Walking home Eien felt more confident now. In the two months he'd been on his team they fought so many kinds of enemies. Most weren't that impressive. Weak ninja's that were rejects of their perspective villages. Or their mere bandits that only had a rudimentary knowledge of chakra. Even with the skirmishes that they had with Iwa to the North they hadn't had any big challenges. Though they're team had been kept away from any of the bigger missions.

Ever since his conversation with Granny Chiyo though he had grown more confident. He was the son of Sasori. Eien wasn't going to be like him though. No, he officially had a goal now. Becoming stronger than his dad and become one of Sunakagure's greatest protectors. Something he knew that Gaara and Shira would help him do. Now he just needed to figure out how to help Gaara.

Arriving home he stopped in front of the door to the house. The puppet user hadn't fully talked to his mom in so long. His anger had been so mad that he didn't think about how much he'd been hurting her. His chest felt warm though knowing that she had wanted to tell him about Sasori. He couldn't help but smile fondly as he approached the door.

Opening the door to the house he looked inside to see his mom at the dining table. She was going over a new seal that she had been working on. Quietly he walked up to the table and sat down across from her. Her long red hair was covering the right side of her face. Though his mom's smile was contagious for the genin.

"I want to change my name to Uzumaki." Shock radiated from the sealing expert, "What are you sure?" Nodding Eien pulled out his own scroll that was holding his Byakku puppet, "I talked to Granny like you wanted me to. She told me everything and I-I-'m sorry mom."

Dropping what she was working on Kyatsu went around the table. Wrapping her arm around her son and pulling into a tight hug, "You have no reason to be sorry sweety. We kept a secret from you and you have every right to be angry by that."

The feeling of safety in his mom's arms felt like being wrapped in a blanket, "I know but I get it now. You were just trying to be there for me. Which is why I want you last name!" Kyatsu felt her eyes water as she parted from her son, "Then I need you to know about all of the Uzumaki."

Pulling a chair directly in front of him, "The Uzumaki clan was famous. Beyond famous actually. We were a clan of Fuinjutsu experts. A clan that rivaled Konokagure's Senju and Uchiha." Eien knew that their clan was powerful but to the extent of Konoha's most famous clans was insane, "We stayed neutral in most conflict and established our own village. When I was a little girl the village was attacekd. I was a newly annointed Genin."

Fall of Uzukagure

"Sensei what's going on?" Looking up Kyatsu saw that her sensei Hitori Uzumaki. He long red hair was tied in a single braid. He wore green armor chest plating with matching grieves and gauntlets. Her two teammates were following him to the rear of the city, "We are evacuating. Civilians are being led out of the city."

"Everyone?" Looking over at Shinto. Confusion was written on his face, "What abou-" Before the Uzumaki could get out what he wanted to a massive boulder smashed the house next to them, "They broke through the front line!"

All three genin summoned their chakra chains. Sending them crashing into the oncoming shinobit. Their sensei jumped infront of them quickly and efficiently killing them as they charged in. Getting just a moment he turned to the genin. Fires were starting in the village. Screams could be heard from all parts of the village as buildings crumbled, "It's to late. You need to run. Three enemy villages are here to destroy us. This can not be the end of the Uzumaki. Go leave. Don't look back!"

All three genin turned and ran. Rounding to their homes first. Kyatsu's home was gone. Her big brother and mom and dad dead in front of the house. Shinto's family had rand and left him behind. While their other teammate Taiyoki, her family were still fighting, "Go. I'll catch up I promise." Hugging her friends she ran into the fight with them.

Kyatsu looked back as her friend fought viciously against the enemy shinobi. Finally making it out of the village the two genin ran. Sounds of fighting faded away in the back ground. Getting into cover the two genin took a moment to rest, "Where are we going to go?" She asked Shinto. A hard look on his face, "I don't know."

Present Time

Eien looked at his mom in shock. Pain was written on her face, "We threatened the entirety of the ninja world. So they banned to destroy us. Our name still holds some weight. I've found few survivors but they are no longer ninja."

"Well I'm going to give them a reason to know our name again!" Eien said with a confident smile making his mom chuckle, "I have one question though? Um what happened to Shinto." His mom's expression changed, "That's a story for another time."

Changing to a smile, "Come on let's get to the Shinobi archives and get your name changed."

Arriving at his team's meeting place Eien saw Gaara and Shira. Hopping over to them he dropped a copy of a piece of paper in front of both of them. Eien Uzumaki. Shira held the paper with a confused look, "You changed your name?"

"That seems like a waste of energy." Gaara's face not giving any hint of emotion. Eien though gave the Jinchuriki a smile that made his brain short curcuit, "Yup! Figured I'd change it seeing how I don't want to deal with my dead beat dad anyways."

"Well I like it!" Shira called out, "It reminds me of your mom. She is pretty cool." Eien looked at his friend curiously, "You know who my mom is?"

Shira chuckled, "Yeah. My best friend got put on her team with the Kazekage's kids. She has helped her a lot with her healing skills and even started helping her develop her own water ninjutsu."

Gaara listened as they talked about the puppet boy's mom. Apparently she was powerful. Skilled in Fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu. Looking at Eien again Gaara was memorized. The boy just radiated joy. Something that was not just different from him. It was different of every puppet user he met. Not to mention the amount of puppets he possessed. Even his brother only had three and they were designed by Eien's father.

Baki arrived while they were talking, "Today we are not going on any missions. Instead we will be training. I want you each to decide on something you want to work on. I'll go and help each of you as best I can."

Eien sat down in the dirt. Summoning a manikin and pulling out a small sealing scroll. Resting on top of the wooden body he started drawing. Baki watched closely as the boy fed his chakra into it. Soon it was standign on it's own without chakra strings, "Puppet Clone Jutsu!"

Instantly another red headed boy was standing in front of him. Gaara and Shira both stopped and looked at the boys in shock. Just as Eien was about to cheer though it's face started dropping and it poofed back into the manikin. It still moved back and forth but it wasn't a clone any longer.

"Damn." Eien punched it in the head. Falling backwards it stopped when it's legs went to ninety degrees. Only for the puppet to stand back up. Then suddenly falling over dead. Crossing his arms Eien sat in front of the puppet annoyed and frustrated, "What are you trying to do exactly?"

Looking up at his sensei in frustration that he couldn't get the stupid jutsu right, "I've been trying to create a seal that would let me run clones of myself." Baki had to admit that was inivative and honestly a really good idea. If he could have these clones as advanced fighters or swarm an area to offer opening for his puppets to move in for the kill then he'd be nearly unbeatable in one on one engagements.

A thought came over him though, "It moved without chakra strings?" Eien nodded while drawing out another symbol on a piece of paper, "Yeah. When I put my chakra into it, it gets a consciousness kind of."

Baki watched as another puppet came to life. Tranforming into Eien again. Only this time his hair was neon green and it was about sixty years older before appearing as wood again and falling to the ground. Eien messed up his hair in frustration, "Why won't this work!"

"You aren't putting enough chakra into it." Baki said getting Eien to shake his head, "No. I'm putting plenty into them. I can't get my chakra to stay though. It's like the seal can't bind temporary chakra to an object."

Gaara watched their interactions back and forth. Eien was creating his own jutsu. It was incredible to watch. If he kept this up he would be stronger than himself. The seal he had created looked pretty intricate to. Gaara didn't know much about seals but from what he heard they were difficult. This was an experimental seal to. Not like anyone has done anything that similar.

"You'll get it Uzumaki-kun. I've never seen anyone your age have such an understanding about sealing." Eien looked up at his sensei shocked he was getting a true compliment from him, "It's impressive." Baki wasn't lying either, his natural sense of sealing was incredible, "I'm sure you'll discover it somehow."

"How many of these manikins do you have?" Eien couldn't help but grin, "There is sixty in my scroll why?" Baki looked over at Shira, "Would you be able to help me with Shira-kun?"

"You want my help? I mean YES!" Jumping up he quickly summoned the rest of the manikins. Baki called Shira over, "Shira-kun. Eien-kun is going to use these manikins to fight you." the taijutsu user looked at Eien with slight fear, "Don't worry they don't have weapons. I can't fully mimic fluid taijutsu movements but speed and numbers I can for sure do!"

"Okay. Eien-kun! I can do this." Shira's confidence made Eien chuckle. Chakra strings shot out from his hands picking up ten of the manikins. Shira dropped into a fighting style as the ten humanoid puppets moved around him.

Soon Baki watched as Shira began blocking and dodging ever faster attacks. Fists and kicks sending the puppets back as he twisted and flipped around counter attacks. Shira was getting faster with each of his own counters. Eventually one of his kicks hit hard enough to shatter a puppet. Eien was caught off guard for a moment. Something had been different about that last attack. Quickly reaching out and getting a back up manikin puppet he through it into the spar.

Baki watched closer as did his other two genin. Shira took a deep breath and his movements almost completely silenced. He twisted so fast that his body was like a blur. Almost completely disappearing. His normal brown colored eyes turned completely white. In seconds three of the manikins were completely destroyed. Eien pulled back his puppets. Even he could feel the amount of chakra coming off of the older boy.

"That's enough!" Baki yelled making both boys stop, "That breathing technique you do. It's much more powerful than you think." Shira powered down and felt his body strain, "What do you mean sensei?"

Baki gestured to the manikins, "Eien's puppets. Even his weaker manikins that he has been trying to make as clones are different than most puppets."Shira and Gaara both looked at the destroyed puppets that lay across the ground, "Eien-kun has more chakra than almost anyone in the village due to his linage. He naturally puts chakra into the puppets he uses which makes them stronger and faster than others. They are truly an extension of his body. You took on ten weak puppets of his."

"Actaully eleven sir!" Eien called out cheerfully getting a look from his sensei, "Sorry!" Ducking his head he started cleaning up the mess between them all, "As I was saying." Glancing back at Shira, "This technique increased your body tenfold. You are already physically stronger than pretty much anyone in the village. That includes me. As is your speed, if you could take that feeling you just had and shrunk it down your basic speed and strength would be at a whole different level. On the other hand, if you increased it to higher levels you'd be able to take on both Eien and Gaara in fights."

Shira tried processing what he had just heard. His basic breathing technique he created because it made him feel better did that much for him. Excitement and joy filled his chest as the ramifications of what was being told to him was truly setting in. He just didn't know how to take control of this or what to call it yet, "I am curious about what else you could do with your Taijutsu."

"Well um I do have an idea." Shira shifted nervously, "I read that a clan in the Leaf village is able to hit your chakra points with chakra somehow? Well I think I can do that with pressure points." Baki crossed his arms in contemplation. Shira wasn't wrong. He had faced the Hyuuga before. There was a reason the clan made such a huge part of the Leaf military. Using their Byakugan they were able to hit your chakra points taking you out of a fight or even killing you. Fighting them was as bad as fighting an Uchiha. One on one they were nearly impossible to kill in close quarters.

"There is. Though their doujutsu helps with that. How could you acomplish this?" Smiling he looked at down at his body, "Because I know so much about the human body now. My best friend is a medical ninjutsu specialist. She taught me about pressure points and where to hit them. Even without me feeding chakra into them, it slows you down a lot."

Baki thought for a moment longer before nodding in approval, "Than we will focus on this as well. It would be a safe bet to start in basic training." Looking over at Eien, "Continue on your seal training for now. I'm going to focus on Shira-kun for now."

"Hai Baki-sensei." Bowing Eien went back to work on trying different seals to get his clones to work.

Gaara though watched the other two boys again. It felt as if he was doing this more and more lately. Shira had grown a lot recently. Gaara saw his speed, and felt it during spars. He was able to get past his defenses multiple times. Never making him bleed but hitting him none the less. The rate of his improvements were incredible.

Meanwhile Eien was still an enigma to him. The red head made his stomach flutter. He was skilled and strong. Even without his puppets he was a challenge to fight. He'd seen him use his Kenjutsu against Shira and Baki multiple times now. He was skilled and fast. Always adapting to different situations when needed. He even watched him set traps with sealing scrolls. Then his puppets made him a true threat. To Gaara, Eien was his only true equal in the village.

At the end of the training Eien looked at his teammates, "So now that we're done you guys want to come over to my house? I know we hav-" Gaara though turned around and just walked away. Leaving Eien speechless. Shira just watched the other boy walk away before finally answering himself, "I'll gladly come over Eien."

Shira saw the way Eien's eyes lit up, "Really? Awesome! Lets go!" Grabbing the older boys arm he forced Eien to follow him home. Shira found the boy wasn't nearly as scary as he claimed to be. Especially now that they have spent so much time together. Eien was skilled and strong, he also would do anything to protect Shira and Gaara.

Arriving at his small home, Eien hadn't expected to see his mom's genin team in their small training area. They looked to have just gotten down with their training exercise, "Hey mom!" Ameno got up from where she had laid in the grass and tackled her friend Shira. Temari who had been leaning on her fan looked the small red head over as did Kankuro.

"Hey sweety? No missions today?" Shaking his head he put his sealing scrolls down on the weapons table, "Nope! We trained, but I couldn't get my clones to work." Looking at her son's seal he laid out for her she tried to find the fault, "I wonder why it's not working."

"Well while Sensei looks over that," Eien looks at the blond konouchi. She had similar face structure to Gaara, "I am Temari. You must be our baby brother's teammate Eien-kun?" Bowing slightly, "I'm Eien Uzumaki. Hopefully Gaara-chan hasn't said anything bad?" Realizing how he addressed Gaara he blushed, "Sorry Gaara-kun is just misunderstood and it's in a cute puppy kind of way."

Kankuro tilted his head with a smirk. Shira who was stopped looked at the puppet user in shock. He'd have to ask about that later. The older puppet user spoke up though, "Well I'm Kankuro. I hear you're an even better puppet user than me?"

Rubbing the back of his head Eien tried not to blush this time, "I don't know about that! I just have different puppets is all." Temari laughed, "How are you the son of such an evil person?!" Eien froze, "You got our brother to think about his goals as a shinobi. You apparently think he is cute like a puppy and now your trying to hide the fact your easily the second best puppet user in the village."

"Well um I um…." Kyotsu laughed at her son's baffled face. He didn't know what to say so he just froze. Ameno though looked at her friend, "He's adorable. I want one." Crossing her arms she couldn't help but smile. Shira looked at his friend and just shook his head, "Well he's my teammate so no you can't have him."

"So, I think I have an idea." Quickly Eien moved to sitting in front of his mom, "Put some of your blood in the center of the seal." Pulling out a kunai he cut the center of his hand. After putting some of his blood in the center of the seal he went through his hand signs., "Puppet Clone Jutsu!"

Everyone froze as the manikin was free standing. No chakra strings or anything, he also looked identical to him. The clone had a matching smirk on his face with his true self. Eien looked at Shria, "I did it! I created my clone jutsu!" Kyotsu barely had time to react as he faced her and jumped into her arms.

Kyotsu though was still focused on the puppet clone. It gave her ideas for her son but also added something interesting for her baby boy. He may not need to use chakra strings for to much longer. If he edited this seal to his puppets he may be able to use them to have his puppets fight with him like actual summons. Something she may bring up after he gets better with this particular seals.

"Well come on it's time to rest kiddo. No more training for the day." Kyatsu glared at her boy making him agree instantly, "I won't promise!"

Walking home Temari and Kankuro were both thinking of Eien. How he was truly just a kind boy. Also how talented he was. Neither of them could see themselves beating him in combat. Temari decided to break the silence between the two, "Kankuro. I think Eien being on Gaara's team was the right call."

"You know I think your right." Kankuro looked at the stars while he thought of the kid he'd just seen, "I also think I need to have a new goal. No way will I ever be able to compete with that kid." Temari could understand the doubt about his own skill. Eien would probably be stronger than his dad in no time. Especially if he gained more experience.

Gaara walked into his father's office. Looking around he let his killer intent radiate a bit giving the Anbu a chance to vacate before speaking to the man. Rasa folded his fingers together, "What is it you want Gaara?"

"I want Eien-kun and Kyatsu-san to fix me." Rasa quirked his eyebrow curiously, "Why the sudden change?"

Gaara crossed his arms, "I want to be stronger. I can't do that if I'm fighting my demon. We need to become better." Rasa smirked, "Fine. I'll make the arrangement."

Hello those few that are still reading! Thanks again. So not to give away certain things. Naruto will become a big part of the story after the Konoha Crush. Kind of a long chapter for fluff but I am okay with that.