The Whirlpool's Masks: Part 4
Konohagakure no sato
Naruto found himself running for his own life. Both Shisui and Yamato had to leave him for a couple of days due to sudden overlapping missions from the council while the Hokage was away in Sunagakure due to diplomatic talks.
While reticent to comply to the order both experienced shinobi believed that there would be no major incident and Naruto would be able to take care of himself as he had shown himself decently capable while in training.
What none expected was a group of civilian raised chunnin, prompted by the civilian council, storming the apartment and trying to kill the boy. Luckily none of the related to the plot were aware of Naruto's prodigious sensory skills and his recent shinobi training.
The chunnin had cursed and started a pursuit when they were blindsided by smoke-bombs as the red blur rushed passed them when they kicked the door open.
That however had been a decoy shadow clone Shisui had taught him as an aid with his training. Naruto however did not breathed out in relieve, in his current situation it was only a matter of time until the ruse was up and he had to escape.
He first thought of going to one of his friends homes but opted for a suggestion from Kurama in the form of the old Uzumaki temple.
The fox had explained to him how in her later years after the death of her husband Uzumaki Mito had created a way for Uzumaki descendants in the village to learn the clan secrets in the likely case Uzushio was invaded, something she had predicted due to the great help the clan of whirlpools brought to the leaf in their victory in the war.
Mito had thus gotten permission from her father, the then leader of the clan, to create a set of masks riddled with complex seals that would teach any Uzumaki their legacy.
Kurama had learned of this as he had been sealed inside her during the entire process and considered that Naruto would need those skills and power in the future.
And so, after packing up for the couple of days his caretakers would be away he left for the place.
There it was, though only half standing due to disrepair and lack of care after the Kyubi incident, being one of the places the giant fox passed through both bijuu and jinchuriki could only be amazed in respect at the skill from the predecessor as the seals had kept the place standing even with the destruction brought by one of the most powerful existences in history.
As he passed through the gate Naruto could not help but wonder at how lively would the place had been when both Senju and Uzumaki were still around.
Naruto ultimately made the bow to rebuild the place and construct his future clan compound around it. The place was already at the edge of the clan and shinobi districts in the periphery of what used to be the Senju compound in a split section of the same reserved for the Uzumaki clan the cousin clan from the Senju.
The boy however did not touch anything for the moment, he advanced into the temple that would be his residence for the following couple of days and found what he was looking for.
On the wall, still nicely aligned and clean as the day they were set there were a set of masks each more complex than the previous showcasing the order in which they were meant to be learned from. On the last space however was a strange mask, that of a horned demonic being with black eyes and a creepy smile.
Kurama rapidly recognized the face that had sealed himself in his current host and held his other half inside its stomach. It was none other than the mask of the shinigami. The bijuu did not know the purpose of said mask and neither did Naruto, both expected to find the answers inside the others.
After getting everything set up for his tenure at the place Naruto picked up the first mask and put it on.
What followed Naruto could only describe it as surreal as the moment he put the mask on he fell into what seemed a genjutsu where a bodiless female voice explained the basis on the history of the clan and a summary of what each mask contained in the matter of techniques and knowledge. The first few were a rundown of how the clan had structured itself and its history, the relations with other clans as well as the values of family, loyalty and peace the clan held so dear.
The following couple were of the taijutsu and kenjutsu styles the clan had created and mastered in which the one wearing the mask would first see the forms and later have them superimposed onto himself to follow until perfection. The last part of the masks made him fight a faceless being who used the styles up to the level taught in the mask.
For the second to last group they were ninjutsu and genjutsu, like scrolls they would teach of the handsigns and characteristics of the jutsu.
The last group and the largest one of them all were the fuinjutsu teaching masks, each mask would teach of a specific level in the art followed by another that collected the designs of seals of said level, from the ten regular levels all practitioners of the art knew to the five extra the Uzumakis had invented bringing the art to its peak.
After some time of consideration Naruto made a shadow clone who began to learn the clan's history from the first mask of the set as if watching a 3D film. Naruto himself however took out a large scroll, ink and a brush and put on the first fuinjutsu mask.
The disappearance of the boy was not missed however by the clan heads whose children used to play with the boy, after the first day some decided to visit the boy perplexed for his absence and to check if everything was alright, what they found was the apartment ravaged by the chunnin who after realizing they had been chasing a clone went back to look for the boy not caring for the destruction the caused onto the property.
The clan heads were horrified and worried however, they calmed a little at the fact that Naruto was such good sensor and would have likely fled before being caught.
The Hyuga decided to begin the search for the child though they were unsuccessful as the Uzumaki compound was sealed from the outside. The search however, revealed the trace of the chunnin responsible who were promptly apprehended and sent to T much to the shock and protest of their council relatives who had convinced them to do the act.
Those same councilors were later stripped of their positions when Hiruzen returned and learned of what happened. The search only grew in size after that until Yamato returned from his mission and sensing his arrival Naruto emerged from the temple and met him at the Hokage tower's entrance.
The reemergence of the redhead brought a wave of relieve and justified anger to those worried for his safety. Naruto was then made to sit in the Hokage's office with a lowered head as Yamato lectured him on not making them worried like that.
After the lecture the boy was asked where he had been as he was not found even with the Hyuga's ability to see through walls.
Naruto explained how he had gone to the old Uzumaki temple and was studying from the masks, reason for him not having been aware of the search.
All of them, Hiruzen, Yamato and the ANBU on guard, were then amazed at the ingenuity of Uzumaki Mito to come up with such a secure and efficient way to transmit the secrets of the clan.
Hiruzen, with Naruto's blessing, tried one of the masks only for it to not react in the slightest, further amazing them of the skill of the late woman in the sealing arts.
Naruto was later instructed to go to one of his friends homes in case something similar happened in the future. The clan heads were also informed of the happenings in a special council session that excluded the civilians and elders.
Naruto continued his training with the masks and caretakers as another year passed and the Uchiha clan was massacred by its heir Uchiha Itachi.
The only survivor of the massacre was Uchiha Sasuke. The boy had been taken to the hospital by Yamato as Naruto had awakened him in the middle of the night and prompted him to go to the place.
The two had then found the entire clan massacred and an unconscious Sasuke. They had then taken the boy to the hospital as Naruto sent one of his newly contracted crows to the Hokage to inform of the matter.
Uchiha Shisui had died a month prior to the incident, Uchiha Itachi himself had gone to Naruto's house to present him with the contract by the late Uchiha's will. Naruto had been devastated by the loss as he had seen Shisui as a big brother figure.
After getting permission from Yamato, now Naruto's sole caretaker, Itachi had taught him how to summon, Naruto had immersed himself into training as a coping mechanism for the loss.
After the massacre and by insistence of Naruto who did not take a no for an answer, Naruto moved in with them temporarily. This decision was supported by Inoichi who had argued that the company would only help the young Sasuke.
Hiruzen for his part had been perplexed at the results of the massacre. While he had ultimately ordered it, the extent had far exceeded the parameters of the mission. Uchiha Mikoto had been meant to be a survivor as well all the children of the clan and those who had been together with the late matriarch opposed to the coup.
He had talked with Itachi later that night when he had visited to announce his completion of the mission before leaving the village. When questioned about it he had seemed confused, he was sure that the parameters of the mission had been to kill them all but his younger brother.
After that Itachi realized it had been Danzo's scheme as the old man had taken one of Shisui's eyes, the other being in one of the crows. He informed the Hokage of his hypothesis but had to leave as dawn was nearing.
Sasuke did not take the loss well, at first he had closed himself from others, centered only in a new objective of vengeance, that however was broken by Naruto who had to punch the emo out of his friend. Sasuke had later opened a little, accepting the fact he was not the sole one to suffer already aware of Naruto's sensing skills and the fact that through them he had also witnessed the massacre as Itachi had shown him in the genjutsu.
Sasuke had then joined Naruto in his intense training to cope with the loss, Inoichi had talked with Yamato about it as the caretaker had been worried for the boys, while it was not all that healthy as other methods, the two children would need to take time to get over the traumatic expirience.
The two boys had soon been forced to stop the training as Inoichi had told his daughter, after seeing her get worried for their disappearance, who told the other children and forced the two boys to go to play.
Time passed, Sasuke had distanced himself a little from the group as his trauma persisted heavier. He was still close to Naruto but not so much with the others. Ino and Hinata had also separated a little from the group of boys as the first met a friend in the for of Haruno Sakura who did not join the friend group as her mother was against her associating with Naruto.
AND DONE!
This is the last of Naruto's early childhood chapters.
The following will be centered in the academy and likely end this little introductory arc for the series.
The masks have finally appeared and will take the main training role for Naruto in the foreseeable future.
The teams will be canon but their dynamic different than in my other series as I want to also center in the character development of the other clan children.
As many others I have never liked the fact that so many of the side characters were seemingly forgotten and at most played minor supportive roles, being much more sociable than in the other series Naruto will help his friends with his rising fuinjutsu expertise.
I have also maybe said it in another story comment but I always felt that Naruto is a shame of an Uzumaki, he has no kenjutsu skills and we have barely seen him delve in any fuinjutsu even when all his teachers were proficient in the art. The only instance of Naruto using any actual fuinjutsu I can think of is him using the seal key to open the gates to battle against Kurama and Kaguya's sealing, but neither requires any actual mastery of the art.
I do not follow Boruto neither have I read the novels of the timeskip between the two series but I believe he never used anything and in my opinion that is a great waste.