child not believing something so good can be true.

""I, I have a clan? A f-f-family? Don't lie to me! I'm just a stupid Uzumaki, I don't have any f-family. No one w-would want a demon like me." Naruto, at this point, was sobbing. Zerio, unable to watch a child sob, hugged him tightly to his chest, as Oritsio responded.

"You do, Naruto. You are home. This is the Village of Corrosion, ever eroding away at the world, taking that which it tries to discard, or destroy, or damage. That which would otherwise be lost, or ruined. Ever watching, doing what we can to help, but ever vigilant. That is what we are. Would you like to live with the Uzumaki? As I said, I have not the slightest doubt that they would be overjoyed to have you. You have a young cousin, you know, by the way. One of the survivors was a woman who was a pregnant, and she gave birth to a girl, only 3 years older than you. I imagine she would love to meet you, as the others will." At this point, Naruto had many tears in his eyes, and snot dribbling from his nose, which he blew into Zerio's shirt, who, though Naruto could not see it, slightly scowled at the thought of having to wash snot from his clothing. After a moment, though he was able to, in a faint voice, say.

"I-I wo-wou-ould like that, yes. I have a family, believe it!" With the believe it uttered, NAruto struggled out of Zerio's grasp, eyes alight with tears, and looked at Oritsio.

"Can I go to them now?" Naruto asked, his voice still quivering, and hope in those blue eyes.

"Certainly, my boy, certainly. Zerio, it shall be your responsibility to see that he gets to the Whirlpool quarter safely. Before you go, though, my boy, you have a rite of passage. As a new arrival to the village," as Oritsio spoke, he stood up, and turned to the balcony door, placing his right hand on the handle, "you must walk onto this balcony and see your new home. Zerio will have told you, but, we believe the words cannot do it justice." With that, he turned the handle, and opened the door to his balcony. Naruto, ever inquisitive, ran around the desk, and stood in the doorframe. At first, all Naruto could see was a flash of white as he was blinded, momentarily. Once he could see, though, he took three steps outside, and encountered the railing of balcony, reaching his hands up to it.

It took a moment, but, at last, Naruto was able to see where he was, and was immediately stunned, beyond belief, by what he saw. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it was certainly not to look up, and around him, and see, first, great blackness, but then, a large sphere, hanging in the sky. Naruto wondered, for an instant, why the moon was so big, before it hit him.

"Is...is…is that…but…that can't be…"Naruto started to say, but kept stopping. His mind just could not believe what he was seeing. As Zerio and Oritsio came behind him, putting one hand each on one of his shoulders, they smiled down at the wide eyed boy.

"Yes, it can be, my boy, and it is." Oritsio said, in his slightly high pitched voice that didn't quite fit him.

"But…this….this is…the moon?!" Naruto gasped out, as he realized that the sphere in the sky above him wasn't just too big to be the moon, but it had too much color to it.

"Where else does one hide all the strangeness and oddity, and thrown away people, and crazy weirdness that the world is too afraid of to enjoy, or keep safe in its own right? The many centuries our village has stood, no one, save our founder, and maybe a few others, over the years, have ever thought to try to come here. Yes, Naruto, we are on the moon. It is our home." Oritsio said, more than a little pride in his voice as he spoke. If Naruto had been looking at Oritsio in that moment, he might have just caught the faintest glimpse of pointed ears beneath Oritsio's hair.

End of Chapter

Obonso: Whaaat?! You are just ending the chapter like that? How could you? I didn't get to appear!

Me: Oh shut up, you were mentioned often enough.

Obonso: Yes, but…you didn't even address my last group of two, or that scroll, or go into what happened when Haku and Kimmimaro arrived, and you left Gaara on a-

Me: All in good time, Obonso, all in good time. This felt the right place to end the chapter, so it is where it ends. To the readers, please do review and respond, if you can. I am very much appreciative of any feedback you choose to give me. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter of Naruto: Village of Corrosion. Next time, the new arrivals settle in, and begin their ninja related education. I am shooting to have the chapter done in a week or two, but, uncertain. Could be a few days longer. My apologies for that. Related to that, I am thinking of getting a beta, but, also uncertain.

Anyway, once again, thank you for reading, and I see you next time, with Naruto: Village of Corrosion, Chapter three. As a bit of a side note, I intend to use these Author's Notes to, potentially, answer reviews, so feel free to leave questions. Also, I am debating, potentially, closing out chapters, once in a while, with a short, 1-2 page, mini-story set within the story. They wouldn't happen every chapter, only when something seems like it could be interesting. I am curious, though, if you guys would like that. Let me know, please, if you would, if you guys like the sound of that.

This is guardianmaster4, now, signing off. Ja ne!