A lone wanderer walked down a dirt path, surrounded by dark forests. Humming to himself. One of many songs from his homeland that he learned before it was burned down.
He was covered by a thick cloak, clearly patched together using scraps, but was bonded together by a supernatural black substance.
The man continued down the poorly kept path, changing keys suddenly in his humming. He began to channel chakra into his vocal chords and listened carefully as he heard thuds around him.
He continued to hum, steadily waiting until 4 thumps were heard. He turned around to the location of each thump.
Three young shinobi and a white haired shinobi.
'Kakashi of the Sharringan.' S - Rank Konoha Shinobi.
The wanderer shook his head as he picked up each of them and tied them up. He walked nearby, a small clearing in between the massive amounts of trees.
The wanderer began setting up a camp, still humming as he constructed. Building a temporary shelter for the 4 prisoners and himself.
He had just come back from a nearby stream when he saw one of the young ones struggling out of his bondings. He smiled at the young man and built a small fire to cook his freshly caught fish.
He sensed the boy still, understanding he wouldn't escape his bonds. He sensed the young man's chakra fluctuating as the fish cooked. It was a simple meal, but it was clear to the man that the boy hadn't eaten recently.
Luckily he caught one fish for each of them. Five in total.
The wanderer slowly walked to the boy and picked him up. He put the boy near the small fire, and smiled as the boy stared into the flames.
For the first time in what felt like days, the man spoke.
"Are you hungry, boy?" The young man gave a small nod. He tossed the fish to the young man and smiled at the perplexed look on his face, fish in his right hand.
He was out of his bindings.
"How did I get out, I know they weren't loose." He looked down and saw what looked like shredded paper on the ground.
"Fuinjutsu." Naruto gave a small nod. He knew bits and pieces about Fuinjutsu from his stay in the academy. His Old Man seemed very insistent that he pay at least a little attention.
"Are you going to kill us?" The wanderer shook his head. "Why are we alive?" It seemed the young man was smarter then the he thought.
"Tell me, boy. Who gave you this mission and why?" The boy stayed silent. "Secrecy is good, but I can tell you that I already know. Fuinjutsu is great for many things, memory gazing included."
A bluff, but not one to get out of the way.
"The Hokage gave us this mission. He said it would teach us humility." The wanderer smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. He had a deep frown.
"Well, he was right. You all never stood even a small chance against me." Naruto looked over in shock. "You were all knocked out by a sleeping Genjutsu. You were careless. All of you could've gotten out of it if you had recognised the signs, sudden noise, my humming, sudden drowsiness, a supernatural change in surroundings… all of these things were there."
The young man had the decency to look sheepish, rubbing the back of his head with a goofy smile. "I can give you three passes, however, you're still Genin right?" The young man nodded. "You haven't seen much Genjutsu. Your sensei there… he's a different story."
"I'm glad you did this. Even though I'm smart enough to know if it was anyone else, we'd be dead." The traveler smiled.
"You're taking this well. I can tell you're already thinking of ways to improve. That's good. You're already thinking like a shinobi." Naruto had a small smile on his face.
He didn't get praised often,
"What's your name, boy?" The young man smiled with a thumbs up.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm gonna be Hokage!" A blade was on Naruto's throat before he could blink.
"I'm going to say this once. If you aren't an Uzumaki, I'm slitting your throat for this insult." Naruto was shaking, eyes bolting around for help. his eyes fell onto his sensei, who was sitting up straight, eyes wide.
"Wait!" The wanderer looked over, death in his eyes. "He's an Uzumaki, half Uzumaki!" Naruto's brow furrowed. "His mother was Uzumaki! You can use a paper test just don't kill him!"
"Very well, but if this turns out to be a lie, then I'm killing you and your team. Pray that you tell the truth." Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut, but Naruto looked at the wanderer in the eyes. He had every faith in his own name.
The wanderer pricked Naruto's finger and smeared the blood on the paper. The paper, previously stark white, quickly turned into a neon orange.
"You're right, he's half Uzumaki… wait!" The wanderer quickly gashed his own finger on a scroll and wiped Naruto's already bleeding finger on the same scroll.
The scroll quickly turned a crimson red. The wanderer paled as he stumbled back.
"My god... Nephew?"
Kakashi's head shot up.
"You're Kushina's brother?!" The wanderer looked at Kakashi.
"Yes. She was my little sister. She left for Konoha while I stayed in Uzu. I only lived because I was out of the village at the time getting fish." The wanderer turned to Naruto.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm so sorry for treating you like that!" The man's head hit the ground as he bowed. Naruto promptly panicked as he tried to get the man's head off the ground.
"It's fine, it's fine! I would've done the same thing!"
A small lie, but not far from the truth.
The wanderer removed his hood and scarf from his face, revealing stark red hair and violet eyes. Kakashi's eyes seemed to have glazed over at the sight of the man.
He looked exactly like Kushina.
"My name's Kairyu. I already know you, Kakashi of the Sharingan." Kakashi gave a small nod. "Well Naruto, go untie your teammates and release them from the Genjutsu. You've all failed this mission, but have begun a new one."
Naruto ran over to Kakashi and untied him, then moving on to both Susuke and Sakura. Kakashi broke the Genjutsu on their bodies, waking them up.
"Wake up! Mission parameters have changed, the previous target is to be escorted back to Konoha as a VIP!" Kakashi shouted, making sure the two were awake.
The two groggily nodded before going to grab their packs, quickly waking when they released the position they were in.
"Sensei-!"
"I'll explain on the way." The two nod and gaze at Naruto, who is just staring at the man.
"Naruto, what's going on." Naruto just stared at the man, slightly dazed. "Naruto!" Naruto jumped and shot around to see Sasuke's mildly annoyed face.
"What?"
"What's going on?"
"That man right there is my Uncle, direct to. His name is Kairyu. I would suggest treating him like you would one of the elders or heads because he's super strong." Sasuke just raised a brow.
"How strong?"
Kakashi felt it was a good time to step in. "He got the jump on all four of us, two of which have Sharringan, put us in a Genjutsu, and none of us even knew." Sasuke's eyes widened.
"When? How? I had my eyes activated-." Kairyu spoke up.
"Fuinjutsu can do a lot of things, Sasuke. You knew to look for chakra in the air, but we weaved into my body or my clothes. In this case, I use a seal on my throat. Everything in about a 30 meter radius was put to sleep." Sasuke gave a small nod.
"You know where I can learn that?" Kairyu nodded.
"If you have the talent, then any Jonin worth their snuff can teach you. I'm sure even Kakashi here can teach you the basics." Sasuke nodded quickly, Naruto glared at the boy before raising his hand.
"Well if he can do it, then so can I! I'll learn it too!"
"I suppose if both of them are learning it, then I should at least give it a shot." Kairyu nodded with a smile.
"Good, all three of you should learn it. If Jonin advancement is anything like it was, then you'll need at least basic Fuin knowledge to become a Jonin." Kakashi gave a quick nod.
"That's the case. If you three want to become Jonin, you'll need at least adept knowledge of one applicable seal. I chose the evil containment seal after an encounter with Orochimaru." Kairyu nodded.
"A useful seal that one. One quite widely used by the Uzumaki." Kakashi smiled at the memory of being taught the seal by Kushina and Minato. "Speaking of seals, I'll need to speak to you, Kakashi." Kakashi and Kairyu dropped back from the rest of the group, until they knew their voices wouldn't travel.
"I hate to do this to you, but I'm taking Naruto after I get situated in the village." Kakashi shot around to look at the man.
"But I only just got him as my student. At least let me give him… something!" Kairyu sighed before snapping his fingers.
"How about you teach the three of them elemental control? I learned it when I was a Genin." Kakashi nodded.
"True, I could give each of them a few jutsu for their element too… I'll need to make sure their chakra is up to snuff however… They only recently learned surface walking." Kairyu sighed.
"The one downside of peacetime, the teaching always gets lax. Oh well, at least it's not something ridiculous like what Kiri is doing. I saw academy students sparing with long blades and spitting elemental jutsu." Kakashi shook his head.
"The mist always was nuts about strong Genin." Both just sighed as they walked back in stride with the group.
"Come on guys, let's get back to Konoha, double time! I'm going to be showing you three things when we get back, along with group awareness and stamina training." The three nodded and began to move as fast as their feet would carry them.
Right to the gates of Konoha.