1 Scenes of the Past

~6th Month of Year 527 ARS (After Rikudo Senin)~

Uzushiogakure

"But I don't want to go to Konoha!" a young red haired girl roughly 8-9 years old complained to a young man in his early teens with red hair that seemed to fade to a silvery-gray as it reached its ends.

"You gotta go there, Ku-chan. Lady Mito is in need of some Uzumaki family to live with her and since you have the same trait in your chakra as her, it must be you.", the teen said while patting her head causing her to pout.

"You have the same trait as me since it IS common in the Hogo clan to have it. Yours is even stronger than mine by a lot shot, Kensei-nii." the girl, dubbed 'Ku-chan' by the teen now known as Kensei, said through puffed up cheeks. She then knocks his hand away and pipes out, "AND DON'T CALL ME KU-CHAN!"

Kensei then chuckles and placates her by playfully bowing to her and says as monatonal as possible, "You are right, Lady Kushina. This humble servant of the Uzumaki Clan apologizes for offending you with such a demeaning nickname." He chuckles again and whispers out "Tomato-hime."

Kushina then goes bright red, whether from embarrassment or anger, Kensei didn't care. She then proceeds to try to attack him with the fury of a rabid dog. She never so much as touches him as he dodges all 'attacks' from her like he was a leaf in the wind.

After a few minutes of their impromptu 'spar', Kushina is lying on the ground panting like she just ran through Lands of Wind without any water. Kensei then places a bamboo flask by her head and says, "Here you go, Kushina. You gotta remember the Uzuken style of taijutsu only works if you guide your emotions and not let your emotions guide you."

Kushina sits up and chugs the water out of the flask and then says, rather irritated, "I know, I know. You tell me this after every taijutsu lesson that I lose my cool in. It's getting old, and stop with the servant shtick. You are my favorite cousin and I don't care if your grandmother had to step away from the family to lead the Hogo clan so my grandfather could inherit the Uzumaki Clan head title. You are an Uzumaki just as much as you are a Hogo."

Kensei pokes her forehead with two fingers and says, "That's the reason I can't go to Konoha in your place. The Hogo clan doesn't exist in Uzushio outside of this island, only the Uzumaki clan lives here now after the other clans moved to Konoha to follow Hashirama Senju, much like Great-Aunt Mito did all those years ago. That's one reason I can't go but not the only reason I can't go."

Kushina tilts her head to the side and questions, "What's the other reason, Kensei-Nii?" Kensei crouches to be at eye to eye level with her, "Well, Ku-chan, if Konoha found out who my grandpa was and that he had kids in the first place, they wouldn't be very happy now would they?"

"But your grandpa was so nice even if he was as stubborn as a boulder", Kushina complained. Kensei replied, "I know he was, but there was a reason he kept his relationship with my grandmother a secret. My grandfather was a very powerful Shinobi who made a lot of enemies both in the world at large and in Konoha. If any of them knew of mine or my mother's existence, let's just say it wouldn't be very good.", Kensei ending the small lecture in a stern tone.

Kensei stands up and picks up Kushina, putting her on his back. "Well let's get you back to your mother and grandmother for the etiquette lesson you ran away from, huh?" Kensei says with a Cheshire grin. Kushina pales and stutters out, "Okay I'll be good. Just don't make me have to take those lessons. They just don't feel right."

Kensei chuckles while saying in an exaggerated tone, "The future head of the Uzumaki clan is scared of a little etiquette lesson. Oh how the once mighty clan has fallen for its young leader to be a coward."

Kushina's cheeks puff as she bonks Kensei on the head repeatedly while shouting, "I AIN'T NO COWARD, BAKA-NII." Kensei just chuckles again as he continues back to Kushina's home while saying, "Now that's the brave little swordswoman I know. Now remember that you got your fuinjutsu lesson with me after that, you got that?"

Kushina goes silent as she leans into his back while muttering out a rather subdued "yes" that didn't normally fit the rather boisterous girl. Kensei knew by her tone that she wanted the rest of the trip home to be silent so she could get some rest while listening to his always calm heartbeat.

~A few weeks later~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS ON A MISSION? HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TO SAY GOODBYE LIKE HE PROMISED!", a very irate Kushina yells at a tall dark red haired man she knows to be Kensei's father and the current head of the Hogo Clan after he married Kensei's mother.

"Well, Kushina-sama, it is a last minute mission that only he had the qualifications to undergo. He did say to give you his apologies and that his goodbye gift that he planned to give to you is this.", Genshiro says neutrally as he hands Kushina a scroll. "Now remember, his instructions were that you only open it if you truly miss Uzushio while you were in Konoha. Do not open it until you are in Lady Mito's home. Do you understand, Kushina-sama?"

Kushina mutters out some expletives that Genshiro didn't know she knew and took the scroll, stuffing it in her bags while saying in a curt tone, "Thanks." As Kushina and the Konoha entourage that is meant to escort her to Konoha fades into the distance, Genshiro says quietly, "I hope your plan works out, son. Otherwise, Uzushio has lost two great warriors in one day."

~Two Months Later~

Senju Clan Home, Konohagakure

A now sobbing Kushina is crying her heart out into the chest of an elderly Mito Uzumaki-Senju. "They're gone. They're all gone. What do I do, Mito-obachan? Our home and all our family is gone." Mito smiles down at the crying child while trying not to cry herself and says, "Why don't we open up the scroll young Kensei left for you?"

Kushina stops crying and gets a momentary surge of anger and says with a hint of venom, "No. I don't want anything to do with that liar right now. He promised he was always going to be there for me. He promised he was going to m…" she pauses and then continues to cry harder while saying "and now he's gone and I never got to apologize to him for being mad at him. He probably died thinking I hated him. I don't deserve his gift now."

Kushina shoves the scroll into Mito's hand and says "You hold onto it until I think I am worthy of his gift." Mito sighs and says, "If that is what you think is best."

Little did the two know that the scroll would not be opened for some time but it wouldn't be by either of them.

~October 11, 541 ARS

The Household of The Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and his legal Wife, though in secret, Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze did not have the door opened by either of the owners but instead by a very tired old man holding a newborn followed by a taller, slightly younger old man with long white hair. The two men walked into the home with no problem due both being keyed to the security seals of the modest home of Konoha's newest fallen heroes.

The older man said "Jiraiya, are you sure you can't raise Naruto yourself? I know Kushina didn't particularly care for you due to your lecherous activities but to Minato, you were the closest thing he had to a father. In a sense, Naruto is your grandson in addition to being your godchild."

The taller man, now identified as Jiraiya, shook his head and replied "I'm sorry Sarutobi-sensei. No matter how much I want to raise the little tadpole, I can't leave the village's spy network unattended for too long and a life on the road ain't any way to raise a kid. Besides, a jinchūriki can't grow out of the village. They wouldn't have any connection to their home if that was the case."

Sarutobi sighed and asked wearily, "And there hasn't been any response from Tsunade about coming home to care for someone who could be considered the last of her family?" Jiraiya shook his head and said, "Any messenger toads I send her way just get sent back to Mount Myōboku before they can get a word in with her."

Sarutobi, looking older than his student has ever seen, says, "It seems we are going to need to label young Naruto as an orphan and have him raised in obscurity making sure to keep his status a secret." Jiraiya, feeling older as well, mutters out, "If it's for the best."

The two then proceed to seal up every aspect of the house and key set strictly to themselves and the newborn Uzumaki they are carrying. As they were about to leave, Jiraiya trips over a notch in the floor knocking over a photo of Kushina and Mito Uzumaki that was taken a couple days before Mito transferred the Nine-Tails over to Kushina.

As Jiraiya goes to put the frame back on the wall, they both notice a false back to part of the frame. Jiraiya pops the false back off and they find a scroll that seems to be in perfect condition despite where it has been for what they believe to have been for over a decade.

A note falls out with it. Jiraiya grabs the note and reads it aloud:

"Kushina -

I know you are still sad about what happened to our home, but I will not let you forget about the family we had lost. I definitely know you wouldn't want to forget about Kensei. So I placed this for you in this hidden compartment in the frame of the picture you could barely sit still for. Kami only knows how that boy was able to keep you still enough to teach you fuinjutsu. Remember what his instructions were: Only open this in the safety of your home if you are missing Uzushio as much as I know you are. I also know you are going to find this a few years down the line at most with how clumsy you are at times. Take care and remember who you are.

-Your Great-Aunt Mito Uzumaki-Senju"

Jiraiya reads the last line a second before asking Sarutobi in a slightly shocked tone, "Wait Sensei? Kushina wasn't just another clansman but she was directly related to Lady Mito. I thought Lady Mito didn't have any siblings." Sarutobi chuckles, remembering the time as a child he thought he saw two slightly different Mitos talking to both Hashirama and Tobirama, and says, "It seems like the Uzumaki clan is full of pranksters, not just Kushina and Mito. Here take Naruto for a moment."

Sarutobi hands Naruto off to Jiraiya and analyzes the scroll for any hidden traps on it. After about thirty minutes, he then placed the scroll in his hidden sleeve pocket. Jiraiya questions his mentor and leader, "So could you tell what was in the scroll, Sensei?"

Sarutobi shakes his head and says, "No. The sealing done on the scroll was more advanced than almost anything I have ever seen, with the slightest exception being the seal on little Naruto here." He pats Naruto's head gently and continues, "Whoever this Kensei was, he was as much of a genius in fuinjutsu as Minato, perhaps even more so if he was Kushina's teacher."

Jiraiya looks shocked that anybody could have been better than his genius of a former student or the woman who taught them both the basics of Uzumaki-style fuinjutsu. He stammers out, "Was there anything you could make out considering you were taught by Lady Mito herself?"

"The only thing I could make out of the sealing matrix that I could even decipher was a blood seal keyed to Kushina and anybody of direct relation to her which leaves young Naruto as the only one to open it. There was also a preservation seal meant to protect the scroll itself from damage that seemed to be powered by Sage chakra.", the old man explained to his now completely flabbergasted student.

Before his student could even react, Sarutobi takes Naruto from Jiraiya and transports them to his old now current office of the hokage. As Sarutobi places Naruto in a crib by his desk, Jiraiya falls to the ground not expecting the sudden displacement out of nowhere from his Sensei. As he was about to whine to his Sensei about what the big idea was, Sarutobi flashed a few hand signs that activated the strongest privacy seal the office had: Uzumaki-style Fuinjutsu: Hall of a Thousand Secrets.

Jiraiya, seeing this, calmed down and said in a stern tone that normally doesn't befit his usual goofball persona, "What was that about Sensei?" The man right now wasn't Jiraiya the Gallant, perverted author, but he was Jiraiya, head of the most extensive spy network in all the known world.

Sarutobi, back in his desk, spoke in a tone meant for the man known as both 'The Professor' and 'The God of Shinobi', "I may have recognized the chakra signature used in the sealing. It was similar to a man I thought was a myth used to scare ninja from attacking Uzushiogakure. The man was never seen but his accomplishments are fairly large with the biggest one being the near killing of Blue B of Kumo for just being near the waters of Uzushio at the time."

Jiraiya being thrown for yet another loop in the last few minutes. "Wasn't Blue B assumed to be the jinchūriki of the Eight-tails? And a competent one at that? If such a man was the same person as this Kensei who taught Kushina, what would have been the gift he gave her!", he ended his tirade of questions with a near shout.

Sarutobi gave Jiraiya a pointed glare for nearly waking up the infant sleeping not even 2 feet from them. "It is probably for the best that I seal this scroll into the Scroll of Seals in case it ends up being a possible threat to Konoha.", the Hokage says as he does what he says.

"Let's just hope whoever discovers it and manages to unlock it doesn't have an axe to grind with Konoha.", the two think and hope as they try to go about the repairs for the village and the future of Konoha not knowing they unintentionally set into motion the prophecy they heard all those years ago.