A tale of ruins and new friends

I was bad at Genjutsu.

What a non-sequitur, you might think. What did that have to do with my travels? Well, traveling was boring.

Sure, you had to be minimally cautious of ambushes. That was usually more of a every-once-in-a-while thing. Especially because most bandits didn't have a death wish and therefore would avoid shinobi like a plague.

Mostly, it was just a lot of walking. You could also run, though that tended to draw a bit more attention and a lot more raised eyebrows. You see, civilians could hand in complaints about shinobi behavior in the capitol. Of course, most civilians never got to visit the seat of power of their Daimyo. Even fewer actually reached the Daimyo's ears. Which meant the most complaints that reached us in Konoha were the ones made by rich merchants.

A.k.a. snobs. That were annoyed by shinobi running around "for no good reason".

Stupid people were one of the constants of all universes.

Thankfully, Sarutobi hadn't taken that all this seriously. Still, shinobi were encouraged to resort to civilian speeds while travelling whenever it was sensible to do so.

Anyway, where was I going with this?

Oh, yes. I was walking. For a long time. No stimulation. Just me and the woods. Even Isobu would have been driven crazy at that point.

Of course, this wasn't the first time I was stuck with a mind-numbing task and had desperately wished for my phone or my old mp3-player to listen to some music.

I had a lot of time to think about a solution.

Sadly, I wasn't the most talented when it came to music. So learning to play songs and recording them somehow was a no-go. Not to mention that there were currently no transportable music players. Tech was a mess and a half in this world.

Which had brought me to Genjutsu.

Was bad at them. I blamed it on my Uzumaki-chakra and my own disinterest in them. They had their uses, but they were also very inconsistent. Any shinobi worth their salt knew how to break out of them. Bam, all that effort and chakra for nothing.

So, unless you specialized in them, they had very limited appeal for your generic shinobi.

I hadn't really practiced them since making it through a course on them in the academy.

BUT. You could also set yourself under a Genjutsu. Like a Genjutsu that drew on half-forgotten memories about listening to music for hours.

…

I should mention that just about any shinobi I knew would tear me a new one if they had heard about that idea. And not just using a jutsu on yourself like that. Using it to block one of your senses while traveling alone?

Hah. Kushina would be so mad.

I weighed my options and decided that I'd rather stay sane, thank you very much. Isobu wasn't so sure about this, but he changed his tune after listening to for a couple of minutes.

His absolute favorite was Orville Peck, by the way. And if the image of a giant turtle in the crowd of a country musician's concert wasn't hilarious, I didn't know what was.

And so, a redhead shinobi walked down the road towards Whirlpool, belting out "Kalahari Down" alongside the turtle in his head.

Well, if Zetsu thought I was crazy, that could only be beneficial in the long run.

Whirlpool wasn't that far from Konoha. Which I actually hadn't known beforehand.

Hey, I was never great with geography and looking at maps had never possessed a whole lot of appeal to me, okay?

Mito-baa-chan had always told me stories about the place she had grown up in, the place she had missed for a long time. About climbing the rock cliffs above the crystal blue water on hot summer days when she was a child. She had made it sound like the village had been straight out of a fairytale.

Kushina hadn't been far behind, at least for her first few months in Konoha.

When the news reached the village that Uzushiogakure had fallen, she grew quiet. I was glad that Mito had never learned about the destruction of her old home. It would have destroyed her.

Although she would have surely gotten justice for her people. The whole thing stank to the heavens. Especially with how close Uzushiogakure and Konoha were. That Konoha hadn't reached them in time was a poor excuse.

I couldn't remember whether Danzo having a hand in the village's downfall was an actual canon fact or just a popular fanon theory. It seemed likely but then again, blaming Danzo for things was rather easy.

At the same time, it was telling that no survivors of the massacre sought refuge in Konoha. And there were survivors, more than Karin and her mother too.

Those were the happy thoughts clouding up my mind as I stood at the coast of the Land of Fire. I was pretty sure that that speck of brown out on the horizon was my goal.

Now, I had some options on how to cross the sea in the middle. Hire a local fisherman. Slow, but they would know of the famous whirpools around the island and could avoid them. I could waterwalk. A bit riskier but I was rather hard to kill.

Or I could do it the fun way.

"You are going to get yourself killed," Isobu contributed his opinion.

'Have some faith! This is going to be great!' I thought back with a bright smile.

The idea? If I could worsen the gravity on my body then I would be able to lighten it too, right? Sufficiently lightened, I should be able to steer myself using the storage seals on the palms of my hands. Although I would have to minimize their output.

The strength I would usually use them at in a fight would most likely catapult me into space. Not quite what I had in mind.

My gloves safely stowed away; I checked the air output of my nifty little storage seals. Barely more than a breeze. I nodded.

Seemed just about right.

Then I took another look at the additions to the gravity seals on my legs and arms. Right now, they were still only temporary ink, no tattoos. I wasn't insane enough to permanently mark myself with untested seals.

"Doubtful," Isobu injected into my stream of thoughts.

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. He had been oddly against this right from the start.

"Alrighty, ready for take-off in 3, … 2, … 1!" I counted out loud.

By three I moved into a stable position and tensed up my muscles.

By two I had started a light and gentle stream of air from my hands.

By one I activated my zero-gravity seal-

-and shot up into the air like a rocket. Ups. Maybe it had been a bit more than a gentle breeze?

I shut off my little thrusters and let the air resistance slow me down. Soon I had to gently correct my position in the air with little bursts to account for the large impact winds now had on me.

After a bit of fiddling around, I laughed.

"See? This is going great!" I told my doubter triumphantly, though there still was light tremor from the excitement in my voice.

"Yes, yes. Now if you could at least hover over there a bit, so that when we crash horribly, we at least land in the water?" Isobu answered, sounding unnecessarily panicked and distracted.

I laughed again and maneuvered around until I was pointed in Whirlpool's direction.

With a loud 'Whoop!' I took off.

"Ouch. Ouch. Ouch," I repeated with tears in my eyes.

Maybe I hadn't thought this through.

"Take this as a learning opportunity," Isobu lectured me with false benevolence.

I ignored him and sighed as I let my arms down, staring sadly at the many knots I still had to deal with.

My poor hair. My poor, beautiful hair.

Served me right for not braiding it beforehand.

I unsealed some more of the leave-in conditioner I used and got back to cleaning up my mess.

I was sitting on top of one of the highest rocks around, I wouldn't quite call it a mountain. Still, I had a great view of the Uzushiogakure's ruins below me. On my flight over island, I had spotted a big cemetery just outside the village. On closer inspection I discovered that a lot of the graves had somewhat fresh offerings; flowers, incense, some even had little toys.

Clearly, this place still received visitors.

I supposed I would have the time to find out more.

Even if most structures were severely damaged, I could see where Kushina's and Mito's fond memories were coming from. The sun still stood high in the sky, a fresh breeze carried the smell of seawater and the waves crashing against rock formations provided a constant gentle background noise. All in all, I was sorely tempted to take a nap and test out whether or not my healing factor would prevent me from getting sunburned.

Alas, I decided I should really get to work.

Digging through the ruins was a bizarre feeling, to say the least.

It was very different from the few times I had the opportunity to visit a dig site because of my studies. First of all, there was no digging. But mainly, I was a lot more connected to these people. If my anonymous parents' lives would have turned out slightly different, I would have probably grown up here. The clan would have been my family.

Technically, they still were. But I had never gotten the chance to know them.

With that in mind, most of my time searching through these houses had me in weirdly somber mood. Isobu's presence helped. Helped a lot, actually. Still, I knew that I would hug Kushina-chan extra hard when I got back to Konoha.

I didn't have to be an archologist or a crime scene analyst to know that Uzushiogakure had been looted. Thoroughly.

Civilians looked down on that kind of behavior, but shinobi had a lot less reservations about it. Sometimes the missions even necessitated it. Other than those cases, it wasn't really encouraged but no one bat an eye when you did it.

Thankfully, Uzushiogakure hadn't been known and feared for their seals for nothing. Every third house had a secret stash. Protected by seals, of course.

To my luck, the worst of the protections were keyed to Uzumaki blood. Which meant I didn't have to worry about them. The rest were still challenging, but a whole lot less explosive.

Honestly, it was a lot of fun. Like solving puzzles. It felt familiar too. It remined me of long afternoons spent with Mito-baa-chan. Uzumaki-style Fuuinjutsu was unique in that it had a lot personality.

By reverse-engineering these seals I got to know more about the people who created them.

Not to mention they were much more advanced than anything Jirayia, Konoha's best original Fuuinjutsu master, could come up with. I was always up for a challenge.

I was at the seventh house when I hit the jackpot. A summoning contract. These things were really huge. When rolled it open, my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Turtle contract. At my first try.

...

Somehow, I had thought this would take longer.

I still searched the rest of the village. Partly because I enjoyed the challenge, partly because the scrolls I was finding were so fascinating.

Still, I couldn't bear the thought of taking all that knowledge with me and leaving nothing behind. So, did something very unshinobi-like.

I left behind useful information for others to find.

Of course, it wasn't quite that easy to get to. After I made my own copies, I walked to the center of the village and spent a good week coming up with some nasty protections. Well, the nasty ones were all keyed to Uzumaki-blood. Which meant that any non-Uzumakis would have a really bad time with getting through.

The rest of my seals were almost playful, adapting a similar tone to the one Mito's seals always had.

I was halfway through setting up my little treasure trove when one day, some proximity seals I had strewn around the cemetery went off.

I was admittedly quite curious who these visitors were. I stood fairly far away and watched, not really hidden but most civilians would not be able to spot me at that distance. And these visitors were clearly civilians.

By the looks of it, an elderly fisherman and his middle-aged son. They went about cleaning up the graves and burning incense. After a few minutes I started to go closer, leisurely walking up to them.

It was the old man that spotted me. For a second he looked like he had seen a ghost. Eyes wide, he instinctively took a step back before he froze in place.

I waved.

"Hello!" I greeted them, making an effort to appear friendly.

As I was here on my own time, I didn't wear my headband so he could not have been scared by me being a shinobi.

I saw the younger man turning around but the fisherman surprised me. He started to smile brightly.

"Hello! It is good to see an Uzumaki here again, I would not have thought I would see the day!" the old man laughed. Something he seemed to do a lot, judging by the deep laugh lines around his eyes.

Well, that was oddly flattering.

"Thank you. And thank you to seeing to these graves. Do you mind me asking why? I have been puzzling over that for weeks now."

At that the old man turned somber, his smile saddened.

"Ah, son, it was dreadful what happened to the village. The people here held many close relationships to the fishing villages along the coast. For trade and transportation, you see. Of course, there was some interbreeding too, if you know what I mean!" he laughed uproariously at that before he continued more seriously.

"Everyone with even a bit of Uzumaki blood in them left. Who knows what these shinobi villages would have done to them. But someone had to bury the bodies and care for the dead, you know? It took a few years before anyone dared go near here though…"

He trailed off, deep in thought. His son, at least I assumed it was his son, came up behind him and patted him on the shoulder.

"Usually someone from the surrounding villages comes by every other month," the son explained.

I nodded to him and looked back at the ruins.

"So, you don't know of any Uzumakis in the area? Or some who visited?" I asked.

Both father and son grew grim at my question. They exchanged a look.

"In the first few years, after, there were a couple who tried to live around here. Not even shinobi or anything. Just fishermen who lived in these waters their whole lives. Started disappearing one by one until the last few packed up their things and fled," the old man told me quietly.

I grimaced. Sadly, that sounded entirely typical for the cut-throat shinobi world.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about it anymore, son. But it is better to be careful," he warned me.

I sent him a friendly smile, appreciative of the concern he showed me.

"Don't worry. I can take care of myself," I assured them. "I am Takeshi, by the way. Takeshi Uzumaki."

As it turned out, the old man's name was Yuuma, and his son was Tarou. We talked for a good hour while moving about the cemetery. Yuuma told me stories about what Uzushiogakure had been like. He had visited fairly often to sell on the market. Apparently, the better the Uzumaki were at sealing, the more eccentric they were.

I was mildly concerned what that meant for me.

Honestly, they sounded like a lot of fun. No wonder Yuuma didn't seem to count them into his negative view of shinobi villages.

"Now you have me curious, son," Yuuma began when we sat down to eat at noon.

"Where do you come from?"

"Konoha," I answered and continued through the startlement of my listeners. "I grew up as an orphan, so I can only speculate what brought my parents over there. I didn't even know I was an Uzumaki until I stumbled onto Mito-baa-chan one day in the park."

At this point I had to laugh at the Yuuma's baffled face. Though Tarou wasn't far behind.

"Konoha? And Mito- are you talking about Mito-hime?!"

I nodded with a big grin.

"Yup. She took me in after that. Taught me everything she knew," I explained with fond smile. I proceeded to unseal a steaming bowl of ramen as a demonstration. I took a sniff.

Mmh, ramen.

"You Uzumakis and your ramen!" Yuuma sighed and shook his head before getting back on track.

"Say, you must know what has become of Kushina-chan then! I was so sad when they sent the little rascal over."

Tarou snorted.

"Sad? You always complained that she ran around carelessly and made a mess in the market!" he corrected his father with a smile.

"What can I say, she grew on me. Like barnacle," Yuuma said sagely.

I snickered.

"Barnacle! I'll tell her that. She is just fine. A bit clingy, perhaps," I said.

"Hypocrite," Isobu scoffed, speaking up for the first time during the exchange.

"That is good news! Greet her from me, will you? Oh, and if your tastes are anything like the standard Uzumaki, there is this one ramen stand, two villages over. Has always been very popular…"

"Tell me more!"

A new restaurant marked on my map, I waved goodbye to my new friends a couple hours later and returned to my project in the village.

"This is going to be fine," I told myself, not for the first time, as I stared at the opened summoning scroll. The line where I would have to sign was taunting me.

So, I stared some more instead.

"This is going to be fine."

Isobu had stopped trying to calm me down about an hour ago and was just ignoring my rambling by now.

I didn't know who was more surprised when I actually cut my thumb (on a kunai, not my teeth, I had no idea why people insisted on doing that except to look cool) and signed my name. Baffled, I looked at it with wide eyes. Before I could lose my cool (or my healing factor closed the wound), I pressed my finger next to my name.

I froze for a second. I blinked.

The world did not cave in. Hell did not open up to drag me down into its fiery depths.

Honestly, I didn't know why I had been so nervous. Sometimes, I just was. In my old world that had been something that made me consider seeing a therapist, but for obvious reasons that was now out of the question.

But you know, the name. I wasn't sure this counted as my name. Signing my old one had seemed even more wrong, so I settled on just sucking it up.

Suck it up, the motto of all shinobi anywhere. Probably the reason this world was so fucked up sometimes.

Isobu dragged me out of my thoughts with his giddiness.

"Think later, summon now!" he egged me on.

For someone who had been very against searching for the contract, he was oddly excited about meeting the turtles.

"Alright, alright!" I said with a smile, Isobu's break from his quiet and reserved nature temporarily making me forget about my concerns.

To be safe, I reopened the wound on my thumb and carefully formed the signs for the summoning jutsu. I put my hand to the ground and watched as a pattern formed that I was vaguely familiar with, excitement at meeting my summons welling up in me as well.

My brain had barely second to recognize that something had gone wrong. The jutsu should have brought a summon to me.

It did not do that.

Instead, it brought me to the summons.

So now, I stood in front of a gigantic turtle, surrounded by dozens of other turtles of varying sizes. All staring at me.

I stared back, eyes wide open.

'This is not at all like it was advertised to me,' I thought weakly.

AN:

Hear ye, hear ye!
Another chapter! Have to admit, the amount of Uzushiogakure lore snuck up on me. Didn't want to jump straight to the turtles, but still. More than I had anticipated.
So, what did you like? What did you not like? Feedback is always appreciated.