"It's as good as it's going to get within our lifetimes," a tall, burly man with long red hair pulled back in a ponytail announced to the group gathered before him. "All we can do now is hope that everything goes right, because if it doesn't…"

"Don't worry Kenji, everything will be fine," a strikingly beautiful woman with green eyes and crimson hair replied. "Besides, I'm the one it's going to effect."

"I know, Yuko. It's just…" he trailed off.

"I understand, Kenji. But this is something we must do."

Deep beneath the ruins of Uzushiogakure, an inordinately complex seal lit up with an intensity to rival the sun. As the glow died down, a child was revealed standing on the seal. Carefully, cautiously she examined her hands, as if ensuring that they really existed. Slowly, she lifted her head, taking in the room she was in for the first time.

The first thing she noticed were the scrolls. Hundreds upon hundreds upon thousands of scrolls of every size were carefully placed on sealed shelves, covering nearly every surface in the room. In the corner was a nearly empty desk, save for a sealed inkwell, an aged brush, and a sheaf of papers. Behind the desk stood a mirror, its dusty frame reflecting a blurred image.

Dust. It was everywhere, in some places more than an inch thick. Slowly flipping through hand seals, the girl spoke in an unsteady voice. "Wind release: Filter." Taking a deep breath, she approached the desk. Brushing a hand across the paper, she realized it was a journal or diary of some sort.

Sixty-seven years after Warring States Era

I fear that this is the end for us. Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo, united by their fear of what the Uzumaki are capable of, signed a treaty of some sort and sent their forces against us. We sent a request for aid from Konohagakure, but the distance is great, far too great for reinforcements to arrive in time.

This is the final entry. I shall charge our safeguards one final time before I too march to death. If anyone finds this room, then you are of Uzumaki blood, and this is your heritage. Treat it well.

Uzumaki Kenji,
Nidaime Uzukage

The child looked around once more, taking in the sight of the countless dust coated scrolls. Shaking her head, she turned towards a bare wall with a spiral carved into it. With a swift bite, she drew blood from her thumb and swept it across the spiral. With a hiss and a dull red glow, the wall disappeared, revealing a set of stairs going up. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she moved forwards, stepping into the outside world and into the ruins of Uzu.

She thought she was ready. She had gone into the seal knowing that by the time she came out, everyone she knew would be dead. When she came out, she held on to the hope that she had merely been forgotten. The journal on the desk had clearly indicated otherwise, though, and so she had prepared to see desolation.

She hadn't prepared enough.

As her eyes wandered over the crumbling ruins, she felt tears streak down her face. The sky, as if in a blatant mockery of the tragedy that had taken place, was bright and sunny, the breeze soft and calming.

Funny, she thought. I would prefer if it was storming. Slowly, she picked her way through the ruins, her home both familiar and strange to her at the same time. Sixty-seven years after the WSE, and the seal lasts for about a decade and a half from full charge. I was sealed at sixty years after, so I've been sealed for around twenty years.

"It's amazing how much can change in a handful of years," she muttered to herself. Idly, she wondered how her niece was doing. To her, it felt as if she'd seen her yesterday, but to her sister, it would be decades by now.

Decision made, she turned westward.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, rubbed his temples. He could practically feel the coming headache. It wasn't every day that a young girl claiming to be the Sandaime Uzukage showed up practically on your doorstep, requesting a meeting with a woman who died a dozen years ago. Sighing, he stood up, both pleased and displeased. Pleased, because there was a distraction from the neverending enemy of all Kages, paperwork. Displeased, as this meant that the paperwork would pile up.

Resigning himself to a trip down to the gates, Hiruzen signalled for his ANBU to follow him as he left the Hokage Tower. Walking down the stairs, he passed an overly energetic blonde who was clearly on his way up the tower.

"Hey Old Man!" the blonde, Naruto, shouted at the top of his lungs. From right next to the Hokage. "Where're ya goin'?"

Hiruzen mentally groaned. Of course the exuberant blonde would be here, the one time he didn't want to see him. "I have a meeting, Naruto. We can talk later, but not right now because this meeting is important."

"C'mon Old Man," Naruto whined. "Who're ya talkin' to? Can't be that important, can they?"

"They are claiming to be the Sandaime Uzukage," Hiruzen stated as they walked.

"Uzukage?" the boy asked. "Is that like Hokage?"

Hiruzen chuckled. "In a way. As the Hokage leads the Konoha, the Uzukage led Uzushio."

"Led? What do you mean by that?" the blonde asked, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"I mean exactly that, Naruto. Uzushio is no more. It was destroyed near the end of the Second Shinobi War, which you would know if you paid attention in class."

"Umm. 'Ruka-sensei never said anythin' 'bout Uzushio, Old Man. Second War, lotsa stuff. Lotsa interestin' stuff, actually, but nothin' 'bout Uzushio," Naruto stated.

"Are you sure?" Hiruzen asked somewhat sharply. If that damn council messed with the academy curriculum again…

"Yeah. 'Ruka-sensei made sure that I went to class when we were talkin' about the second war. We talked 'lotta 'bout the White Fang and his disgrace, and lots about tactics. Nothin' about Uzushio. I'da remembered, 'Ruka-sensei quizzed me every day. Not sure why."

Hiruzen groaned. "The fall of Uzushiogakure was our greatest failure," he said. "Why don't you look it up in the library while I have this meeting?"

"Can't," the boy said, staring at his feet. "Lady won't let me inside. Says I don't deserve to go in." Hiruzen growled.

"Cat," he called. An ANBU with a pale mask painted like a cat appeared. "Take Naruto to the library. I want it made absolutely clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is to be allowed inside."

Cat bowed, placed a hand on the boys shoulder and directed him away from the Hokage. Hiruzen let out a sigh, feeling somewhat guilty that he had directed the boy away from him. However, he felt that the boy was not ready to learn of his lineage, which he was sure would come up at some point in the meeting.

Hiruzen waited for Cat and Naruto to disappear before proceeding towards the gate, flanked by three ANBU. When he arrived, it was to a highly intriguing sight. Izumo and Kotetsu, the eternal gate guards, were standing in front of a redheaded girl who looked to be about Naruto's age.

"Would someone like to tell me exactly why I've been forced to leave my office to deal with a complication at the gate?" Hiruzen asked, feigning a sternness he didn't feel, nor want to feel.

"Ah, well, Hokage-sama," Izumo started. "We weren't sure what to do, because she claims to be the Sandaime Uzukage."

"The problem with that is," Kotetsu picked up where Izumo left off, "we don't know who the Uzukage is. So we can neither prove or disprove her claims, and she doesn't have the proper papers."

The Hokage sighed. More paperwork to deal with later. Turning his attention to the girl, he addressed her, ignoring the two gate chunin. "Alright. Start from the beginning, if that's possible."

She looked up at him with startlingly green eyes, her mouth opening to speak before her eyes widened. "Hiruzen… Is that you?"

Something in her voice was vaguely familiar, reminiscent of a time long ago. He tried to put his finger on it, but he couldn't quite. Setting it aside for now, he answered. "I don't believe we've met before, but yes, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage."

Her response was not what he expected. "So good ole Tobi gave you the hat, did he? Fancy that. Kenji always said that it would go to you. Since you introduced yourself, allow me the same. I am Uzumaki Yuko, student of the Nidaime Uzukage Uzumaki Kenji. I am the crowning achievement of the Uzumaki Clan, and by extension, Uzushiogakure."

Hiruzen's jaw dropped. "Y… Yuko?" he unsteadily asked. "What happened to you? How did you survive the fall of Uzushiogakure?"

"Remember the last time we met, when I told you we would likely not see eachother again?" Yuko asked. Hiruzen nodded. "I mentioned a highly classified mission then. That mission was that I would become a failsafe for the Uzumaki - a repository of all our knowledge and a genetic backup, should things go wrong."

"Suffice it to say that my mission was a success. Unfortunately, because I am here before you, it was a necessary success. I was sealed away within some of the most complex seals the Uzumaki ever designed, to be released only if the Uzumaki were to fall. What year is it, by the way?"

"About one-hundred post WSE."

"Holy shit. Kenji must've overloaded the seal…" Yuko muttered to herself. "Would have caused a chakra overload in the reservoir, resulting in spillout into the stasis seal, which would have caused a reversal… which would explain… holy shit."

"What?" Hiruzen asked.

"Kenji actually managed to reverse the flow of time in a localized area by overloading a stasis seal. Or, more accurately, he reversed time on the extradimensional level."

"What do you mean?" the Hokage asked, albeit warily.

"Where does a kunai go when you seal it?" Yuko started. "It goes into a seal. But what does it mean to go into the seal? The seal has no volume, no substance."

"That… has never been a question I've looked into," the Hokage replied.

"It's been one that we, the Uzumaki, looked into. Apparently, one of the reasons that stable seals are so complicated is because they mess with dimensional fluctuations. A storage seal literally takes an item and, with an influx of energy, turns the items mass into energy, transfers the energy into another 'localized' dimension and turns it back into mass. That's why if you try to seal something living it dies."

"However, we figured out a way to seal a living organism. Instead of transferring the mass into energy and transferring it back, we created an entirely new dimension with an intricate seal array already set up on the other side, allowing us to teleport something between dimensions without deconstructing it on either end. It was incredibly complicated."

"So we figured out how to seal a living organism, and bring it back alive. The problem was, that was basically very similar to that technique that Tobi came up with as a proof of concept. Y'know, that teleporting one, don't remember what he called it."

"Hiraishin," Hiruzen offered.

"Yeah, hiraishin. Only, we'd caused it to work on an extra-dimensional scale. But that caused problems with time fluctuations in the other dimension. I don't know if you know this or not, but gravity and time are related to eachother. The stronger the force of gravity is, the slower time flows. This caused a significant disparity with our test subjects, because we could never get the gravity forces synchronized. Eventually, we came up with the idea of adding a stasis clause to the gravity clause… I'm rambling. Shit."

She took a deep breath. "Long story short, it seems like Kenji overloaded the stasis field, resulting in time flowing backwards relative to our dimension. So I grew younger. Damnit. I'm going to have to learn how to use a preteens body… FUCK!" she shouted, causing Hiruzen to jump in alarm.

"What?" Hiruzen asked, concerned for his old friend who had become young.

"I'm… going to go through puberty. Again."

Hiruzen stifled a laugh.

"And that is the current political situation of the world, as best as we know," Hiruzen finished with a sigh.

"I see," Yuko stated. "Then, seeing as Uzushiogakure is no more and the Uzumaki have scattered, I formally request to be permitted to join the ranks of Konoha."

"Where would you rate your skills?" the Hokage asked curiously.

"I was slated to be the Sandaime Uzukage before I was sealed. I was fully grown then, though, and I am… unused to the body of a… twelve year old. I appear to be twelve, correct?"

Hiruzen nodded. "I'd say so, yes."

"Very well. My knowledge and battle experience would normally put me at jounin level, but due to my current situation, I think I would hardly rate a chuunin. Also, I feel that I would like to meet people my 'own' physical age as well as my mental age. Tell me, is my niece still here?"

"Your niece?"

"Yes. Kushina. I believe Mito-sama requested for her to be sent here."

Hiruzen sighed. This was going to be regrettable. He steepled his fingers in front of his face before opening his mouth. "As the Sandaime Uzukage, I'm sure you know the reason that Kushina left Uzushio, yes?"

Yuko nodded, so he continued. "Unfortunately, twelve years ago, the Kyuubi somehow escaped from Kushina's seal while she went into labor. What I'm about to tell you is an S-Ranked secret, and revealing it is punishable by death." Another nod.

"Her husband, Namikaze Minato and the Yondaime Hokage sealed the fox into their newborn son, Naruto, using the Reaper Death Seal." He idly noted Yuko stiffening at the mention of that seal. "Unfortunately, she did not survive that night."

"And the boy grew up alone. Strange, I would be around his age. Does the boy know?" she asked.

Silence reigned in the office. "I take that as a 'no.' Does he know about his lineage?" Another period of silence. "I assume you have plans to tell Naruto when he's capable of defending himself, then. Does he know you know, or does he think that no one knows?"

"He knows I know. It bothers him," Hiruzen stated sadly.

"Very well then. Naruto now has a relative. Cousin would be preferable. I will look after him."

Hiruzen nodded and wrote down an address. "This is where his apartment is. He has an obsession with ramen, just so you know."

"Of course he does," Yuko said as she raised an eyebrow. "He's an Uzumaki, is he not? Is there a training ground I would have access to, by the way? I would prefer to hone my skills in private, at least to prevent embarrassment."

"You can use my personal training ground. It's behind the monument. I'm sure you have some taijutsu katas to reacquaint yourself with, as well as the musculoskeletal structure of a twelve year old."

"Of course. Have fun with your paperwork, Hiruzen." She stood and bowed, before walking towards the door. "A tip, from one Kage to another. Were I you, I would simply use a shadow clone to get through it."

There was a thunk as she reached the door. Holding back a smirk, Yuko turned around and was greeted with the sight of the Hokage banging his head on his desk. Repeatedly. With a click, she closed the door behind her as she left, humming a happy tune to herself. It was when she finally exited the tower that she let a satisfied smirk climb onto her face.

Maito Gai was doing his morning thousand laps around Konoha when he came across a strange sight that seemed vaguely familiar. A girl with red hair going through a series of kata that he very distinctly recognized as Kushina-sans. Curiosity piqued, he approached the girl as she went through the kata.

She appeared to be around the same age as his own genin team, perhaps slightly younger. He had never seen her before, but given that she was going through a kata, he assumed she was an academy student.

"I did not know that there was anyone left who know the Tempest Fist," Gai said as he approached, uncharacteristically serious.

"It was the primary taijutsu style of the Uzumaki Clan, before the fall of Uzushiogakure," the girl replied. "From your appearance, you must be Maito Gai, yes?"

"It appears that I am at a disadvantage," Gai stated. "You know me, but I do not know you."

"Uzumaki Yuko, once the Sandaime Uzukage." She spoke with such a serious tone that Gai didn't even question it until he had already nodded.

"So what brings the Uzukage to Konoha?" Gai asked. It's not every day you run into a Kage who's only a dozen years old.

"Near the end of the Second War, the Uzumaki designed a seal to act as a failsafe, should anything happen to the clan or the village, in order to protect the secrets of the clan. Techniques, styles, and above all, our knowledge of seals. As a result of that plan, I was placed in a seal, to be brought out if the chakra in the seal depleted. There was a complication, and I was de-aged by what seems to be fifteen years."

Gai blinked. That was definitely not the answer that he was expecting to hear. He was about to ask more questions when Yuko continued. "Judging by the fact that you recognized the Tempest Fist, I would gather that you knew Uzumaki Kushina?"

"Yes! I knew the youthful Kushina-san! She was quite the youthful individual! She taught me the Tempest Fist when I was a youthful chunin, feeding my Flames of Youth to grow ever brighter and hotter!"

Yuko stepped back, clearly confused and surprised by the outburst. "Well then, Gai-san. Would it be too much for me to ask you to correct my stances if necessary? I am not accustomed to the body of a twelve year old."

"Yosh!" Gai shouted. "I will help you in your endeavors to enhance your Flames of Youth!"

"... thanks…" Yuko said. She went back to her katas, with Gai occasionally correcting her stance while he did handstand push-ups with one hand. They continued like that for an hour or so before Yuko spoke again.

"Gai-san, why is common sense so rare?"

"I am not sure I understand your youthful question, most youthful Yuko," Gai responded.

"What happens if you tear apart a storage seal?" Yuko asked.

"It releases whatever was stored within it along with a most unyouthful explosion."

"Right. So, my question is, if something violent were stored within a person, why would they give the person a reason to hate them? Furthermore, why would they weaken the seal restraining the violent subject?"

Gai's eyes narrowed. "Just what are you hinting at, Yuko-san?"

"I am wondering why people would give someone who has the power to destroy them a reason to destroy them is all."

Gai sighed. When he woke up that morning, he had no intentions of having this conversation with anyone. "I would say that it is because they do not understand, and emotions cloud their judgement. Regretfully, they do not wish to understand."

"Thank you, Gai-san. One last question. Where is the academy? I'm supposed to be there at nine, but I don't know where it is."

"Yes, my youthful companion! I shall show you where the academy is! If I cannot, I shall run a thousand laps around Konoha on my hands!" Gai shouted, clearly glad for the change of topic. "Allow me, Konoha's Green Beast Maito Gai to direct you to the academy most youthfully to stoke your Flames of Youth in your Springtime of Youth! YOUUTTHHH!"

It was a day just like any other day at the academy, at least in Umino Iruka's eyes. Students would soon start slowly filing in, usually starting with Aburame Shino. Punctual as always, it was rare for Shino to not be the first student to enter the classroom. In the few cases were he wasn't the first, Hyuuga Hinata would usually be the first to arrive.

As such, it was a surprise when the first person to arrive that day was neither Hinata or Shino, but instead was a girl with scarlet hair and striking green eyes, and she was accompanied by none other than Maito Gai. This was probably the new arrival that the Hokage had told him about.

"Uzumaki Yuko?" Iruka asked. She inclined her head in affirmation of her identity before turning to address the shinobi beside her.

"Thank you Gai-san. Perhaps we could meet again sometime if it fits into your schedule."

"Of course, Yuko-san," Gai said, smiling widely and extending his arm with a thumbs-up in a classic 'nice guy' pose. "Have a most youthful day, and ensure that your Flames of Youth never die!"

"... Right," Yuko replied as Gai vanished. Focusing back on Iruka, she continued. "I take it that I'm in the right place?"

"Assuming that you're Uzumaki Yuko, yes, this is the right place. I'm Umino Iruka - call me Iruka-sensei."

"Right. I believe Hiru… err... The Hokage waived the history portion for me? I know he was trying to get the entire written portion waived, but I'm unsure of his success regarding that," Yuko stated.

"It's highly irregular, but yes, the paperwork for that went through. If I may ask, why is it that you are getting your written portions waived?" Iruka asked, curiosity evident on his face.

"Sorry, that's classified," Yuko regretfully answered. "Suffice it to say that there are extenuating circumstances regarding myself. Is there a seating chart, or do I just sit anywhere?"

"There isn't an official seating chart, but your classmates have developed an unofficial one. For example, Uchiha Sasuke sits in the front, right up against the wall, and Uzumaki Naruto either sits next to him or in the corner in the back." Yuko grimaced, and Iruka did not miss it.

"Never did like the Uchiha's much," she muttered, almost inaudibly, but Iruka heard. "Fortunate that their thrice-damned eyes can't steal seals or pure chakra manipulation…"

"A heads-up about Sasuke - he's a loner type. Has been since the massacre, rarely says more than two words in a sentence."

"Let me guess - he's also snobbish, selfish, and has a stick the size of a mountain up his ass?" Yuko sarcastically added, having seen the type before.

"Though it's rude, that isn't an inaccurate statement," Iruka agreed with a ghost of a smile.

"Well, I guess it's fortunate that he's not the person that I'm interested in, is it?" Yuko said with a similar smirk. "Tell me about Naruto, would you? I hear he needs friends."

Iruka's eyes narrowed somewhat. "Uzumaki Naruto is… wait a moment. Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Yuko - are you, by any chance, related?"

Yuko smirked. "It's highly likely. With the fall of Uzushiogakure, many of the families of lesser import were scattered across the Elemental Nations in the hopes that our lines would not end. We may not be directly related, but it's probable we're at least distantly related. Hence my curiosity."

Iruka was gaping, mouth half-open. "The Uzumaki were a clan?" he asked incredulously.

Yuko sighed. The Hokage had warned her that the Civilian Council had altered the academy classes after the Nine-Tails attack, but to try and deny Naruto knowledge of his likely heritage by denying it to everyone? That was unacceptable, and she was going to have words with the Hokage and, hopefully, the council.

"The Uzumaki were a very well known clan, on the same level as the Uchiha and Senju clans back when they were around. We were never a large clan, due to population concerns on Uzushiogakure, because the island was fairly small - no larger than Konoha. Our knowledge of Fuinjutsu, our Kenjutsu prowess, and our inherently large chakra reserves and longevity caused many to fear us greatly, for no other reason than what we were capable of."

"To put it simply, our genin had the chakra reserves of the average jounin, our chunin had kage level reserves, and our jounins had multiples of kage level reserves. You've heard of Hoshigaki Kisame, yes?"

Iruka shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I haven't."

"He's a Kiri missing-nin who's called the Tailed-Beast-Without-A-Tail - that's how much chakra he has. That's the level of chakra our average jounin had. Unfortunately for us, near the end of the Second Shinobi War, Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa determined that the best way to neutralize us was a joint attack. To the best of my knowledge, they suffered ridiculously high casualty rates - somewhere between 85 and 95%. We, on the other hand, suffered casualty rates of around 98%."

"There were two-hundred or so of us, and over three-thousand of them. With losses like that, it's no surprise Konoha came out on top in the Third war."

Stunned silence followed her statement, broken a couple moments later when Iruka shook his head. "I'm going to have a chat with the Hokage later," he muttered.

A few more minutes of silence filled with Iruka's musings as he graded papers followed until the door opened and in stepped a pale dark-haired teen with onyx eyes. He wore a blue shirt with white forearm wrappings. Casting a cursory glance at Yuko, he sat down in his customary seat where only one person could sit next to him. Yuko's eyes narrowed at the sight of the Uchiha fan on his back.

"Sasuke, is it?" she asked disinterestedly. Uchiha's were almost all one and the same - you know one, you know almost all of them. And she knew many.

"Hn," he grunted intelligently. Very intelligently.

Yuko sighed. "Clearly I'm wasting my time." She closed her eyes and entertained herself by pushing her chakra around her body in patterns, channelling it to various points in her body - ears to enhance hearing, nose to enhance smell, eyes to enhance vision, fingers for easier external manipulation and sealing.

The room slowly filled as she continued her exercises. A pink haired girl with eyes a similar hue to her own entered alongside a blonde girl with turquoise eyes. A non-descript boy in a jacket with a collar that went above his cheekbones and dark sunglasses - trademark Aburame. A lavender haired girl with pupil-less eyes, obviously a Hyuuga.

An Inuzuka with an opinion of himself that far exceeded the reality entered and immediately started hitting on all of the females, Yuko included. She ignored him as two more males entered the room. One of them was slouched over, his feet dragging as he made his way to his seat. His demeanor just screamed Nara. The other had a bag of chips and was fairly rotund - most likely an Akimichi. There were others, but none of them stood out particularly much.

Iruka stood up and was just about to start class when one final student entered the classroom. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his blonde hair was a complete mess, as if he had woken up five minutes ago. When he looked up, Yuko found herself staring into deep pools of the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They were arguably more striking than her own eyes.

"Naruto, glad you could join us," Iruka said in a voice laced with sarcasm.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei. I fell asleep at the library and overslept," the blonde explained.

"It's alright, at least you're here," Iruka replied with a smile. "Before we begin today, I'd like to make an announcement. Starting today, you will have a new classmate. Uzumaki Yuko, please stand up."

Yuko rose to her feet and scanned the room. For the most part, curious looks were returned, with one exception: Naruto. He looked absolutely astounded at the announcement. "Before we get completely off track, please save your questions for the break," Iruka continued. "Now, we left off yesterday with chakra theory…"

A/N: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did, because then I'd be rich as all hell, but I don't.