I do not own Naruto
Next afternoon, shores of the land of Whirlpool
Team 7 looked around at the desolate shore while Risu pulled the rowboat Tazuna had gifted them onto land. The boat itself was too big to be sealed in any of the scrolls he was carrying, so he opted to simply tie it up to the closest tree before turning to his students. He once again pondered the benefits of making a larger sealing scroll like the one Jiraiya-sama had, but once again he dropped the idea. His scrolls already contained everything the man had ever owned, a larger scroll was only needed to seal very large objects, which he didn't really need. Not to mention, it would advertise the fact that he was an adept fuinjutsu user, which had a frightening tendency to make his enemies focus their attacks on him.
Naruto had been silent the whole time,his expression constantly shifting between sadness and excitement. Sasuke had, surprisingly, unsealed his memento, seemingly lost in thoughts while observing the blade. When Sakura had asked about the sword, the Uchiha had simply replied it was something to help him think, and the pinkette had dropped the conversation, unsealing an anatomy scroll Risu had leant her the previous day.
"Ok hatchlings, listen up. We are now in the land of Whirlpool, no more than two miles away from what used to be the village of Uzu. As I'm sure you remember from our lessons, the Uzumaki were masters of fuinjutsu and their village was pretty much covered with seals from city wall to city wall. Nowadays, most of the seals have been destroyed and the overwhelming majority of the seals that are still intact no longer serve any purpose. That, however, doesn't mean that there are no active seals in the ruins. They might appear broken, they might be partially buried with rubbles, but that doesn't mean that they cannot be triggered, so keep your eyes open. For today we'll simply explore the ruins until we find a building that's stable enough to be used as a base of operation. If you spot a seal, I want you three to halt and try to figure out if it's active or not. If it's active, you will try to figure out its purpose. For today we still have some of the food Tsunami-san prepared, but from tomorrow you three will hunt for food during the hours we usually spend doing missions. I will supervise, obviously, but I will not offer aid unless you do something stupid like trying to eat poisonous mushrooms. Now, Naruto takes the point, Sakura the left flank, Sasuke the right flank and I'll take the rear."
The team nodded, following Naruto's lead.
The genins soon found out that Risu wasn't kidding when he said that Uzu was completely covered in seals: the group was forced to stop every few meters to check the various seals they saw, slowly getting more accustomed to them as nearly identical reinforcement, rot-prevention and durability seals repeated over and over again.
After about two hours of walking, they finally saw the ruins in all of their tragic glory. The village was split in half by a twisting canal slicing the whole island in two. At every twist and turn of the canal the group could easily spot multiple whirlpools which no doubt gave the nation its name. Both sides of the canal were covered with shattered pillars and collapsed skyscrapers, the passage of time having eroded their frame exposing the metallic skeleton inside the concrete. Despite its desolation, the setting sun gave everything a rich orange tinge, turning the scenery into a painting that could only be described as beautiful, even if only in its own unique tragic way.
Risu stepped forward, placing his hand over Naruto's shoulder. The boy cleaned up a tear from his cheek. "It's beautiful." he whispered.
Team 7 stood still for a few minutes, giving Naruto the time to admire the home he never had.
With a sigh, the boy turned to his team. "Thank you. Let's go, we have to find a camping spot!" he shouted, before leading the team over the rubble closer to the canal.
On the way down, they found a still functioning silencing seal, together with a large number of deactivated chakra suppressing seals, a place Risu was fairly certain used to be Uzu's version of the Torture & Interrogation department. He had visited Uzu in an expedition funded by Takigakure as part of his cover-up as an archaeologist, but he only stayed there for a couple of days and his team was assigned to a different section of the village. With that knowledge, the three genins searched the ruins, finding a half-buried corridor that, despite the odd angle, was in perfectly serviceable condition. Even better, the corridor led to a handful of mostly intact, although empty, rooms.
It was unanimously decided to set up camp inside this building and, after Risu had thoroughly checked them for any unknown and potentially dangerous seal, the genins had swiftly picked up their own individual rooms.
Next morning, ruins of Uzu
"Good morning hatchlings. Today we start your practical survival training. For the next two weeks, you are forbidden from using any of the tools you have currently sealed in your scroll, so the first order of business is: hand over all your scrolls."
Risu extended his palm towards his students, expectantly.
"But sensei! How are we going to train without proper tools?!" objected Naruto.
"You will make new ones or you will learn to deal without them. For training fuinjutsu, disguises and weapon kata I will personally unseal the required materials and seal them back once the exercise has been completed, but for the most part you will learn to make do. Your scroll, please."
Hesitantly, the three handed over their scrolls.
Risu smiled, locking them into his room before guiding his students onto the canal that split the village in two.
"This is where you will train your combat skills. Morning exercises, kenjutsu kata, taijutsu kata, ninjutsu, genjutsu and sparring will all take place here. This will not only help you train your water walking, but will help you maintain a cool head in battle. After all, if you lose your concentration, you will fall into the water. Try to avoid the whirlpools, just in case your control slips. The days will start as usual with your morning exercises, then you will come back to base to learn some fuinjutsu, basic first aid, disguises and acting. By the time we come back to Konoha, I want the three of you to be able to freely impersonate me and each other. You will be tested on this, because from the day we return I will no longer offer any report to the Hokage. One of you will disguise as me and offer their report in my stead."
The three were stunned. Risu-sensei was expecting them to fool the Hokage?
Sasuke trembled in excitement. "Will these disguises be enough to trick the Sharingan?"
Risu shrugged. "I'm not sure. I know for a fact they can trick the Byakugan, but I haven't tested them against an Uchiha. Once your teammates become good enough to trick my Byakugan we can check if the disguise holds up to the Sharingan as well."
Risu resumed his explanation "From noon you will be trying your hand at survival. You will hunt, you will fish, you will look for drinkable water, you will set traps to capture animals, you will build nets to catch fishes, you will construct a distiller to purify water and, if you have time, you will explore the ruins. If you choose to explore the ruins, I demand you be respectful. You will not play around with human bones, you will bury them and offer a prayer. You will not set off exploding tags to make traversal easier. If you find something that you think might have any historical or monetary value, you will stop and call for both Naruto and myself to inspect it before taking it. These people may be gone, but I will not tolerate disrespect towards the dead, is that clear?"
The trio nodded, Naruto far more vigorously than the others.
"Good. During the evening, you will be free to spar with my shadow clones, practice taijutsu, kenjutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, Chakra Nagashi, stealth or any other skill you wish to improve on… You have a good enough grasp on all these subjects to start working on your own style. I would suggest stealth training for Sasuke and taijustu for both Naruto and Sakura, but those are merely suggestions, not orders. All clear, hatchlings?"
"Yes, Risu-sensei!" chorused the three.
"Excellent. Now, I believe you three have some push-ups to do, don't you?"
One week later, ruins of Uzu
"You're getting better, but I can still tell you apart. Naruto, you're disguised as Sasuke. Sasuke, you're disguised as Sakura. Sakura, you're disguised as Naruto."
"Tsk" scoffed Naruto and Sasuke, in a near-perfect synchrony with the same voice.
"Aww, c'mon sensei. We did pretty good, didn't we?" asked Sakura, scratching her head in the same way as Naruto
Risu smiled "Well, your acting is way better than I first anticipated, which does help sell the disguise quite a lot. I'd say another week or two and you should be virtually indistinguishable from one another."
The trio smiled. During the past week they had perfected their jutsus while Risu-sensei had drilled them in infiltration like their lives depended on it. Sakura, strong with the basic knowledge the sensei had given her in Wave, had helped sensei teaching the boys first aid and was progressing, although very slowly, on the path of an iryo-nin.
Their survival training had proven to be far more difficult than anticipated: being raised in Konoha they were taught how to hunt and scavenge in a forest, but the aquatic environment of Uzu made that knowledge pretty much useless. The first few days they were forced to make due with lizards, a couple of crustaceans and the occasional root. Slowly they started to add mushrooms to their meals, even if Risu-sensei had to stop them after Naruto picked up a poisonous one and almost beat the knowledge into their skull during that evening, and fishes, once Naruto's shadow clones army had made a net and the group had learned where to put it without it either becoming tangled or being ripped to shreds by the whirlpools. During their evenings, Sasuke had focused almost exclusively on his stealth, kenjutsu and Chakra Nagashi, with Risu-sensei teaching him a more advanced version of fire Chakra Nagashi called Katon: Engeki no jutsu. It required two hand signs, but it allowed the user to wield much hotter flames that actually lingered after the slash and extended the weapon's reach a few extra centimeters. Naruto had dedicated all his free time to studying fuinjutsu, learning how to make Fuin Fuda to immobilize opponents.
Sakura, on the other hand, had opted to focus entirely on Iryo ninjutsu, even though her training for the moment remained mostly theoretical.
It was during one of Naruto's hunts for materials that the genin, as well as Risu-sensei's shadow clone, stumbled upon what looked like a traditional house that, despite being almost completely buried under the rubbles of a skyscraper which had bent around the structure like some sort of artificial cave, had left the building essentially untouched. Inspecting the outside of the house revealed the single most powerful resistance seal that Risu had ever seen in his entire ninja career. Someone would have needed to drop a mountain on top of the house in order to scratch it.
The clone set off a flare, alerting the rest of team 7 who joined Naruto shortly after.
"That's an interesting discovery, Naruto. The archaeologists must have ignored the area due to that" Risu pointed at the toppled skyscraper.
"It's a bit of shame my cover-up identity as an archaeologist has been compromised, a discovery like that would have skyrocketed my reputation."
"What do you think it is, sensei?" asked Sakura.
"Obviously a much older building than the surrounding area. Not that it helps narrowing down anything, the Uzumaki lived in the land of Whirlpool for centuries. Advance carefully and be mindful of any seal. This house is obviously special, it can block my Byakugan and it might have other specialized defenses. Sasuke, I want your Sharingan active at all times."
The genin nodded. Risu slowly approached, reaching the sliding door and slowly pushing it open, waiting for some kind of secret mechanism or defense seal to trigger. Risu gestured his team to halt as he looked at Naruto while forming his hands in a very familiar seal. Naruto nodded, imitating his sensei.
Kage Bunshin no jutsu
Twenty copies of the genin and three copies of Risu-sensei popped into existence before creeping into the house. After what appeared to be hours, the clones got out of the house.
"It's safe, but… you should see what's inside." said one of the clones before dispelling.
The jonin gestured to his team to follow him and he entered the house. Although simple, this house clearly belonged to an important clan member. They crossed the hallway and Risu froze, pointing at a very old black and white picture portraying an old Uzumaki with long white hair leading a group of Uzu ninja standing side by side Hashirama Senju and a group of ninja wearing Konoha hitai-ate. At that moment, Risu knew exactly whose home this was. He looked into the next room, where he found a skeleton wearing full Uzumaki battle armor, with the same two short swords visible in the picture strapped to the man's back.
"Kids" Said the jonin in a solemn voice "Pay your respect. This is the house of Uzumaki Ashina, the last Uzukage."
Risu bowed his head at the remains of the man, intoning a prayer to Kami for the man.
The genins halted their search and followed their sensei in prayer, paying their own respect to Naruto's ancestor. Once he had finished the prayer, then Risu started to recount the tales of Ashina. He recounted how Ashina was the leader of Uzu when Hashirama founded Konoha and was the one to come up with the idea of calling the village leader a 'Kage'. He was an incredible sealmaster, the only man in recorded history to be able to create fuinjutsu matrices on the fly with nothing but his chakra and hand seals. He recounted Ashina's duels with both Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, as well as the man's legendary battle during the siege of Uzu and how if it hadn't been for Kiri releasing toxic gas into the city, his presence alone would have been enough to repel the invaders.
After recounting the man's life, he turned to Naruto.
"Do you wish to proceed with a funeral ceremony?"
Naruto didn't reply, his eyes slightly red due to tears. He simply nodded.
Risu looked at his other students "Go buil a pyre."
As the two left the house, Naruto approached Ashina's body. His hand extended, touching the man's armor.
"Hello, Ashina-jiji. You don't know me, but my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a genin from Konoha." He paused "I never knew my family, you know? I was an orphan and didn't even know the Uzumaki were a clan until Risu-sensei told me about this place. I've always wanted to be Hokage. I guess you invented the term, didn't you? I guess that's another reason for me to take the seat, isn't it? To honor your memory, make sure our clan is not forgotten." He took a deep breath "I'm not smart. I know I'm not smart, but I'll make it. I will become Hokage one day. This time not just for me, but for you as well. For all of you. That's a promise of a lifetime, and I never go back on my promises. That's my nindo, my ninja way." He reached for the two swords, the pure white handle settling into his palm as he drew the blades, perfectly sharp as the day they were made. "I hope you won't find it disrespectful, but I'd like to have these. I've been training with daggers for a while, but when I saw these I felt like they were meant for me, you know? Like… they waited for someone to continue your legacy. I just hope I'll be able to measure up to you, Ashina-jiji." Naruto fell on his knees and bowed to the man.
Risu looked out the house at his other students who had just prepared a funeral pyre. He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It is time."
Together, the two picked up the remains of Ashina and carried him to the pyre.
With a final prayer, Risu gestured to Sasuke, who flashed through hand signs.
Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu
The four waited in silence as the fire died down, before collecting Ashina's remains into a small urn and placing them inside the house, beneath the photo of Ashina and Hashirama.
Risu pulled out an empty scroll, placing it below the urn and motioned to Naruto. After a few minutes of consideration, he thought of the many tombstones in Konoha and knew exactly to write.
Here lies Ashina Uzumaki
Last leader of Uzushiogakure
A great man,
a legendary shinobi
and an honored ancestor.
May Kami smile upon his legacy
Without a word, the group left the house, Sakura and Sasuke returning to their own training.
"Hey, Risu-sensei? Do you think Hokage-jiji will let me wear this?" Risu looked at Naruto, holding Ashina' hitai-ate.
"You will still need to wear a leaf hitai-ate, Naruto." said Risu in a serious tone.
"Oh, I wasn't planning to abandon mine. It was a gift from Hiruka-sensei, it's important to me. I was just hoping… maybe I can wear it on my arm? Like Shikamaru does? Or as a belt like Ino? Or around my neck like Hinata-chan?"
Risu smirked at Hinata being referred to as -chan, but refrained from commenting on it. It wasn't the place. "We can ask the Hokage, but I don't think he will be a problem."
Naruto smiled, then almost tackled the Hyuuga with a hug. "Thanks, sensei."
Notes
Ashina Uzumaki has next to nothing written on him that's actually usable, so I had to make up stuff that sounds plausible. His own "fuinjutsu with hand seal" is actually from a clip (I think from a shippuden filler episode), so I decided to make it his stick.
Every leader of a village will be called a Kage with the name of their country, even if Kusakage (being the leader of the grass village from the land of grass) doesn't really roll of the tongue. If you have better-sounding names for the various leaders, let me know
Answering PM/Reviews
I'm glad you are liking Risu-sensei. I tend to prefer canon characters to OCs so I was really nervous about his reception. I'm stil going to do my best to stick to canon (or canon-adjacent character), but when lack of content forces my hand, I'll try to keep them at the same level of quality
Also, thanks for pointing out typos. Unfortunately certain words (jutsu, mostly) skip past the autocorrector and I have to check manually, a bit of help on that front is always welcome