A/N: Hello and welcome to the fourth chapter in my (hopefully) interesting story. Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating it today. I figured I would bring this chapter out today for my fans to enjoy after they stuff themselves at the table. There's a lot going on in this chapter as thanks for sticking through that cliffhanger that I so willingly left in Chapter 3. You may recognize a piece of this story that did not occur until way later in the series, canonically. You'll see why I do this later...I do intend to write this story for the long-term.

I would also like to say that I am still looking for a beta. If anyone is interested, please let me know through PM. Thanks and enjoy.

Acceptance

Naruto quickly scanned his surroundings, finding that he did not recognize anything, but could hear the distinct sound of running water. Hinata was right next to him, Byakugan active, watching for any signs of movement in the dark area.

"Naruto-kun, we are underground in a building somehow. I can see the surface a few yards upward. There are pillars knocked down everywhere."

"Let's find some stairs or something then. Maybe we'll find out where we are if we can see." Naruto guessed as he held his hand out for Hinata to take. She took it eagerly, relishing in the safety that she felt from the boy's presence.

Hinata continued to scan the surrounding area, but quickly realized that something had been distorting her vision within the room. When she informed Naruto, he decided that they should walk around the room and perhaps find lighting. After a few minutes of careful walking, the two found the wall of the room and decided to follow it around, knowing that a door or something would have to make itself evident at some point. It did not take long for them to find exactly what they were looking for in a stairway. However, the blond boy was hesitant after spotting something that very few outside of Konoha should know about.

"There's one of my clan's seals on this wall…no way…" he said with immense disbelief.

He even recognized the design from one of the various books on advanced sealing that he had read.

Hinata, this seal is probably the root of you not being able to see in here. It's a chakra storage seal. It's meant to throw off people like sensor ninja…But what is it doing here…"

Naruto rubbed away a part of the seal, breaking it instantly. The heiress immediately gained awareness of where she was, as a result.

"We're in some kind of chamber…I don't know what it is for, but I don't want to stay here."

The unfamiliar territory was starting to take its toll on the young woman. Naruto squeezed her hand to reassure herd pulled her up the stairs. Each step echoed off the surrounding walls. The sound of rushing water grew stronger with each step that they took. Eventually, they reached the top of the staircase, only to find that they were still inside this bunker-like structure.

"Dammit…where the hell are we…"

"Naruto-kun look!" Hinata exclaimed, pointing forward.

Naruto turned to see that she had spotted a mural on the wall. The quality of the piece would have been the most incredible part if the six orange whirlpools flanking all sides of the mural were not present. Naruto stepped forward, his black jacket making him almost invisible in the darkness. Hinata looked at him and then back at the mural.

In it was a sequential story. To the right of one of the whirlpools was an image of three symbols.

"Th-Those are the symbols of Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Sunagakure!" Hinata gasped, putting the pieces together with help from her years of political instruction. The only time that those villages allied was the Third Shinobi War. She followed an arrow leading from the first picture to the next, which showed Iwa and Kumo seemingly moving through small whirlpools to reach some point in the center, marked by fire. The next picture, now at the top of the mural, was just a gigantic flame with the three symbols surrounding it. Following that one was the most familiar symbol appearing onto the scene.

"Konoha…?" Naruto whispered to himself while trying to interpret what was going on.

All he saw was Konoha's symbol in front of a slowly diminishing fire. The fifth image was the most strange. Konoha's symbol had vanished and multiple black dots were surrounding the small fire. There was no last picture to complete the cycle. But Naruto found himself looking at the cycle again and again, wondering what it could mean. Hinata remained quiet, waiting for the blond's next move. She already formed a conclusion as to what this was, given what she knew. And if her suspicion was correct, she also knew where they were.

"I don't understand this…Anyway, we need to find a way out of here. This place is starting to bother me for some reason." Naruto said with a grimace.

"The exit is that way." Hinata said with an unusual lack of life.

Naruto nodded and quickly led Hinata through the dark room to another staircase. She could see the twilight shining down the stairs, partially lighting the surrounding walls. As they walked up, the sound of rushing water grew even stronger, but seemed to peak after the group of two reached the surface.

"What…?" Naruto whispered.

Hinata looked to the side and bit her lip as she spotted yet another whirlpool symbol on a destroyed pillar. She spotted many of those destroyed pillars surrounding the entrance to the bunker that they were in. Now she was certain.

"Naruto-kun…this is…"

He squeezed her hand and looked back at her, his eyes telling her that he already understood; even someone as slow as him could understand when pictures had laid it out for him. This was the home of his family.

"Uzushiogakure…" he said softly.

The site of the wreckage that was once the cornerstone of the Uzumaki clan several years before he was born had left an immediate feeling of powerlessness in the young boy.

"Konoha tried to save them but was too late…Suna was probably holding them off while Iwa and Kumo…So that's why we have a strained relationship with Suna..."

Naruto remained silent and looked over to the source of the rushing water to see a whirlpool increasing in size to his right. He walked towards it, but stopped when he saw markings on the ground beneath him. The young boy soon figured out that this was a portion of a bigger seal after recognizing some of the symbols. He could not tell what kind of seal it was, but he noticed that the arrays were pointing towards a central point, like all seals do. The fact that it was still active meant that there was some source of chakra present. Naruto immediately formed approximately 20 Kage Bunshin.

"Search." he said, knowing that his clones knew exactly what he was looking for. They silently nodded and went their own ways, cleaning up the rubble expediently. Naruto's knowledge of construction work absolutely came in handy, as the clones teamed up to move larger objects. Hinata looked at the stone-faced boy that she loved, her heart breaking at realizing what he was going through. It must have been as if he was feeling the despair of everyone that had died here. She did not want him to feel alone. The girl squeezed his hand, drawing his attention to her unwavering eyes. The boy's expression eventually cracked to one of immense sadness and he merely looked down, unable to shed tears for the people that he did not know, but apologetic for their plight. Hinata had never seen him like this, even when he was at his loneliest. She gripped the back of his neck, and pulled, forcing him forward into her waiting embrace. The girl felt his hesitant arms become resolutely attached to her waist, causing her to blush at the intimacy. But she was somewhat surprised when Naruto pushed her away. The boy smiled at her, wordlessly thanking her for her presence, but then turned away from her and observed his clones working diligently and quickly.

"Come on. Let's look around." Naruto said, not willing to dwell on the sadness of the moment any longer.

Hinata nodded and scanned the area with her all seeing eyes.

"This place is a little weird…It's as if I'm sensing the leftover chakra from the war, but that was almost 10 years before we were even born…" Hinata said with a hint of curiosity.

"Maybe it's all the seals." Naruto reasoned. "I don't understand what's powering them."

Suddenly, Naruto snapped his head toward the smoke cloud that his clone had created upon being destroyed.

"We've got trouble…" Naruto said, gritting his teeth and placing his hand on his Jinsei. All of his clones snapped to attention after realizing that they were being attacked and ran toward the smoke cloud.

Hinata stood in front of Naruto as he removed his smaller brush, knowing exactly what her role was in this temporary squad. Naruto had begun drawing a seal that he knew on his hand. He then stopped upon seeing the figure that had emerged from the smoke.

The figure was a male with striking purple eyes and long red hair, tied in a ponytail that was held together by a white bead. He wore distinct body armor that looked like it was befitting of a samurai from Tetsu no Link (Land of Iron). On top of it, he had a white haori that exposed his forearms, one of which was bandaged. The man had a line of black paint that stretched from his ear, through his eyes, and to the other ear. His ensemble was completed with a black hakama that was bound at his ankles. He didn't look too unlike Naruto, Hinata noticed immediately.

"Who are you and why have you come to these ruins?" he said with a calm voice.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" one of the clones sbouted.

"We don't know why we're here. My weapon transported us here." the original said with a loud voice and his hand outstretched, pointing the seal towards him.

The man's eyes widened and he relaxed.

"The Uzumaki live on…" he said with a laugh. "My apologies, Naruto. I too share your blood."

Naruto furrowed his brow and tried to read the strange man's face. Hinata, for once, was thankful that Naruto wasn't trusting of strangers, or she might have had to save him from a sticky trap.

"Were you the one that brought us here?" she said maintaining her stance.

"Indeed. Relax, young Hyuuga." the armored man said. "I am Uzumaki Seito. I was a child when these grounds were destroyed. I had returned here to harvest any documents that may have been left behind."

"Show me a seal of yours." Naruto asked. "Houjiji told me that an Uzumaki can perform our family jutsu without risk to themselves."

"Of course, well, the jutsu I used to get you here was an Uzumaki-based jutsu that can be used by any of us to channel chakra through our Jinsei and bring us here. I edited the seal to allow me to do that with any Uzumaki currently wielding an unsealed brush. It looks like you were the only one. This massive seal you see on the floor is the array required to activate the technique. And I'm sure your Hyuuga friend can see that the chakra coming from the seal is mine."

Naruto looked at Hinata and she nodded.

"Then why did we end up underground?" Naruto asked.

"Underground…?" he asked with a hand on his chin. "My guess would be that the Uzumaki designed a seal in that certain spot to move any Uzumaki that was using this seal to go back home to a safe location during the war. So they wouldn't be caught in a hairy situation."

"If you were here the whole time, why couldn't I see you?" Hinata asked.

"A simple chakra masking seal would do the trick for your eyes. And I also cloaked myself with a camouflage seal." he said, pointing to the seal on his bandaged forearm. "It beats other masking techniques, in my own opinion."

Naruto relaxed and cracked a smile.

"That does sound pretty cool." Naruto said as he ran over to where his clones were gathered.

After he was a few feet in front of him, he noticed that he was holding a Jinsei of his own and was certain that this was an Uzumaki.

"I assume that I took you two from Konoha since you have a Hyuuga with you." he said with a smile.

"Yeah. How do I get back to where I was?" Naruto asked.

"That's a good question. You know, Uzushiogakure and Konohagakure are not incredibly far off. How about I take you back personally after my business is done here."

Naruto folded his arms and closed his eyes in concentration.

"Wait, you used a seal without knowing how to reverse its effects?"

Seito put his hand behind his head and laughed. Hinata, who had caught up with Naruto a few seconds ago had stared at the man and realized that all Uzumaki must have the same grin.

"Yeah, I guess I did. Theoretically, someone else just needs to use the seal in Konoha to move you back." Anyway, the reason I had used the seal in the first place was to bring any surviving Uzumaki from the war to this place. They would be of great help. I've been here for three days with no luck."

"Well…that's because all the texts are in the Uzumaki district in Konoha. Everything that could be saved was sealed up and he took it with him." Naruto said.

Seito slapped himself on the forehead.

"Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"

"You don't seem to do a lot of thinking at all." Naruto said with a friend. Hinata merely looked at Naruto when he said that, finding it completely ironic that the most hard-headed boy in the village would accuse someone else of not thinking before acting.

"Perhaps you're right. Anyway, we should get going then."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the man again, wondering if it was safe to bring him to Konoha, but he couldn't find a reason as to why he wouldn't be. The man had stopped attacking the two the moment he realized that they meant no harm and he even offered to take them back to Konoha. Naruto looked at Hinata, who didn'tseem to have anything to say about the comment.

"Alright." Naruto confirmed.

"It's night, so we should probably camp and head out in the morning. But not here. I believe I speak for both of us when I say this is not the place that two of us should be sleeping in for now."

Naruto nodded.

"I'm glad you brought me here. I'm going to rebuild this place someday."

"I'll join you." Seito said with a confident smile. "Let's go. I know a place we can camp…" he began before recognizing a strange sight.

There we several individuals coming their way. Seito saw that they had purple ropes around their waists and odd grey pants with black spots. He counted five men that were holding kunai.

"These people, on the other hand, are imposters." Seito said, turning his Jinsei towards the intruders. He ran toward them, leaving Naruto and Hinata to decide what they should do. The two children looked toward each other and nodded.

Naruto created more clones and ran toward the rope-clad men. He noticed that Seito was far faster than he was, already reaching the two of the men before Naruto was even halfway. When Naruto arrived to the battlefield, he shot an elbow out toward the person coming at Seito from behind. He noticed the strange mark on the headband on the enemy ninja which looked like a note. The ninja recovered after the blow and shot a kick out at Naruto, which the boy expertly dodged, followed by a kunai. Seito, who was fighting nearby, shot a kunai of his own to protect Naruto. The blond was surprised that his kin was so aware of everything going on on the battlefield, but he supposed that that was due to experience. When he turned his attention, towards his opponent, he noticed that he had his hands clasped together.

"Oto Shuuha! (Sound Wave)" he shouted, shooting his hand toward Naruto.

Although Naruto didn't see anything, he heard a shrill sound growing louder. Instinctively, he dove to the floor and covered his ears. When the attack had finally reached him, he felt a sharp pain in both of his ears. The ninja that had fired the attack ran toward the prone boy only to be stopped by two clones. More came, followed by Seito, who had already defeated his opponent. The clones, even with their inexperience in their taijutsu, were able to do significant damage, but when Seito came, sailing through the air and twirling his Jinsei as if it were a staff, the battle swiftly ended. Naruto got up and found that he had difficulty balancing, but the more important thing was Hinata's safety. He looked around and realized that he had lost sight of her when he rushed forward into battle. He silently recalled that he had been faster than her and might have left her behind. The sight of her being carted off by two of the ninja shocked him out of his thoughts. In fact, he felt his body growing lighter as he prepared to give chase. Seito ran after the two ninja with incredible speed. But the red-haired Uzumaki did not expect Naruto to be at his side, nor did he expect the blond to pass him while flying through hand seals.

One of the ninja noticed the strangely speedy boy and turned around to stop him only to get passed by when he stopped. It was clear that the boy did not consider him a threat, something that angered the ninja greatly. But before he could do anything, Seito took advantage of him not paying attention and ended him with a swift strike to the neck with his brush. The clones had kept going on, in an attempt to catch up to their creator, but Seito knew how this would end after seeing Naruto's body glow with chakra, the sign that he had properly executed an Uzumaki fuinjutsu.

"Uzumaki Fuin: Wana no Hyaku Uzu (Trap of One-Hundred Whirlpools)!"

Naruto stopped and slammed his fist into the floor causing a seal to be generated from the center. The ninja suddenly stopped. He could feel his fear growing, but he had absolutely no idea what was going on. He felt like a hand had reached out and grabbed around his body. Seito and the other clones had also been under the effects of the seal, noticing that the array reached extremely far out; a testament to how much chakra he used. Naruto looked at the ninja that he trapped, feeling a strange rage come over him.

"Yes…Kill him! Kill him now!"

Naruto felt himself slipping into that strange rage as he ran forward, his glowing body slowly changing in hue from blue to red.

Seito frowned, not understanding what was going on, but the clones around him were dispelling with each second that passed. He began to channel his chakra and focused on breaking the chakra-based trap. Once he had been freed from the trap, after offering a silent prayer for understanding Uzumaki seals, he began swinging his brush around, striking the brush along the array and breaking it partially.

"Naruto!" Seito shouted at seeing the chakra begin to envelop the boy.

Naruto seemed to be in a different world, which began to frighten Seito slightly. He looked at the area of the array that he had erased and began to draw a new design over the seal. Naruto rose a clawed hand above his head, preparing to slice the heinous ninja in front of him, but found himself finding it more difficult for himself to move.

He turned around and noticed Seito with a blue aura around him and his hands in a seal.

"There are only a few seals that an Uzumaki can use that another Uzumaki cannot take control of." Seito said with a serious face. "But you must not have had the instruction to learn that yet."

Naruto growled at Seito. The older Uzumaki recognized that his eyes had turned color and he had grown fangs. Clearly, he was not himself, as he was about to attack the ninja holding Hinata.

The aforementioned girl had actually began to stir in the arms of the frozen ninja that had knocked her out and tried to make off with her. Slowly, she regained her bearings and, once she had her wits about her, her eyes snapped open and she quickly jabbed the arms of the man that was holding her. Upon breaking free from his loose grasp, she jumped off him and landed, facing him in her stance. However, she found that he was merely staring at her angrily instead of trying to attack her. Why wasn't he moving? On that note, why wasn't she able to move? Her body felt sluggish and she had actually felt herself becoming frozen in place.

Seito ran over to her and stood in front of her, staring at the ninja.

"Who are you and where do you hail from?" Seito said, threateningly. He pulled out a sword that was hidden behind his white jacket and immediately sliced the ninja's cheek. "I am usually patient. However, this case is different. I will not tolerate your desecration of these grounds. Speak!"

The shout made the ninja visibly shake.

"Oto…I come from Otogakure (Village Hidden in Sound)!" he said quickly.

Seito squinted his eyes and lowered his sword to the man's throat. Despite only being able to see his eyes through his head-mask, Seito could tell that he had frightened the man significantly.

"We were sent to these ruins to bring back anything we could find on the Uzumaki."

"You were sent by whom…?" Seito said.

Suddenly, a roar was heard from behind the man. The next thing that anybody knew, the Oto shinobi dropped to the floor; his head was severed cleanly off his shoulders by a vicious clawed hand that looked as if it was composed by chakra. Seito's eyes widened and he immediately dropped into a fighting stance. Naruto's immense, foreign chakra was leaking off him in waves, which ultimately broke the fuinjutsu entirely, freeing Hinata from the seal and cutting Seito's hold over the seal. The boy still seemed under the effects of the seal, not realizing that he had been freed from the invisible prison.

Hinata and Seito both stared at the boy, watching his form change, noticing that his skin was growing redder and three, menacing tails were swinging behind him. Seito immediately got to work. He swung his brush around, and dashed around Hinata, creating a circle. Then, he sheathed his brush and began flipping through multiple seals. He slammed his hand on the floor, causing an array to form and extend. The seal glowed blue, before turning black.

"Stay where you are." Seito said, talking to Hinata with urgency. She was in no rush to move, but strangely, she didn't feel the danger that Seito did.

He continued flipping through more seals and slammed his hands together. Seal arrays formed themselves on his hands, which he stuck out toward Naruto.

"Chakra Fuin! (Chakra Seal)" he shouted, channeling more chakra onto his hands.

The growling boy began making inhuman noises in response and it appeared as if his chakra was being disrupted. Seito felt sweat grow on his brow at the amount of focus that this was taking him. Hinata noticed that the red chakra was being absorbed by something on Naruto's back.

"Almost done…" Seito whispered. Naruto shot out a claw at Seito, which seemed to extend far beyond Naruto's wingspan, and hit some kind of invisible wall. The wall absorbed even more of his chakra, making Naruto resound his beastly wail.

A few seconds after the attack, Naruto lowered his stance and fell to the floor. After seeing that the boy was incapacitated, Seito took a knee and cut his chakra, deactivating all of his seals. Once he caught his breath, he walked over to the boy and checked on him. The experienced warrior lifted the boy and removed his jacket and shirt to find that he had been branded with a seal on his back, which begun. He saw Hinata looking over his shoulder with worry.

"I applied this seal to him when I ran over to you. Do not worry, he is fine. But tell me…" he said, turning fully to Hinata. "…Is this boy a jinchuuriki?"

Hinata looked down at the ground, wondering if she should divulge that information. But after she spotted the pool of blood near the separated head of the invading ninja, she nodded quickly, and proceeded to the contents of her stomach at a safe distance away. Seito turned his attention back to the boy. After putting his shirt back on and folding up his jacket so that he could lay on it, he flipped the boy over onto his back and lifted his shirt quickly to see a complicated, but familiar-looking seal.

"Shiki Fujiin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)!?" he thought to himself. "This is an Uzumaki technique…did a master of seals manage to make it to Konoha?"

Seito frowned and put his shirt back down. The boy began to wake up shortly after.

"Hello, Naruto." Seito said with a smile.

The boy responded with a groan and turned to his side to look at Seito. As his memories caught up with him, he jolted up with a start.

"Hinata!" he screamed.

The girl looked over at him from her position and ran over to him.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked.

Naruto grabbed his head and grit his teeth.

Seito noted that what was happening to Naruto must have been the bijuu within him reacting to the drastically reduced amount of chakra.

"Naruto. You need to listen to me." Seito said. "You lost control of whatever tailed beast that you contain."

"How do you…" he began, only to be interrupted by a hand.

"That seal will not contain that foul chakra for long. You are going to need to transfer that chakra into your body, or you may go into a rampage again when the seal wears out." Seito said, boring his purple eyes into Naruto.

"W-What? What rampage? What seal?!" Naruto said, noticeably disturbed. He looked around for the seal that the man was talking about, but could not find it.

"Do not worry about where this seal is. Listen. You must communicate with your bijuu at this point and harness this chakra. Think of it as a prize that both you and the tailed beast within you wants. He will most likely attempt to fight you for it. However, you must convince him to let you have it. Now, relax. This must be dealt with immediately."

Seito sat down in front of Naruto and crossed his legs.

"Sit like this. And give me a second to prepare. I have not practiced this seal at all." he said as he began to flip through seals.

Naruto was confused, but slowly got into the position that Seito had mentioned. The boy just stared at Seito.

Seito slammed his hand on the floor when done and a seal extended around the two Uzumaki.

"Souin no Fukou (Temple of Sorrow)." he whispered. "Naruto. I need you to focus. Has your tailed beast spoken to you before?"

"I…" Naruto whispered. "I think so. I remember him yelling at me when Hinata was getting kidnapped."

"That means you two already have a link. I need you to close your eyes and focus on communicating with them. The seal that I just used is one that links your consciousness and mine. When the state of your mind changes, I will be there with you."

"You can do that?"

"Yes, this was a seal that the Uzumaki used for interrogation of prisoners. But enough of that, close your eyes."

Naruto did so and waited.

"Focus…search your mind…"

Naruto did so, not knowing exactly what he was looking for, but after meditating for ten minutes, Naruto found himself growing deaf to the sound of raging whirlpools. Instead he heard the sound of a single water drop striking the floor.

Naruto opened his eyes, no longer feeling his soreness and looked around. He was a little shocked at not finding Seito anywhere. However, the most surprising thing was that he was no longer in Uzushio, but what appeared to be an extremely dark aqueduct or sewer. He looked around again, with the new information, and found that he was in the middle of a four way fork. That did not seem to throw the boy off, as he felt someone's presence coming from behind him. He followed that path, hearing only dripping water and his own footsteps. Within seconds, he could feel his feet sinking into water, as if he were going deeper into the proverbial muck. But he never sank fully under. The gigantic gate that made itself evident in front of him made him wish that he could cower.

The boy eyed his surroundings once again, noting that Seito had made it here before he did and was keeping a far distance away.

"Where are we?" Naruto asked.

"I can address that, brat."

Naruto jumped at the sudden, booming voice coming from the inside of the cage. A large presence made itself known to Naruto very slowly. But despite the massive size of the beast's face, Naruto found his eyes locked on the red orbs staring him down. Naruto could have sworn he felt himself further sinking into the dark waters at his feet, when in actuality, he had not moved.

"Your fear is understandable…If I weren't in this cage, I would have already torn you apart."

Naruto grit his teeth.

"I was just surprised at how huge you were! I'm not afraid of you. I'm not the one in a cage, after all." Naruto said.

The beast growled in response. He would not stoop to the child's level, but the comment did make him upset.

"So you're the Kyuubi." Seito said.

"And you're another Uzumaki. Your accursed clan has been directly and indirectly responsible for the imprisonment of bijuu for centuries." the beast said with noticeable anger.

"Wouldn't you just destroy everybody if you were allowed to be free?" Seito asked.

"Bah! Human ignorance." the Kyuubi leaned forward, making him appear even larger. "We are natural beings! Your feeble human existence practically mandates that you die after nearly a century, without our intervention. You merely prevent us from roaming and acting on our will. It was never our desire to harm humanity! But you are afraid of us…and so you lock us up in these cages…"

Naruto furrowed his brow.

"Then why did you destroy Konoha? I can't believe anything you say just because you killed all of those people." the blond said.

"How dare you?!" the Kyuubi yelled. "I have existed for thousands of your lifetimes. You don't have the place to doubt my word."

"All I've said was the truth." Naruto said, clenching his fists tighter. "You've lived inside me since my birth and you know what you've done to those people. They took it out on me daily, and, you know…"

Naruto stepped forward so that he was right in front of the cage. His feet no longer felt as if they were dragging through muck, but he was standing on top of it. The Kyuubi was slightly surprised that the blond held no fear.

"They're right for it." Naruto concluded, staring at the Kyuubi's red eyes.

"Your righteousness is a lie, boy." he said in a low, but threatening voice. "You hold hate within you. You want to lash out at them, just like you did with that ninja that threatened your teacher's life."

Naruto was silent as he looked into the dark cage. Suddenly, he saw another person in the cage. When it spoke, both Seito and Naruto recoiled.

"Of course." he said. "With all of the power and hatred we contain, why wouldn't he want to slaughter each and every one of those idiots?"

Footsteps could be heard coming from inside the cage. As he walked out of the cage, much to the surprise of both Uzumaki, the face of the fourth member of the conversation was revealed.

"Who are you?!" Naruto yelled.

"I am you." the boy with contrasting eyes spoke. "I am the you that you hide; your stronger, less restricted half."

Naruto was speechless after those comments. He laid his eyes on the doppelganger, who seemed to be far more relaxed than he was.

"Naruto, it's him." Seito said. "He's the one in control of the sealed chakra – the manifestation of the Kyuubi's evil and your own darkness."

Naruto looked at Seito and then back at his darker clone before getting into a fighting stance.

"Then I've gotta beat this guy to get that chakra." Naruto said, bringing his hands up into a seal.

"Naruto, wait!"

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!" Naruto yelled, creating seventy clones.

The evil Naruto smiled, and waved his hand, dispelling all of the clones immediately.

"Now, now, relax. I just want to talk. But if you're going to make this messy, then I'll just trap you in here and take your body for a joyride in Konoha." the corrupted boy said. "Perhaps I'll start with our girlfriend, hm?"

Naruto twitched at the emphasis, and felt himself growing angrier. The Kyuubi looked at him and smiled. Seito noted this and knew that he would have to intervene.

"Naruto! He's preying on your anger! Relax! We'll fight him together, but you need to be calm!"

The evil boy looked at Seito with a frown and red eyes.

"No you won't. Why don't you just get out of here?" he said, raising his hand and making a shooing motion.

Seito immediately vanished.

Naruto stared at the spot that Seito was.

"You don't have time to worry about him. You barely even know the guy! What you need to be worried about is what I'm going to do to all of those 'innocent people'. Come on, you know that even those closest to you talk behind your back about you, right? The people that are supposedly your allies would be glad to see you fall. That's how this world works!" the dark Naruto said with glee.

Naruto grit his teeth.

"Shut up!" Naruto said. The Kyuubi's eyes widened with happiness at seeing Naruto unconsciously draw on his chakra.

"I bet Uzushio fell because Konoha let them. Why don't we ask that old Hokage of ours before we kill him?"

Seito snapped back into his consciousness and looked at Naruto with immense worry. What had he just done? As he tried to look for a solution, he realized that this could potentially be the end of Naruto and everyone. But it could also be potentially gratuitous. If Naruto managed to beat his darker persona, he would be one step closer to being like the jinchuuriki who are able to communicate and share in the power of their bijuu.

Hinata looked at Seito wake up, and recalled that their consciousnesses were supposed to be linked. When he woke up, but Naruto didn't she started to worry. Seito looked at her and could only remain stoic at her helpless stare back toward him.

This battle was up to Naruto.

…

Or so it should have been.

Seito sensed that Naruto was drawing upon the foul energy that he had just sealed.

"No…" Seito whispered, as he watched the chakra leak from the seal that he applied and covered Naruto, bringing him into the state that he was in before. However, Naruto did not move.

"He must be fighting, right now." Seito said to Hinata. "But if he keeps drawing on the chakra, he is going to lose control of himself; he will become the Kyuubi completely."

Naruto laid on his stomach, unmoving after he had been harshly beaten by his dark form. Both of the boys had three chakra tails flowing behind them, however, only one of them looked like they would come out of this match alive.

The dark Naruto had a grin, confidently folding his arms and staring down at his more pure half. The nearly defeated Uzumaki looked up at his manifested evil and felt helpless and hopeless. How long have they been fighting? It must have been 30 minutes, but it could have been 1 minute, 1 hour or 1 day.

"You done?" dark Naruto asked.

"How…How are you so in control?" Naruto responded.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Actually, I'll tell you. Kyuubi here is not as mean as you think. He'll work with you, so long as you let him have his fun whenever he wants and let him use your body."

"Like hell!" Naruto said, getting up.

"But, you're already doing it…Look at you. Did you ever notice your form? The claws and fangs that I have are the same ones you have. Doesn't all that power feel wonderful?"

Naruto looked at his hands, realizing just what was happening. The two boys had amassed the same level of power and he was forcing Naruto to draw onto more. He wouldn't have any chance at this rate, because this guy clearly had full control of the Kyuubi's power. So then what would happen if he took the Kyuubi out of the equation?

Naruto breathed slowly, calming himself, and feeling the hatred of the Kyuubi subside.

"Well, well, it looks like you figured something out for once...But you still can't beat me." the evil Naruto taunted.

Naruto stared at him, analyzing his opponent. After fighting him for so long, it was extremely clear that he couldn't win this fight. Everything that he threw at the evil copy was countered. And it seemed like his opponent only wanted one thing – for him to submit to the Kyuubi. But why?

"I am the you that you hide; your stronger, less restricted half."

Naruto's eyes widened. He realized that it wasn't true. They were on an even playing field. That's why he wasn't dead yet. The only reason that this evil persona hadn't killed him yet, despite his ample opportunities was…

"You need me…" Naruto whispered.

The dark Naruto twitched, but then smiled. However, it was too late – Naruto had already seen the loss of composure. He stared at the red-eyed boy with his now blue-eyes.

"Hah! Why would I ever need you?"

"I'm in control." Naruto said with a growing smirk. "You want to make me you, not take over my body."

The dark Naruto became angrier.

"You might be a part of me that I would rather hide, but I hide you because you're bad. I don't believe that the world needs more hatred."

"N-No!" the evil persona said with resistance. "You'll never control the power of the Kyuubi without harnessing your own hatred!"

"Then I don't need his stupid power." Naruto said with his trademarked determination empowering his words.

Suddenly, the chakra of the persona began to leak.

"Stop! You're making a mistake by rejecting the Kyuubi! You can't run from your hate."

Naruto remained silent and watched his evil side practically disintegrate.

"I'm not running from it." he said as he walked toward him. Once he reached him, he extended his arms and wrapped them around the evil boy.

"I accept it." he finished.

The dark Naruto's eyes widened as he was held by his counterpart. Naruto's resolve was proven by his action, leaving no more room for argument. The red-eyed boy could not help but grin as tears fell down his face. He would no longer be hidden, as if he was an embarrassment. Instead, he would fight alongside Naruto, making both of them even stronger. With that thought, he vanished. The chakra that composed the being flowed into Naruto, but the boy did not feel as if he was being filled with hatred like before. Instead, he felt overwhelming strength. The power flowed through him, filling every corner of his body until it overflowed. The blond was slightly shocked upon seeing that his body was ignited with chakra, turning his entire form a golden yellow. But just as quickly as it appeared, it left him. The Uzumaki was dumbfounded with regards to what just happened, but he remembered where he was, and looked into the cage to see the Kyuubi silently watching him. Naruto looked at him with the same determination that he had before.

"You saw me conquer my hatred. And if you won't change, then I'm coming after the hatred that's inside you too."

The Kyuubi slowly stopped bearing his teeth and grinned.

"And what makes you think that you can do that?"

Naruto turned around on his heel and immediately started walking away. But before he was out of sight, he turned his head to look at his tenant.

"Don't underestimate me." Naruto said with a seriousness that could shake even the most seasoned warrior. Indeed, the Kyuubi found himself slightly speechless at the courage that this boy showed. As the boy left and the nine-tailed fox lied down and closed his eyes, mulling over the events that just transpired. He could not help but think of his previous captor.

A nagging voice tugged at his mind. The hate-filled creature did not want to listen to it, but he could not help but heed its words and even agree with it.

"It's not enough to just say it. Prove it. Show me that you are different than the rest of them."

The blond boy jolted upward, looking around feverishly. He noticed that he was no longer in Uzushio, but a bed. Not only that, the surroundings looked a lot like his room in Konoha. As his mind caught up to his vision, he realized that he had ended up back in his room.

"What…?" Naruto said, silently.

He noticed his Jinsei to the side and, after sitting and thinking about it for 5 minutes, he realized that he must have been brought back by Houji using the same transportation fuinjutsu that Seito used. He quickly hopped out of bed, not even noticing that the soreness that he felt before was completely gone, and cleaned himself up. After handling his hygiene, he stopped at the stairs. He heard two individuals speaking.

"I see...Although, I cannot control Hinata's movements to and from school once she becomes a ninja and official adult, I wonder if I can ask you for a favor."

Naruto recognized this voice as Hyuuga Hiashi's.

"Of course."

And that one was clearly Houji.

"I wish for Naruto to become Hinata's guardian."

Naruto squinted his eyes.

"I believe you would be hard-pressed to find him not wanting to be. Hoh!" Houji said with a chuckle. "Perhaps you should tell him what his duties include personally."

Hiashi looked toward the stairs, knowing that Naruto was already there.

"You could use improvement on your stealth, Naruto." Hiashi said.

Naruto's spine stiffened at the tone that Hiashi used to address him and slowly walked down the stairs. Upon seeing Hiashi's usual stern face, Naruto felt himself beginning to sweat.

"He's definitely mad that I put Hinata in danger…I'm so dead." he thought.

"Please, have a seat. We have business to discuss." Hiashi said, motioning toward the open chair at the head of the table.

When Naruto took the seat, he felt like he was in some kind of good cop-bad cop interrogation with one of the most prestigious clan heads looking at him without emotion, and a brand new clan head smiling at him.

"I have heard of your small adventure last night after Hinata had returned home after her curfew in various cuts and bruises." Hiashi said, interlocking his fingers in front of his face and staring at Naruto, making him even more nervous.

"However, you handled the situation extraordinarily according to what I heard from the other Uzumaki that was with you…"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly.

"S-Seito is in Konoha?" he said.

"Indeed. Both of you and my daughter returned here together." Hiashi informed.

"Seito is resting in another one of the houses. Good job on finding another Uzumaki, Naruto! He was more than willing to stay here after being offered a position in the Anbu last night. He will be leaving later in the day to bring his parents here from Tetsu no Kuni (The Land of Iron). It appears that he had escaped the destruction of Uzushio and fled all the way to Tetsu. I'm surprised that the samurai allowed him to stay, but, now that he has a home, he figured that it was time to thank the samurai for their patronage and depart."

Hiashi cleared his throat.

"There is business that I must discuss with you. Seito had mentioned one thing in particular about last night. The ninja that you had fought were allied with Otogakure…" Hiashi said.

Naruto remained silent. He couldn't really remember who he was fighting last night. He supposed that he didn't really care when he was enraged.

"Otogakure is led by one of the vilest shinobi on this planet, Orochimaru. I hear that those ninja tried to kidnap Hinata, but you stopped them. You must understand. Those were most likely Jounin level ninja. Someone of your level should not have been able to defeat them. Of course, I assumed that Uzumaki Seito was the one who dealt with them. Yet he fervently disagreed, saying that you rushed forward and dealt that final blow. And it is because of this that I wish you ask you something very important." Hiashi said, taking a deep breath.

"I want to make the newly-established Uzumaki clan and the Hyuuga clan allies, starting today."

Naruto looked at Hiashi blankly. The man sighed, realizing that he forgot that Naruto had no political training whatsoever and didn't know what that means.

"It means that I intend for us to work together. To this effect, I wish to ask you if you would be willing to watch over Hinata and make sure that she remains safe."

"Of course I will." Naruto said without hesitation.

"Good." Hiashi stood up. "I will bring Hinata here where she will live with you for a week. She will report to the Hyuuga compound if anything…unsatisfactory happens. And if her stay is what we expect, we may take you under the care of the Hyuuga for a small time as well."

Naruto nodded and Hiashi walked himself to the door. The Hyuuga leader looked at the two before opening it.

"Congratulations on entering the Village Clan Registry." he said. "I have no doubt that, with the news of the Uzumaki returning to form in Konoha, others will eventually find their way here and your clan will flourish."

With that said, he opened the door, and closed it behind him. Houji laid his head on his hand and watched Naruto, counting down in his head from 3 to 0.

"Eh? Ehhh?!" Naruto exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table. Hiashi, who had remained outside the door, smirked before walking away.

"Hinata's living here?!"

Houji raised his hands to settle Naruto down.

"Relax, Naruto. I know you must be excited, but…"

"Excited?!" Naruto yelled. "I'm terrified! How did Hiashi get permission to send Hinata here for…who knows how long?! And why do I feel like every Hyuuga I see is going to want to kill me?!"

Houji chuckled.

"Naruto…This is a political gesture, nothing more than that. When the Hyuuga want Hinata to return to them, she will. This is a matter of trust. The Hyuuga might just be impressed that you and Seito were able to stop five jounin. But they might also want the power that you used…" Houji ended, looking at the boy with a serious expression.

"You had to use the power of the Kyuubi, didn't you?" he asked.

Naruto calmed down slowly and then nodded slowly. Naruto told him the entire story of how he couldn't remember anything after seeing Hinata being taken away and how he had managed to wrestle the portion of chakra that he used away from his hate-filled persona, who was under the influence of the Kyuubi. Houji digested the information and then came to a realization.

"So that is why you were unconscious when you were transported back to Konoha…" Houji said, stroking his chin.

Suddenly, he looked up.

"You have the Kyuubi's chakra running through you right now…That beast doesn't have ownership of that chakra anymore. You should be able to use it however you want!" Houji said, clapping his hands together once and smiling. "That could come in handy for some advanced seals in the future."

Naruto folded his arms and appeared to think deeply.

"But I don't feel any different…" Naruto said.

"That's probably because you don't have any kind of chakra control. It doesn't make a difference if you have access to the Kyuubi's chakra if you can't differentiate between its chakra and your own. You would probably end up accidentally burning through the Kyuubi's chakra if you managed to call upon it in a fight. Unfortunately, I am not the one that can teach you that kind of thing. Perhaps you will find a teacher for that sometime later."

Houji's face slowly went from one of happiness to pity.

"How did you feel? Going to Uzushiogakure's ruins?"

Naruto's face fell into one of silent recollection. That told Houji everything that he needed to know. After all, he had experienced the destruction of his home first-hand. He had felt helpless and weak. The elder got up and hugged his foster son, hoping to ward off those demons.

"We will rebuild. We're already bringing the Uzumaki back to Konoha. You have helped with that by bringing Seito here. Any Uzumaki that he knows will come here too. You heard what Hiashi said. So long as we're here, the Uzumaki will flourish once again." he said, looking into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto looked at him and nodded.

"I have already prepared breakfast. Go find Seito afterwards. He said that he wanted to speak with you."

Naruto looked over to the kitchen and noticed a warm bowl of rice with some soup and fish. With very little thought, he walked over and began to consume the food. Despite the now, awkward mood that surrounded the boy, as his thoughts drifted to being able to spend time with Hinata, he felt his mood improving. He was shocked that it had only taken 3 months for his life to change so drastically. He had even seen combat, although he didn't really do much. At least, he didn't think so. Now that his mind was on it, he wondered exactly why he couldn't remember anything after seeing Hinata kidnapped. He knew that he must have tapped into the power of the Kyuubi though. Perhaps he flew into some kind of blind rage, or maybe something happened that made him forget. Oh well…he just didn't know enough right now. And he doubted that his nine-tailed "friend" would be willing to talk to him about it. He didn't think he could just keep zapping in and out of consciousness either to talk to him all the time either.

Naruto ruffled his already unruly hair. There was just too much an 11 year old to think about. His meal had long since been completed, so he hopped out of the chair and ran past Houji on his way out.

"Naruto. There is no need to rush. I have already sent a message to your teacher. You'll be in tomorrow, but take today to train. Make more clones, there is still work to be done."

"Alright!" Naruto said with a smile, as he ran outside.

The sun hit his face immediately. When his eyes adjusted, he made his most trademark hand sign and summoned 50 clones. He looked around and noticed that a house was in mid-construction. He assigned 10 clones to that house. Next, he noticed a far larger building. He closed his eyes and tried to recall what Houji was using that building for.

His eyes opened when he recalled.

"Mask Shrine!" he said.

Houji had told him a story about the masks that the Uzumaki applied seals to in order to make battle expedient among teams. Houji had taken him to the dilapidated mask shrine that existed in Konoha and had even watched him ward off the barrier seals that prevented the masks from being removed from the shrine. Now, those masks needed a new shrine.

He pointed to 20 clones and ushered them toward the almost built temple. He then dispersed the rest of them to do whatever jobs needed to be done. Given that they didn't have orders, they seem to run around until one of them found a job, and the rest of them gathered around that particular clone. It was as if they were ants, except they actually enjoyed their job. More often than not, one could hear a chorus of humming by one group if they were close enough.

The original Naruto heard a door opening next to the one he ran out of and saw Seito looking around at the incredible number of Narutos.

Naruto waved and yelled over to him, forcing his gaze to lock onto the young boy that he assumed was the original. He walked over to him and took a knee to look at the boy at eye level.

"How are you feeling?" Seito asked.

"I feel great!" Naruto asked with his trademark smile.

"Good." Seito said with a smile. "Listen. I am going to be traveling to Tetsu no Kuni to bring my family back. I'm sure they would be thrilled to know that the Uzumaki are reuniting. They might have connections with other Uzumaki as well. Your family is about to get much larger."

Naruto couldn't help but smile even more at that. As far as Seito understood, Naruto had been an orphan for eleven years, until he met Houji. It would only be a good thing to reunite this boy with his family. As far as Seito had seen, after sharing a battle with Naruto, this boy had immense talent, which made him believe that the blond would grow up to eventually lead this clan into, perhaps, one of its greatest eras.

"Yeah. Alright! Promise when you come back, you'll teach me how to use my Jinsei like a sword?" Naruto said, swinging an imaginary sword around.

"Maybe. Maybe." Seito said, reveling in Naruto's pout. He was mostly kidding. He would love to teach Naruto the taijutsu that came with the Uzumaki's special weapon.

"Teach me something cool, at least." Naruto asked.

"Alright. But you will have to promise to call me 'nii-chan'." Seito said with a smile.

"Is that all? No problem, Seito-nii!" Naruto said with his foxy grin.

Seito ruffled Naruto's hair and reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper.

"Channel your chakra into this." he said, handing Naruto the strip of paper. The paper had a seal present on it. He could tell that it was an Uzumaki seal.

Naruto didn't quite understand where this was going, but he trusted Seito's judgment. He grabbed the paper and channeled his chakra into it. A symbol appeared on the perimeter of the present seal. Seito took out another piece and channeled his own chakra into it.

"Did you know that Uzumaki typically fight in teams of 2?"

"Yes." Naruto said.

"Those teams were usually determined with this method. Notice that the design of this seal." he said, pointing to his piece of paper. The outsides of the seal with pointing outward.

"All of the Uzumaki are able to use all Uzumaki seals, but, because there are so many seals, Uzumaki prefer to see which kind of seals they should focus on. The categories are offensive seals, transportation seals, barrier seals, and support seals. There can be a mixture of types, but it has only ever been possible for two types to be mixed. I have a high affinity for offensive seals…but it looks like you can use both barrier and transportation seals."

The seal on Naruto's paper had a circle surrounding the entire seal, but upon closer inspection, the circle appeared to be drawn with arrows.

"Where does fuinjutsu end…?" Naruto asked himself, bewildered by the reach of fuinjutsu.

"We don't know. That's the best part to us Uzumaki. And it's the nightmare of our enemies." Seito said with a smile. "Have you learned any Sekisho Jutsu (Barrier Techniques)? How about Yusou Jutsu (Transportation Techniques)?"

"I know the Sekisho Sannin (Three-Man Barrier), but that's it." Naruto said.

"Ah. So you have the basic barrier down, but it requires too much setup. It's good for you to realize the weakness in Barrier Techniques. You need time. But here's where the benefit in being a mixed type seal user comes in. Your affinity for Transportation Techniques will allow you to avoid and engage in a lot of different techniques. I'm afraid that, even if I gave you a way to think about how to combine the two, it wouldn't help you. You need to come up with uses on your own. Instead, I'll give you a basic Transportation Technique."

Seito handed Naruto a scroll.

"That contains the Yusuo Kawarimi (Transportation Substitution). Almost all Uzumaki use this one. It works similarly to an ordinary Substitution Technique, but instead of you being replaced by a nearby object, you are replaced by an object which has the seal inside that scroll on it. This one uses this hand-sign." Seito said as he grabbed one of his wrists with three of his fingers, sticking his index and middle fingers upward, like an ordinary half-ram hand sign. With the other hand, he stuck up only one finger with his palm facing Naruto.

"I'm sure you're already thinking about ways it can be useful. Practice it while I am gone. I should be back in three weeks." Seito said, fully expecting Naruto to not be able to master these techniques that quickly.

"I'll do it!" Naruto said, putting the scroll into his pocket. He punched his open palm and grinned at Seito. "You better have more techniques for me when you come back, Seito-nii."

"Yes, yes. Let's see how far you get with this one." Seito said, standing up and departing.

Naruto put his hands behind his head. The smile had not left his face as he thought about the fact that he was missing school today. He thought that, if he was, then Hinata might have been at home too.

"I think I'll see how she's doing…and see what she thinks about staying over for a week." Naruto said to himself as he began to walk out of the Uzumaki Compound and into the village.

Little did he know that the Uzumaki Clan's inductance into the Village Clan Registry would result in an unbelievable turn of events.

~CHAPTER END~

A/N: I am planning on editing my personal story, which is currently on fictionpress. Sutori no Densetsu, next. And I will also be writing another story on fictionpress. a romance called Shooting Star. I hope that, when they're done, you will support me there too. Please review! I am reading all of them and they inevitably make the story better in the end! Thanks, readers.