8 The Last Uzumaki

Upon reaching Naruto's apartment, I stood outside the door outside for a moment while trying to calm my rapidly beating heart. Without knocking, I enter his apartment, shuffling sounds were coming from where I sensed Naruto's chakra. Reaching the room, I saw Naruto stuffing something under his bed.

I was quite relieved to see him well and to seem all well and good. In hindsight, I had no need to panic but the genjutsu left quite an impact.

I stared at Naruto who was trying to look anywhere and immediately knew something was fishy. Looking at his bed, I smiled mischievously. Using the full maneuverability of a ninja, I jump over him, spin midair, use the roof to push my body towards his bed, and before he could blink much less turn, I retrieved what he was hiding under his bed. I looked at Naruto with a smile but my smile turned a little stiff when I noticed what I was holding in my hand. To an untrained eye, it would look like a normal scroll but I had dabbled for almost my entire life, I would never mistake a Fuinjutsu scroll.

Opening the scroll, I looked at the Uzumaki symbol at the start. Reading further, it was an introductory text to fuinjutsu.

"Naruto, where did you get this?", I questioned, my tone leaving no room for argument.

"I... I got it from the academy library.", for a non-academy student like Naruto, it means he stole it.

I narrowed my eyes. An Uzumaki scroll is impossible to be present in the academy library. Moreover, Naruto simply could not breach the containment seal of the library. There is something fishy going on here. But first I had to know why Naruto stole in the first place.

I sat next to Naruto and looked him in his eyes. I softly spoke;

"I am not criticizing you Naruto. It's great that you wanted to learn sealing but why you want to do it. You could have asked Lord Third for learning. Why steal?" I knew full well Hokage would not ever let a jinchuriki touch sealing with a ten-foot pole.

"I asked the old man to learn seals but he directly banned me from ever learning them. He did not even listen to what I said and just did that."

Naruto's eyes teared up. I knew Naruto just went against direct orders of Hokage. He started narrating his reasons. "You know, when I asked you why you had no surname, you answered that you don't know your parents so you don't get one from them." I nodded. Kurama clan kept a tight lid on the matter. I was able to keep myself separated from the clan and appear as a regular orphan. I signal Naruto to continue.

"So I asked old man Hokage why I had my surname Uzumaki. I thought maybe I could find about my parents. But the old man said that he gave me that surname. He said he named me after a clan that used to be Konoha's allay but was destroyed in war because other nations feard their Fuinjutsu abilities. For that you know, I at least wanted to be worthy of my name. "

I silently look at Naruto. He keeps looking down. His chakra radiated despair. At that moment, so many things became clear to me.

I gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in a hug. All the frustration, pain, and loneliness he endured finally overwhelmed him, and his happy facade broke. He started sobbing on my shoulder. It was painful to see him like this. All I could do was embrace him and let the torrent of tears to soak through my shirt and let him vent his heart out. I understood why honoring Uzumaki name is so important to him. For his entire life, he was surrounded by hate. To him, every day is a just him is a desperate struggle against the world, alone and unloved by everyone. He does not even know the name of his own parents, so what defines him in this world? He must have asked himself every day whether he really is the demon everyone calls him. In his bleak life, the name Uzumaki must have been the last thread that holds his sanity together, a link to reality for Uzumaki Naruto is not a demon.

We stay like that for a long time. He finally stops crying but was emotionally and mentally spent. I lay him on his bed and use a minor genjutsu to put him to sleep, there was only so much a five-year-old can take and he needed a long rest.

After Naruto was sleeping peacefully, I turn my attention to Fuinjutsu scrolls. They being in Naruto's possession does not make sense at all. A quick read revealed they contained the most basic sealing knowledge. The information also followed the Uzumaki school of thought.

All Uzumaki scrolls have special preservation seals on them that make them extremely resistant to wear and tear.

He tore a small corner of paper from the scroll. It easily came out, no resistance what so ever.

'Clearly not an Uzumaki scroll but a copied one. Someone who had access to the shinobi library's seals section wanted Naruto to have this. But why and who? What could someone possibly gain from this?'

Not knowing any clue what so ever, Itsuki could only sigh and stop thinking so hard. Today events were finally catching up to him and he felt very tired. He sat on a chair and went to sleep but not before placing discrete seals on all doors and windows that could warn him if someone enters.

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Just a few blocks away from Naruto's house, a figure was crouching down in the tree branches. The figure was a tall and well-built man with long white spiky hair tied in a ponytail and wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants wooden sandals, and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side and horned forehead protector with kanji for oil written on it.

He was looking at Naruto's apartment through a telescope. An earring with a long piece of paper that had an Uzumaki spiral distinctively similar to the one on Naruto's fuinjutsu scroll.

Jiraiya listened to everything Naruto said to Itsuki. When the boy suddenly questioned Naruto on Fuinjutsu scrolls, Jiraiya realized Itsuki probably knew of Naruto's status as a jinchuriki. Since he came to know of boys association with Naruto, he had read his file. Boy did not appear to be much talented in ninja arts but his talent in medical ninjutsu was reported to exceed even the likes of Tsunade and a scary intellect to match.

A complicated expression passed his eyes. The involvement of Itsuki could derail his plans. It won't be long before he starts to suspect something.

'Looks like I have to personally meet the boy.'

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Author's Notes

In the reviews, some readers are disappointed that Itsuki's cover got blown. I assure you that this is not the case. It's more of the beginning of antagonistic relation between Itsuki and Danzo. Danzo knows Itsuki has the Kurama clan's bloodline but that is about it. He will be leaving Itsuki alone until getting Hashirama's cells and getting a new arm.

Same in today's chapter, Jiaraya was able to get a drop on Itsuki but he was mainly spying on Naruto, not Itsuki.

As far as Hiruzen is concerned, he is completely in the dark. Only Hiruzen wanted to keep Naruto emotionally deprived by isolating him similar to what Forth Kazekage did to Gaara but in a less extreme way. Therefore he immediately removed Naruto from the orphanage to keep him away from Itsuki. His character is complex and he will become more involved in the story after Itsuki passes out of Academy.