Introduction
The uzumaki clan are alive and relatively well in number, only now they're located in Konoha.
After the fall of Uzu, the majority of the uzumaki went to the leaf where they were welcomed and treated as a great house because of the alliance between the two nations and the fact that Konoha would never turn down such a powerful clan to belong to the leaf. How will these changes in history affect our now red-headed beloved?
Chapter 1
A New Generation
His eyes shifted from one elder to the other. He may have been injured but there was no way in hell he'd let these vultures see him as weak.
"I say we kill the Uzumaki kid! He's a product of a scandal and should simply be dealt with!", called a gruff voice from one side of the oval table.
"Nonsense!", responded another, "Have you forgotten the bastard kid holds the kyuubi? If we kill him-", the aggravating voices were cut off with a bang on the table.
When the older men looked to see where the disturbance had come from, they found their Hokage rather annoyed at the end of the table.
"Enough with this.", he began, "We will not be killing Naruto,", he said, putting emphasis on his name, "Not only is he a future asset, he is the son of my deceased wife and my good friend."
The elders looked at Minato with raised eyebrows. The room was rather silent for a moment until a brave man broke the tension. "Both of which you had killed for their conceiving the child whilst Kushina was still your wife. Don't pretend like you loved either of them."
When Minato turned his hard gaze to the voice he saw Danzo with a bored expression on his face.
'Of course it's Danzo to say such a thing to me', he thought to himself before putting a hand on his chin and closing his eyes in mock thought.
"Seeing as Kushina died to the fox and Tusayo was killed during the third great war, I'm not sure what you mean. Would you care to spell it out for me?", the room was suddenly heavy with killing intent.
Danzo simply shrugged and responded, "Hmph. I guess I'm confused from my old age. Forgive me Hokage-sama."
Uzumaki Compound
"Naruto, wake up! It's time!", called an overly excited female voice.
Naruto struggled to open his dark blue eyes from the exhaustion of yesterday's training.
"Oh man, Nero-kun doesn't really hold back", he said aloud in a groan of soreness whilst getting up and looking at the girl that was jumping in joy.
"Stop whining about the extra training you get and hurry up! I refuse to be late for my first day at the academy!", the girl shouted while throwing a pillow at the red-headed boy known as Naruto.
"Why don't you go without me, Karin?", Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow of annoyance.
He hated being rushed and pestered this early in the morning.
"All Uzumaki that are joining the academy this year have to arrive together! Yunen is waiting for us outside with the others!", at this point the girl, Karin, was just as annoyed with Naruto as he was with her. After holding up two hands in defeat, he quickly got dressed with the new academy clothes all Uzumaki children had received the night before from the clan elder, Unyo.
Meeting Karin, Yunen, and a handful of other Uzumaki outside, they all left the compound and headed for the academy together.
"Hey Yunen, I've been meaning to ask, did your sister pass the Chunin exams?", asked Naruto with his hands on his head as he walked.
Yunen inclined his head slightly, "Yes. Cayori did so well, she's the best!"
Naruto chuckled at his rare enthusiasm.
"Oh man, I can't wait to meet all the new people!", Karin shouted while pumping fists into the air.
Another Uzumaki girl joined in the fun, "Me too!", and the two of the redheads danced around in joy.
Passerbys looked at the young group of children with adoring eyes until they saw Naruto.
The bastard son of Kushina, holder of the demon, if it weren't for his clans fierce protection of him Naruto would've been subject to many beatings by grieving villagers.
Uchiha Compound
"Hai, okay I'm leaving now!", shouted a young Sasuke as he leaped away from his door and met with the other Uchiha kids before making his way to the academy for his first day. Despite him being only six, he had done lots of training with his clan members to be ready for this day.
"I'm gonna be the best!", he exclaimed with a jump of joy.
"Nah that's me!", an Uchiha boy named Izunai laughed as he ran ahead of Sasuke.
The group of Uchiha children were stopped in their tracks when they ran into a group of red-headed kids with Uzumaki crests on their clothes.
Sasuke, being the self-proclaimed strongest, took point of the group and asked a question, "You guys're the Uzumaki kids?", he asked with a tilt of his head.
One of the redhead boys, which he noticed was the strongest looking and tallest, even if the latter wasn't by much, stepped up.
"Yeah. Name's Uzumaki Naruto. You all have jet black hair and fan crests so I guess you're Uchiha?"
Before Sasuke could answer, though, Inuzai interjected, "No guesses necessary baby! You're looking at the next generation of elites from the best clan in Konoha!"
Needless to say, none of the Uzumaki liked that comment.
"Well then, I guess we'd better be off. Wouldn't wanna let the 'best' clan get there before us.", Karin taunted before sending a look to the rest of her clanmates and the Uzumaki kids began running to the academy, with the Uchiha's on their tail.
Seven Minutes Later
A huge pile of children with either red or black hair began to pile into the door all at once.
"We made it first!", called out Sasuke,
"No way!", retorted Karin. "We obviously got here before all of you!", Naruto screamed.
"I think you're all mistaken.", said a unfamiliar voice to the rather large mixed group.
When Sasuke looked up to see who it was, he saw a pair of Hyuga eyes staring back at him.
"We got beat by the slowpoke boring Hyugas!? Foreal?!", Izunai cried out in horror.
"No wayyy!", Karin clutched her chest in mock pain.
The Hyuga boy reached out his hand to pick Sasuke up, "I'm Neji. This here next to me is Hinata."
With an incline of his head, Sasuke showed respect. He didn't understand how yet, but he could tell this Neji and that Naruto boy were gonna be serious competition for him.
Meanwhile, Iruka was sitting at his desk watching this unfold and crying into his hands.
"Oh Kami why! Why did I get a classroom halfway filled up with the great house's children! Uzumaki's Uchiha's and Hyuga's do NOT mix! Why do you hate me!?"
Six Years Later
In the hokage tower, Minato was looking over the top class' top of the class. The best of the best. It had been a little over seven years since the third great war and things were only getting worse.
Releasing a deep sigh, Minato went over the folder one last time.
'I need this generation to be one of the strongest in a while. The village just might depend on it in the near future.', he thought. He was aging fast. The stress of being Hokage had hit him like an angry Tsunade.
'With half the Uchiha adults gone due to their little attempt at a coup, we were forced to tell Itachi not to kill any children as I need all the potential I can get. And that did indeed prove useful. Let's see, who are the top five of the top class?', Minato was in a train of thought as he slid his finger to the top of the folder.
'Five, Haruno Sakura, super smart in books but that's literally it. From what Iruka tells me, she's too stuck on boys to be a ninja. She'll either be killed or get someone killed in a war. I should deal with her.
Four, Aburame Shino, very talented and calm. Could be anbu potential. Definitely a genius, but so are the others.
Three, Uzumaki Naruto, my wife's bastard. But i'm no fool, he is incredible. He shows great talent with kenjutsu and fuinjutsu, as usual from an Uzumaki. His chakra could compare to even mine and overall he is an excellent talent. Not to mention his clans kekkei genkai.
Two, Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi's brother. Despite him being number two, he is not as good as the Uzumaki. As of right now, he's great in everything Naruto is but he would be number three if it weren't for Naruto's apparent laziness in the classroom. Still time to blossom.
Lastly, One, Hyuga Neji. The pride of the Hyuga clan. Can't blame 'em either. He is everything a Hyuga should be, along with his rare kindness and ability to lead others. He is a genius, but again, so are the others.
Perhaps one of these five can- no no. Foolish. It's obvious it will be one of these top three to be the highlight of this generation; the next Hokage too. They're all excellent but we need beyond that. I can't wait to see what they each become. I can't wait to see how they stack up to my son, Minai.', The blonde was shoved out of his musings when an anbu appeared kneeling.
"Speak.", he said simply.
Uzumaki Compound
"Happy 109th birthday granny Unyu!", shouted what seemed to be all of the Uzumaki in the village.
It was the clan heads birthday, 109th birthday, and a party was going on in the compound. Naruto was walking back to the compound after grabbing some Ichiraku with Neji, they'd grown rather close due to Neji's likeable personality.
"I wonder if Nero'll still give me some training today despite the party.", Naruto wondered aloud to himself. As he walked the streets alone, he could hear the celebration booming in the compound.
'If it's one thing we Uzumaki know how to do, it's a party.', he thought.
As he walked in he saw all 120-some clan members dancing throughout the compound roads. He walked and bumped his way to Unyu's house, "Happy birthday Unyu!", he cheered.
"Thank you very much Naruto-kun. I know you would rather not party so Nero is already waiting for you at the training grounds.", hearing those words, Naruto's eyes lit up with joy.
"Thank you!", he managed before sprinting away.
He ran all the way to the training grounds with no breaks, which was kind've easy given his Uzumaki stamina.
"I'm here Nero-sama.", he called out. Not seconds later, he felt a presence appear behind him.
When Naruto turned to greet Nero, he was surprised to be instinctively dodging a shuriken.
"Woah!", he exclaimed with surprise in his voice as he watched the shuriken fly past and into the tree. "Hello Naruto-kun.", said Nero with a small grin. "That is not how you greet a student.", grumbled a rather annoyed Naruto. "I had to make sure you were ready. I hardly used any power with that throw.", Nero responded with a dismissive wave of his hands.
"Ready for what?", asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.
Nero didn't give any verbal response, he simply dashed at Naruto and sent a punch.
Running off of instinct yet again, Naruto managed to barely dodge the strike and send a kick of his own that he could only assume Nero let connect.
"Good.", Nero said before shunshining behind Naruto and punching him across the training ground into a log.
"Urgh..Damn..", he groaned as he quickly recovered.
"What did I tell you about swearing in front of your betters?", came a voice from the tree above Naruto. He didn't look up to see who it was because he recognized it to be Nero and jumped back ten yards, swiftly avoiding a group of shuriken that were thrown.
'How am I supposed to keep up with Nero? He's anbu for a reason!', he thought to himself while dodging a few more kunai.
"Don't worry, you did well Naruto.", Nero said from behind him. "DAMN!", Naruto managed to say before receiving a punch to the back of the head and being knocked out.
Uchiha Compound
Sasuke was fueled with anger, each time he struck the log-dummy he imagined it was Itachi.
"Die! Die! Die!", he shouted in rage.
"Y'know, if something has to die, I think it also has to be alive in the first place.", said a voice from a boy sitting on a branch of a tree.
Sasuke looked up at the boy with obvious annoyance, "What the hell do you want, Izunai?", he said in a flat tone. "Jeez. You treat me so terribly compared to the first year at the academy.", jeered the Uchiha.
"Because you're more interested in being an idiot than getting powerful.", Sasuke retorted simply.
Izunai's face went from a playful smirk to a stone cold stare of seriousness,
"We both know I am your equal Sasuke. If it weren't for the academy favoring booksmarts over fighting and killing ability, I'd be in the top five right along with you. Don't give me that shit."
It was tense in silence for a few moments until Sasuke broke it.
"Whatever. All I care about is avenging those murdered in our clan. I will kill Itachi."
Inuzai stared at him for a moment before speaking.
"I will help you avenge the fallen in our clan. But first, we need to get stronger. Spar with me."
Hyuga Compound
Neji was in the midst of an intense spar with Hinata. She was winning.
'Damn, she really has improved with the help of her father!', he thought in an excited way. If Hinata was getting strong, that meant their clan was getting strong. He would do anything for the clan. He would die for his clan.
As he dodged two palm strikes directed for his shoulders, he jumped up into the air and weaved hand signs, "Water style, water bullets!", he said as he collected chakra in his lungs, liquidized it, and spat out three water bullets.
Despite the Hyuga not really using jutsu, Neji thought it to be a good idea to utilize all his affinities. With the help from the academy teachers and Naruto, he had figured them out and learned some jutsu.
Seeing the bullets flying towards her, she mentally thanked Neji for not using the much more dangerous wind bullets before dodging all of them. Once she had finished dodging she noticed Neji was nowhere to be seen. She had lost the upperhand.
"URGH!", she grunted as two chakra points in her lungs were closed up.
'How did he get into my Byakugan blind spot?!', she thought as two more chakra points in her left arm were closed. She dashed away before Neji could do any more damage.
"You only have one arm left and your breathing is labored. I say I win.", Neji said with a smirk.
Hinata tried channeling healing chakra to her arm but it was of no use.
"I see. Yes, you win.", she said, forfeiting the sparring match.
"Good work both of you.", said a hyuga watching them. They both bowed in thanks.
Hokage Tower
"I see. Have him executed.". Ibiki bowed and shunshined to complete the order.
Moments later, Jiraiya flickered into Minato's room, kneeling.
"Jiraiya..?", Minato said, knowing that there was almost always bad news if Jiraiya was there.
"The hidden rock village and its hidden grass puppet test us again. Two of our chunin on border duty were found dead.", he said with a grim look.
"I see..damn it. This is a clear act of war and cannot go unanswered."
"I agree. I don't see why they did this, though."
"Neither do I. You're sure it was rock and grass shinobi?"
"A chunin by the name of Yukashi Kabuto was there and survived the incident, he reported that the attackers wore headbands of said nations and that he'd only survived because they wanted to send a message."
"Damn it. Damn it, damn it, dammit!", Minato repeatedly swore until releasing a long, tired sigh.
"I have no choice, then. Inform the hidden rock village, I, fourth Hokage, declare war."
"Hai."
With that, Jiraiya flickered out of the tower.