A/N:

Plot bunny attack. Sorry. I had to get this finished and out of my head before I could even think about any other stories.

Blanket Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto and, by this story's completion (seeing as it's already all typed up) will not own Naruto or being making any sort of money off of this little project of mine.

I hummed happily, lazily tracing the ancient sealing array on the floor beneath me. I would have to labor over this seal in just a few short weeks, but for now I could simply enjoy its complexity.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a familiar voice said close behind me. I nodded slowly, turning to face the man who had been my shishou since I first began my apprenticeship on my seventh birthday ten years ago. Uzumaki Kizu looked past me to the sealing array with a look I rarely saw on his face. There was a softness in his pale brown eyes that I hardly ever got to see, even as his student, that forced me look past the extensive scarring covering much of his face. He was once a handsome man, I knew, but he had been caught on the wrong side of a vicious attack. It had been a case of mistaken identity and friendly fire, if I had heard the story correctly. Kizu did not hate the Konoha shinobi who had burned him so harshly, though. Kizu always said to learn from one's mistakes. He did, and even changed his name to acknowledge the mistake he made but would not repeat. "This sealing array, the All Seal, is the secret to our village's fuinjutsu. It is this array, discovered generations ago, that keeps the lifeblood of our village flowing through our veins. It gives us longer life, a stronger will, and a fiercer ambition above all others."

I knew the story as every other apprentice did. When the first Uzumakis found this island, they discovered this array, carved deep into a slab of rock. They took the slab and moved it to the site of the foundation to Uzushiogakure, building the village around it. They didn't notice, at least at first, the energy that seeped from the massive seal. With years, though, they began to notice themselves changing, but they could still not understand the changes that took place, the changes that made their bodies stronger against harm, their elders and children safer from the diseases plaguing the nearby villages. According to legend, it continued that way until the founder of the current era of Uzushio shinobi, Uzumaki Kaishi, sat before the seal and stared at its sloping angles, interlocking patterns, and complex symbols for six days, entranced by the intricacies of the array and unable to look away. On the seventh day, when he could finally avert his eyes from it, he saw the world with new eyes, able to understand, at last, all of the changes that had happened to his people. He was the first man, since the Sage of Six Paths, to wield the power of fuinjutsu.

When Kaishi took leadership of the village after the death of his father, he began instructing the young of the village to understand the mechanics of fuinjutsu. Since then, it has been tradition for each apprentice to aim to understand the seal. It took most apprentices days or even weeks to understand the array but, when they did, they could be fully recognized as masters.

Since the days of Kaishi, the All Seal was moved out of the village. Instead of being located in the village's center, it was relocated to a more remote and guarded stone shrine. The shrine, placed on a low mountaintop overlooking the village, was shaped into a large rotunda with a wide oculus located directly above the All Seal, allowing light to illuminate the seal. Seals carved into the stone around the oculus absorbed rainwater where it was transferred into pipes worked into the stone that carried it to the ground so that water couldn't erode the array that gave so much to Uzushio. Everyone living within Uzushio's walls had visited the shrine at one point or another. Some went to the All Seal to pray, some to mourn, and some to welcome new life.

"It will soon be your turn to look to the seal," Kizu continued in a low voice. "... You have made your clan proud," he said with a small smile. I returned the smile easily before looking back towards the seal.

"I haven't finished yet, Shishou."

Feeling the air shift behind me, I ducked, just in time to avoid the strike Kizu sent at the back of my head. I was about to comment on how slow he seemed before a kick I hadn't noticed him deliver sent me stumbling towards the floor. Turning my head, I glared at him while he laughed.

I walked through the gauntlet of masters to the entrance to the Shrine where Kizu was waiting to give me the last words he would give as my master. As I walked up to face him, I tried to count the number of masters present. If I was right, it seemed that nearly everyone had come out to see me and, hopefully, to greet me as one of them when my time before the All Seal was ended.

"I would wish you luck, but you don't need it," Kizu smiled wryly. I bowed my head, hiding my own smile. To my surprise, my shishou moved his hand to my chin, forcing my head up so that his eyes could meet mine. "You have grown, Suki. And I know that you will only continue to grow."

I knew it was true. I was something far more than the small child he first met, desperate to prove herself to her clansmen. Gone was the self consciousness, the hesitancy, and the second guessing of that child. Uzumaki Suki was now a proud kunoichi of Uzushiogakure, one of its rising jounin, and soon to be the youngest master- if all went well- in over thirty years.

Even knowing that, it was hard to not to notice as the heavy doors closed shut with a very solid thunk that echoed with a soft finality. The next time those doors would be opened, I would either be a master or I would be on death's door. Once the ceremony's begun, the doors could only be opened for me to leave after finishing, or if I was in desperate need of medical attention. It didn't happen often, but it had happened to apprentices in the past. Being so close to the life-giving seal for such a long time meant that you could survive with neither food or water, but it did take its toll after too long.

Taking a deep breath, I walked towards the sealing array carved into the stone that I, just days ago, had traced aimlessly. Now, I had only one goal in mind: understanding.

I settled myself in front of the stone and waited.

As I stared into the carved array, the grey marble slowly came alive with color. If I blinked, it would disappear just as quickly, though. The longer I stared, the more vibrant the colors became.

The array wasn't a single entity.

Interwoven in a delicate pattern were dozens of seals that all worked together to provide... I couldn't even put names to all of their purposes. Some of them were protection wards I myself had studied. Others seemed intertwined with the natural chakra permeating the island. Some attracted possible allies and food sources, other repelled fierce predators and enemies. It was so complex.

Cautiously, I moved my hand towards the interwoven colors and patterns. The colors cringed away from my touch for a moment, as an animal might, before relaxing and moving slowly back to their original position. The living array embraced my hand and a gasp escaped my mouth at the sheer life contained in the carving.

It was amazing, and so warm. I could feel as the seal did. It was as if the seal was connected to each life on the island. As different colors came into contact with my skin, there was a new rush of information and feeling, an influx of emotion that wasn't at all mine but also deeply connected to me at the same time. I knew in some innate corner of my mind how many people were on the island, and where they were. I could feel animals moving about their daily business. A squirrel foraging for food, a fox bringing home a dead rabbit to a den full of hungry kits, a bird calling to its mate, a fish swimming an ancestral route upstream. The plants rejoiced in the sun's warmth, throwing out buds at a million cells a minute in an unseen flurry of motion.

And then it disappeared.

I fell backwards, my breathing heavy as my eyes unfocused. I forced myself to blink, staring back at the sealing array. The colors I had seen so vividly and brightly were all but gone, but still present. They throbbed with a quiet and muted life, beating faster than a heart but all but silent at the same time.

Is this what Kaishi saw? Is this the understanding that he wanted others to see?

I placed my hand back on the array experimentally. The colors rose up under my fingertips once more, now greeting me as an old friend. I swallowed, hard, closing my eyes as I allowed the seal to show me what it needed to. My hand shifted away from the center of the seal and, even with my eyes closed, I could see the island from a bird's eye view. What drew my attention more than the whirlpools surrounding our proud island nation, however, was the unfamiliar ships headed straight our way. I increased my concentration on those ships until I could reach only one conclusion.

I broke away from the seal at once and, ignoring the feeling of loss that dully began to ache in my chest, I ran towards the door. With a burst of strength, I threw the doors open. The gathered masters, a hundred and nineteen total, awaiting me shifted, ready to congratulate me and welcome me into their ranks. Or, at least that is what I presumed. I didn't give them the opportunity.

"An attack is approaching from the northwest. They've nearly all passed through the border of whirlpools barricading the island."

"An attack?" one of my many semi-distant cousins, Uzumaki Yuriko, asked. She was one of the youngest masters, about twenty-four years old, and had only gotten her own mastery eight or nine months ago. Even so, she already had an apprentice, an aspiring sealer by the name of Aokawa Rei, my late aunt's only daughter. She was a sweet girl, only five years old, but it was already obvious that she had prodigious talent. After her parents' death, I adopted her, bringing her into the Uzumaki clan and allowing her to get the early training that she deserved. I had been her sole caretaker for nearly three years, since I was fourteen.

"An attack. Ships, seventeen that I saw, all loaded with shinobi. There must be nearly three hundred battle-ready shinobi, heading straight for our western ports. And we aren't facing just one adversary. I identified hitai-ates from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Amegakure."

Kizu came straight to me, laying his hands on my shoulder.

"Are you positive of what you saw?" he asked in a voice that promised danger.

"Completely."

Someone behind me cleared their throat and I froze, turning quickly and kneeling before the man. The masters around me kneeled as well, leaving only the old man in front of me standing.

"Leader-sama," I greeted quietly.

"Suki-san. You saw these invaders?"

"Hai."

"And you are sure that Suna has betrayed us?" We'd had a tentative peace with Suna since its foundation. Even so, it was entirely plausible to have them betray us. Uzushio was both famous and notorious for our masters of fuinjutsu.

"Can you think of another reason for seventeen unexpected ships approaching our shores, each loaded with shinobi outfitted for war?"

"Very well..." Uzumaki Taeru acknowledged wearily. He sighed softly before straightening, transforming from the weak old man he had resembled to the untrained eye and into our village's steadfast leader. "It is well that our masters have already been assembled. Those of you with apprentices, return to the village and alert your apprentices to the coming danger. Have all apprentices genin and low chuunin level escort all civilians to the safe houses in the Whirlpool Catacombs. All other chuunin level apprentices are to gather the village records, the clan archives, the jutsu libraries, and summonings and see that they are safely sealed and stored in the Uzumaki Vault until further notice and then join in the civilian guard. All jounin level apprentices and masters with apprentices are to secure the village as best as possible. The rest of you will be with me. We will meet the oncoming enemy as they arrive. This is our island; we know the land and the waters surrounding it better than any invading force. We will drive the forces away or we will strike them down without mercy."

"Uzumaki-sama, what will you have me do?" I asked in as strong a voice as I could muster. The man looked down at me before glancing away.

"Your duty is to the All Seal. Transfer the array into the Uzumaki Vault and guard the seal from within the vault along with an apprentice of your choice. It will be up to you and whoever you choose to ensure that the array, and everything else stored within the vault, remains undamaged. You are not to leave the vault unguarded, even if the invasion breaks through our walls."

"Leader-sama!" one of the masters, a man I recognized as Chusei Santo, exclaimed almost incredulously. "The All Seal is the heartbeat of this nation-"

"Suki-san, were you able to see the seal's energies after you separated yourself from it? When you were not touching the array?"

"I- Of course, I could," I responded quickly. Santo's eyes widened ever so slightly as Taeru chuckled with a timbre that was not entirely comforting. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"The All Seal is very selective in who may see its mechanizations. That is why not every apprentice can even begin to understand. Even fewer can continue to understand, to learn. Santo-san, do you now have any doubts that Suki-san will be unable to protect the All Seal?"

"No, sir."

Without further questions, the leader took one last look around his strongest sealers and gave a final nod, dismissing all present. My only goodbye to my shishou was an exchanged nod before he too vanished, following the others towards the western shore. Taeru-sama stayed behind, his eyes focusing on me intently. I resisted the urge to shift my weight under his ancient gaze.

"I will not stay long, not with the invasion mounting, but there is something you must know. Since the time of Uzumaki Kaishi, the village leader has always been a true master, someone who is able to see the All Seal's energies without touching the array. I have been waiting for many years for the next true master to come, just as every other leader before me has, and now you are here. If I fall today, it will be up to you to lead the remnants of Uzushio even if it is just you and the apprentice you choose. Do not doubt yourself if that is the case. You are strong, stronger than you know, or the All Seal would not have chosen you.

"But that was not what I needed to tell you. In the Uzumaki Vault, in the annex in which the All Seal is to be protected, there is a single scroll. In it, you will find everything that you will need to know, assuming that I can not tell it to you myself."

His pale brown eyes burning into mine, I watched as he lifted his hands and unfastened a chain around his neck. When he pulled the necklace away, I recognized it immediately. It was a very simple piece, comprised of a thin silver chain and a single charm, but it was the charm that made it so important. It was remarkably similar to the necklace famously worn by the Shodai Hokage. Instead of sky blue, the central crystal was a matrix of orange and red that swirled, flickering like flames in the sunlight. The two beads on either side of the crystal were made of jet and carefully carved to perfectly replicate the Uzumaki spiral that had been taken on as the village's symbol. The necklace was a gift to Taeru-sama by the Shodai Hokage himself when the villages had become allies. It was representative of his position as the village leader and, as he pressed it into my hand, representative of mine.

The air shifted around me and Taeru-sama was gone, following after his sealers.

I glanced back at the shrine that housed the All Seal. If the approaching forces knew what the All Seal could do... Their acquiring the seal would mean destruction of Uzushio. Without the All Seal, the island would cease to flourish.

It was much easier to speak of transporting the All Seal to the Uzumaki Vault. It was another matter to actually move it.

Even aside from the countless warding and protective seals around the All Seal's array, the slab on which it was carved was massive. It took all of my strength to even force the slab to shift in its place. The apprentice couldn't help me, as I had chosen selfishly. I had chosen the girl I'd adopted into my family as my sister, Aokawa Rei. As a child, she was too young to fully understanding what was happening to our land, let alone the subtleties involving the All Seal. To keep her busy, I sent her to collect the ceremonial scroll designed for the All Seal's transport and protection. The arrays built into that scroll were amongst the most complicated fuinjutsu in existence, only comparable to the All Seal itself. The scroll's design was based off of Uzumaki Kaishi's work, a level of fuinjutsu mastery that has only been matched by four others since his death.

It was easier to move the seal for me than it would be for others, seeing as I could physically see which seals were integrated directly into the main array and which seals were added later. I didn't dare cut the All Seal completely free from the added seals, as many of them were the remnants of natal blessings, a process that helped speed the changes the All Seal made in our people. It gave our people, civilians and shinobi alike, a stronger tolerance for pain and higher stamina. If I cut free all of those seals, I would cripple our forces just before the oncoming siege.

By the time I was ready to actually move the seal, Rei had brought the large scroll back from the crypts beneath the Shrine. She seemed shaken from the trip, but it was understandable. It was in that crypt where we kept the ashes of our dead and the hitai-ate plates of our fallen shinobi. Though the ashes were all sealed safely into black corpse scrolls, I knew that the experience could not have been comfortable for my little cousin.

"Roll out the scroll right here," I said quickly, gesturing towards the ground beside the sealing array. Rei obeyed swiftly but I noticed that her eyes never ventured far from the ground as she did so. I couldn't spare much time to comfort the girl, though. I was given strict orders by Taeru-sama, orders that I would follow to the letter.

A/N:

If it wasn't quite obvious given the summary which (as most are) was a rather terrible summary, this story starts just at the beginning of the Second Great Shinobi War. Suki, for the record, is about two years younger than the Sannin. I'll give a blanket disclaimer that there isn't a whole lot of fighting going on this story, mostly because I actually am rubbish at writing fight scenes, but you'll see bits and pieces of Suki's strength. For now, just assume that she is a highly talented Uzumaki who has been trained into the ground by her shishou since she was four-ish years old. Expect hints to impressive abilities but none will be two outlandish, seeing as she's had thirteen years to hone her skills to a scary razor sharp edge.

I really love the concept of Uzushiogakure being this once powerful and beautiful village that was destroyed all in one fell swoop. I think that the idea that nothing is infallible is fun to play with and hopefully that will come through as the story progresses.

Lastly, apologies again if I take forever in uploading this. This story is actually completely finished as of March 4th at 12:53 AM. Yep. There's that damn plot bunny keeping me from getting any sleep. So, basically, this story is twenty chapters long (including this prologue and an epilogue) and is pretty much ready to go. Don't expect

MY POINT THOUGH (and I do have one): If it's been over a week since I've updated and you're getting sick of it, please just shoot me a pm about it and I'll get to it. Just don't be rude about it. Ya'll know how busy people can get and I'd rather not, after having a bad day, see an angry pm about my laziness and then feel petty enough to ignore it. Me ignoring reminders to post means no new chapters... So... Basically... If I forget, just remember that shit happens so please don't take it out on my poor memory/time management skills.

Until next chapter!

Sue