Naruto was looking over the damp ceiling of his house through which some part of the wood was falling, it was dark outside and he was in deep thought when suddenly asked out loud unknowingly a question, "What exactly does it mean to love?" He was just contemplating on this thought when an unknown feminine voice decided to answer his question, "Oh! So young and already asking about love, perhaps you are very mature for your age."

This sudden answer to his question startled him so much that he suddenly sat up straight on his bed with frantic eyes scanning his room looking for any intruders; a table, the wall, the door to the kitchen and his mother's sword resting on the table but no sight of a human being. Seeing no one in his immediate vicinity he asked in a raspy voice, "Who are you? How are you talking to me? Where are you?"

"I am hurt Naruto-kun you forcefully took me out of your old home and you cannot even bother to recognise me", she said in a slightly suggestive tone.

Naruto looked around frantically trying to uncover whoever was messing with him and just then he noticed a red hue coming from under his bed. Slowly he scrouched below to see a scroll he brought from his parents' house containing some of their belongings and his mother's prized katana.

"Oh so you do recognize me.", the voice once again said in a sarcastic manner.

"Are you my mother's sword?", he asked hesitantly.

"How rude, I have a name you know? You can call me by my name Naruto-kun. Oh, it's rude talking to someone without having eye contact. Why don't you come to see me?"

"How do I even do that, you are already a non-living being. And why should I indulge in your theatrics!", exclaimed Naruto after gaining some composure.

"Did someone ever tell you that you are quite annoying? Anyway to talk to me you just have to hold me and the rest will all follow itself."

Ignoring the insult, Naruto looked on-guard but he tried what the sword told him. He took out the sword from the scroll and unsheathed it. No matter how many times he had seen the sword its beauty still captivated him, that's why he never practised kenjutsu directly with Amaya and only did some basic katas, for more advanced training he would always use another ordinary sword.

Just as he was admiring his beauty his vision darkened and his body fell down on the bed with the sword on the floor. But his subconscious awakened in his mindscape. Naruto looked around seeing himself in some kind of dark room with the entire floor covered in water and in front of him giant bars.

Naruto groaned because this was his third time coming here in all 4 years after he met his father's soul. Just then a huge roar was blasted towards him which knocked him a few feet back.

"ROOOOOOOAR! YOU WORTHLESS HUMAN! Why have you come here? I already told you never to show your face or I will annihilate your soul from this world."

This was why Naruto hated to come to his mindscape because anytime he returned the Kyuubi would always start cursing at him. The first time he came after that fateful day was one where the Kyuubi instantly lashed out at him and sent such a powerful wave of chakra that he was knocked back into consciousness after that he never tried to enter the state seeing no benefit from it but now seeing him again like this he didn't felt any kind of fear towards him just annoyance and indifference.

"Tut-Tut Uncle Kurama you shouldn't say such things to a child. What will grandpa think that you are a bad influence on children.", a voice from behind said.

Naruto turned around to see a woman with long wavy deep red hair, a slender form, and a very young-looking feminine face wearing what seemed like a robe of nobles with gold haori and a sword on her shash which looked eerily similar to Amaya, no scratch that it was Amaya. She also had the Uzumaki clan symbol on the biceps of her robes and she had a calm peaceful smile and slight mischief in her eyes.

"So you finally decided to reveal yourself huh? I never thought you would take interest in any of your descendants other than Aashina.", said the Kyuubi who was somehow now calmed down but still had a vicious look in its eyes.

"I believe this child needs guidance right now otherwise he could definitely plunge himself and the entire world into chaos. After all, someone who was chosen by fate have definitely a huge impact on the world.", she replied walking forward towards Naruto and stopping in front of him.

Naruto looked up and she was looking at him with such a calm smile that he could melt in the warmth of that smile.

He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Who are you and how are you in my mindscape?"

"You exactly know the answer don't you Naruto-kun. Why don't you try to guess.", she replied with a grin.

He once again looked at the sword hanging at her waist and said, "You are Amaya, aren't you."

"Oh that's a good expression but you should try to relax and as for your question yes I am Amaya the sword spirit bound to the sword of the Uzumaki clan and your ancestor and the Founder of the clan."

This stunned Naruto for he expected her to be of someone related to him but he never expected her to be the founder of his clan. This revelation though shook him and somehow gave a sense of satisfaction to the demon fox.

"So even you can make such an expression, and here I thought you were just an emotionless bastard just like your father."

This made a tick mark appear on Naruto's forehead. "AND What do you mean by that you overgrown furball.", he shouted at his tenant.

"WHO The hell are you calling a furball you worthless flesh bag.", it replied indignantly.

Seeing this scene Amaya was very amused and let out a low chuckle which drew the attention of both. Seeing everyone calmed down Kyuubi replied to Naruto about his question, "You and the villagers may know your father as someone kind but I have seen with my own eyes what kind of monster your father was under human skin but to his loved ones he was like a saint. If he had been alive you probably couldn't have been able to tell the difference. Only your mother and godfather had seen his true self, anyhow you are much more alike to him than you think you are."

Naruto listened carefully and contemplated but one information caught his attention, "I have a godfather."

"One at a time and what gave you the idea that I am giving all this info for free? Be grateful to me that I even told you such. Had it not been for my niece I wouldn't have even entertained such a blasphemous thought."

"Oh don't be like that uncle, I know despite all that exterior you are just a big softie in heart.", joked Amaya.

"THE HELL YOU MEAN BY THAT YOU SHRIMP. AND I AM NOT A SOFTIE.", he roared back.

Naruto asked hesitantly, "So um, if you are my ancestor can you tell me what exactly were you doing with my mother's sword."

"Hmmm, why don't I just take on a history lesson instead of explaining everything in bits? Now come with me."

Amaya took Naruto's hands and pulled him close to the cage and simply passed the bars, seeing this Kyuubi raised an eyebrow but didn't do much and even Naruto was somewhat nervous about this outcome. She simply went towards one of the paws of Kyuubi and gave a gesture. Seeing this he clicked his tongue but simply rotated his palm towards her. She sat on his palm and pulled Naruto on her lap.

Naruto turned red and mumbled, "I am not a kid.", but still stayed with her.

"Haha. You may not be a kid mentally Naruto-kun but you are still as much of a child as my own children. And you are still very young, until you can make a sword for yourself using Uzumaki standard smithing technique you will still be a child."

"Anyway let's start the story, you see long before ninjas existed or even before humans had chakra the land was divided into many smaller nations and conflicts were as common between them as there are fishes in a river. But one day suddenly a monster emerged from the earth. It was unlike any other monster, it was a god in human form. Its body as tall as mountains whenever it walked the land ruptured and the mountains broke. When it roared forests were uprooted from miles upon miles. When any of its ten tails swayed it created a natural phenomenon like typhoons in the air. Villages and townships were destroyed and lands were ravaged. It carried with itself desolation and devastation in its path. Humans for the first time felt the helplessness of their innate nature and the weakness behind their boastful words. Faced with such a calamity they could do nothing but watch and wait for their annihilation.

But the monster was not the only thing that appeared in that sudden instant but with it came a hero. He wore a simple white robe, and a magatama necklace, armed with a staff of absolute darkness. He had a face as white as ash, and eyes as purple as the galaxy. His eyes had concentric rings that held unimaginable power. With a single wave of his hand he could push any attacks of the monster and his body covered in pure white energy was like a sponge that soaked the corrupt energy of the monster. But even after such strength it was not enough to completely defeat him, after battling nights and days continuously and seasons passed, many years later when he had nearly given hope he had an idea if he could not defeat the monster he could simply absorb him. So he did just that, in a single night the apocalypse of mankind came to an end but it left a completely devastated land behind and all the advancements of civilization have been lost. But due to absorbing the monster the man himself became a god and was named 'The Sage of Six Paths'. The sage with his power divided the monster and gave life to nine different beasts."

Hearing this Naruto had a stunned expression and yelled 'What'.

"The story is not finished brat. Don't interrupt again.",scolded the Kyuubi.

"Sorry", he murmured a bit embarrassed.

"Ha ha don't worry. So continuing, after that battle, the sage wandered the planet to understand the meaning behind his life. Meeting and talking to people, seeing people's struggles and still having hope for the future gave him a goal. He wanted to make humanity advance. So he established his own family and clan. Many people whom he helped in his travels came to help him, he spread the blessings of chakra and the idea of ninshu , 'The entire world is a family', he was also blessed with two children.

One who had strength of body and one who had strength of mind. The elder one was a genius in all aspects but that genius also made him an isolationist, except his younger brother everyone treated him like he was above them but he had no such qualms about himself. Yet he still had love for his family. The younger one was not a genius like his older brother, he failed in multiple things and was like any other ordinary person. Yet whenever he failed at something he made a foundation upon it and built his strength in his failures. As they slowly grew up the elder one became more aristocratic while the younger one became a humble yet charismatic leader. This put the sage in a dilemma since both of them were qualified to be his successor, so he gave them a test to go out in the world and help people. The elder through his intelligence had developed techniques to harness the power of nature through chakra and dubbed it 'Ninjutsu'. Through that strength, he tried to uproot the problem itself if he encountered any. So all the people he helped regarded him as God one who performed miracles but that didn't last long and consumed by greed they desired more and more and eventually self-destructed.

The younger one whenever he encountered people in need gave people hope and rallied them under a cause, they became his arms and legs and were able to become strong enough to overcome their problems themselves. This made the people have a desire to follow the younger one in his path. After a few years, they returned home and seeing the result of their efforts the sage made the younger one his successor and gave him his power because the younger's ideologies matched with the principles of ninshu. Consumed by envy and hatred the elder awakened the power of his father's eyes and attacked his family. But he was defeated since he had no one on his side but the younger had his people backing and encouraging him. Wounded and lost he fled but vowed to take revenge. The younger one also vowed to never let his elder brother succeed and spread the word of ninshu.

They both made their own respective clans and battled through the years for their own ideologies, this came to be known as the battle of 'Indra and Ashura'and the conflict came to be known as'Senju-Uchiha Conflict'after the respective clans of Indra Uchiha and Ashura Senju."

This was still too much for Naruto as now he knew the start of the legendary conflict between the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan. But there was still one thing missing. "Where do you come into this?", he asked.

She smiled and replied, " I was getting to that. You see the younger one Ashura Senju had three children two elder boys and one youngest girl. Their names were Ryukaru, Seijuro and Amaya. They were also involved in the war between the two clans after they became adults. One day fed up with all the constant fighting with family the girl decided to leave the clan. The family was sad but they understood her reason so they let her go. She also travelled the world with only her sword as her trusted companion. One day while traveling she came upon an island that was always surrounded by whirlpools on one side and the entire ocean on the other side which stretched miles upon miles and had no end to it with it being filled with extremely dangerous sea monsters that it was impossible to navigate.

The island had only one family living, one old couple along with their only son. But they had one distinct feature which was their blood-red hair. The boy was just a fisherman but he was honest and very strong-willed. The girl couldn't help but fall in love with him after spending many months with him, during which both his parents passed away. They decided to start their own little family with many children. Slowly the family grew and the children were born with the sage's blessing. They advanced into their own little clan and with whirlpool as their motto their name came to be known as 'Uzumaki'.

After I had reached the threshold of my life the clan had become strong enough to venture out and make a name for themselves. But I was still not convinced so to keep them safe and guide future generations I sealed my own soul into my sword my only departing gift to my children. In my honour, they named the sword after me. The sword was then later passed on to the next generations of clan heads.

So Naruto-kun what do you say about this story."

"I...I have no words, it still feels all surreal to me."

"Don't worry you will start to accept it as time passes on.", she replied.

" But what happened to the Uzumaki clan and how were they eradicated if they had such a rich heritage? And why did you only come out now to meet me.", asked Naruto.

"As I said Naruto-kun one at a time. What you just learnt is enough for one day. I will tell you about the clan's history at a later date. And why I decided to contact you, well you I just felt like you would show me something very very interesting.", she said with a mischievous smile.

"Why don't we come back to the original purpose, you asked what is love. From the story you just listened what do you think it is?"

Naruto closed his eyes and recalling everything he just came to one conclusion, "A curse yet also a blessing, love destroys relationships and makes one blind to his own shortcomings but it also encourages one to go beyond one's own limits."

This made even the Kyuubi intrigued and a very huge grin was now plastered on Amaya's face. "Now that's a very intriguing answer Naruto-kun. Why don't you just close your eyes and try to think what your heart looks like to you, the one which gives colour to your life."

Naruto closed his eyes and tried to concentrate there were various images and memories of the past but one memory stuck out to him where the white-eyed dark blue-haired girl was beside him thanking him with tears in her eyes after he just saved her from a group of kids trying to bully her. This brought a smile to his face. He opened his eyes and replied to both intrigued Amaya and Kyuubi.

"I think I know now what is love."

"That is very wonderful Naruto-kun. I wonder what would your future will look like now."

Hearing this his face got a serious expression and in turn, made Amaya frown.

"What happened Naruto-kun?"

"Esteemed Ancestor", he said.

"No No Naruto-kun hearing that makes me old just call me Oba-chan."

"Then Oba-chan, I am still not strong enough for my future, so please teach me, teach me so that I can protect my heart with all my being. I don't care about anything else, I just want to become strong enough to protect my heart.", he requested bowing down.

Hearing his conviction couldn't help but make her remember the memories of her beloved. There was also a glint in the Kyuubi's eyes.

"The training will be very hard Naruto-kun, will you be able to keep up."

This made a smirk appear on his face, "Do your Worst."

A/N:
Sorry guys the chapter is shorter than usual but from here on the chapter length will become flexible and depend upon how the story progresses.

Thank you for showing your love for this story even at such an irregular update. For more entertainment, stay tuned.