Alas poor fandom, I own you not.

Seriously, I don't own Naruto, the only thing of Naruto I do own is a Suna headband I bought at Comicon in Seattle like….8 years ago..and a Gaara sweatshirt so I totally don't own the franchise, No suing!

This fanfic has been tumbling about in my brain, so I've got no choice but to write it now if I want to be able to concentrate on anything else.

Prologue: The Ignorant Heir

Tsunami had never been one to believe in the old ways. She didn't believe that a powerful clan, who had long since been wiped out, would return one day and make life better for herself and her people. In fact, Tsunami believed that it was up to Wave to protect itself, that they had to make their own lives better instead of waiting for someone to save them.

Yet despite this belief, Tsunami found herself sitting before her altar and praying to the ancestors for her father's safety. Tazuna, like her husband before him, was trying to save Wave on his own. His super plan, their triumph, lay in the creation of The Super Bridge, and with its completion they'd be able to shake off Gatou's crippling hold on their country.

Unfortunately, Gatou was no fool. He'd sent ninja to harass the workers, so in response Tazuna had made the hazardous journey to Hi no Kuni to acquire super ninja to combat them. He should have made it back yesterday. A day overdue already and Tsunami was beginning to suspect the worse had happened, which had made her resort to this, to praying to the ancestors to keep Tazuna safe. If Tazuna were to perish, it would only be her and her precious Inari left. How long they would last, she didn't know.

The sound of the front door slamming open startled her. Quickly she picked up the knife she'd taken to carrying around with her and moved towards the front of the house, prepared to do whatever she could to protect her precious child. That determination slowly bled from her as she heard the muffled voice of her father, her heart warming to hear him safe and home. She hastened her steps but was unprepared for the sight before her.

True her father had gotten ninja to help them, but they were children! The only adult ninja they had seemed to be unconscious and being supported by the two boys. One with hair as dark as night and a blue shirt, the other was a blond boy who was clearly his polar opposite sporting a hideously orange track suit..but there on the shoulder. Those markings…it could not be. The boy was the wrong coloring. His hair was not red. His eyes were not the color of steel. He was wrong, everything was wrong, and yet he bore the white spiral.

"And this is my super awesome daughter Tsunami," Tazuna proclaimed proudly and startled Tsunami from her thoughts, her disbelief. Had her father not noticed? Perhaps he had not, or perhaps the boy was merely a pretender. Surely he could not be what she thought he was.

"It is a pleasure to meet you ninja-san," Tsunami said carefully bowing to the others. She had to show proper respect, these were trained killers even if they were children.

"Yeah nice to meet ya too. Could we put Kakashi-sensei somewhere? He's getting kind of heavy," the blond said as he struggled with the grey haired man.

Nodding Tsunami quickly led them upstairs to the guest bedroom where she watched the two youths place the man on the bed, the young pink haired girl moving to watch over the body while the boys quickly left, to scout the perimeter, the dark haired youth had said as they departed.

Still a little dazed, Tsunami made her way back downstairs where her father was getting into their sake once again. "Is he who I think he is?" she asked as she looked over at him.

"He's not one of them," her father said grumpily as he took a swig of the alcohol. "At least, he wasn't raised by one of them. He doesn't seem to be a super ninja like they were," he said gruffly as he rubbed his face. "But…the boy was poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Tsunami asked as she looked at her father. "And why aren't they giving him treatment?"

"It happened days ago; boy got cut by some kind of super gauntlet thing. Took a kunai and stabbed his hand. He's got super guts at least," her father mused as he took another swig. "Bled the poison out. Didn't even bother to bandage it up. He was super fine when we set up camp that day. He could be one of them, but I saw him fight," he said wincing and taking another gulp. "The moves are there..the circles and super spirals and everything. But not the super grace. Like he's half trained. He's super smart though. Helped distract some super bad guy so that his sensei could take him out. Guy was supposed to be beyond any of the kiddies' level, but they managed to free their sensei."

"Did you manage to catch his name?" Tsunami asked anxiously. Was it possible that the boy was a survivor? Someone that had been orphaned by the attack perhaps?

"Naruto," her father said, his eyes looking into hers and for once she saw more than steely determination. For once she saw the glimmer of hope. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Does he know?"

"No…he doesn't know anything. I asked the Hokage about him when I was picking the team. Boy was an orphan, barely passed the ninja exams. He doesn't know where he came from. Doesn't know about us."

"But he's here now. We could tell him. We need him father," Tsunami said. Dreams long thought dead awakening in her. A path back to the golden era her father and grandfather spoke of. Of the time when the Spiral was with the Wave.

"The Hokage will not relieve him from service," the man said grumpily. "The boy wants to take his place…and the treaty is still in effect."

"The treaty. But he could be the last one! Surely they could afford to give him back to us! It's his birthright!"

"And it is his duty to serve the Hokage. I couldn't do that to him Tsunami. I don't want to give him a burden he can't take up, a duty he can't complete. If he is one of them, it would tear him apart to know his duty and be unable to fulfill it."

"But father, if he is an orphan. Doesn't he have the right to know?" she asked as she looked at the man who sired her. "If you had known Kaiza's parents, would you have withheld that information from him?" she demanded.

"That's not it Tsunami," Tazuna said as he took another swig. "That's not it. The Hokage said that his parents were super ninja. The best of the very best. They had enemies. If Naruto were to come home, if the Spiral returned to Wave…it would destroy us both. They would destroy us to get to him, and we could not protect him. He must stay in Konoha, in Hi no Kuni, where those who hide in leaves could protect him. They still have a ninja force. Ours is scattered."

"Then I will take him there."

"Tsunami?"

"I will take him to the center of the Spiral. Not to take up his birthright," she elaborated to her father. "If the Spiral will never again meet the Wave, then he should at least take his history with him when he leaves. Perhaps then we will no longer have to wait for people who will not return to us," she said dejectedly. The hope had died once more. It hurt, much like the death of her husband had. To know that an Uzumaki had returned to Uzu no Kuni, and would be unable to revive Uzushiogakure no Sato. "Whirlpool is no more."

Her father's calloused hand enfolded hers, and he looked at her with the determination that had kept their family going despite Gatou's attempts. "As long as there is a Spiral and as long as there is a Wave, Whirlpool will never die."

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