The Uzumaki clan Reborn!

Chapter 2: Enter the New clan heir!

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since the tragedy of that horrible night. Less than a week since Minato's funeral. It was the first time the village council had met since The Attack, as everyone had been busy helping with the reconstruction efforts where they could. The meeting was held in a room specifically designed for the councils use. It was a large open room, sparsely lit so that the vaulted ceiling was draped in shadows. The room itself was rounded, and was as furnished just as sparsely as its lighting. Along the eastern and western sides of the walls, sitting on foot-high raised platforms, were two identical long tables with several chairs behind them. The tables curved with the room, almost meeting at the southern most end of the room. There between the two tables, set on a platform one foot higher and with a small set of three steps in front of it, was a large throne with the Kanji for fire engraved at its top, just above where the head of whoever sat in it would be. Currently that person was the Former Third Hokage and current leader of Konohagakure, one Hiruzen Sarutobi, who looked tired. In the center of the room, which was left completely bare and was used for anyone who wished to address the council or for a council member to put forth a subject which he thought needed the attention of the council, was a stocky man with short pink hair who was obviously speaking to the Hokage.

"...And so, Lord Hokage, after a more thorough inspection of the damage caused during The Attack, I have come to the conclusion that our original estimate was too high. It seems that the ninja of the village were able to confine most of the fighting to the market and ghetto districts. As such, I believe that the excess funds acquired for reconstruction be funneled into the orphanages and homeless shelters that have seen an influx in there numbers since The Attack."

"Hmm, a very good Idea councilman Haruno. I shall see that it is implemented immediately.", Hiruzen replied.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage, I only wish to serve.", said the pink haired councilman as he bowed and limped back to his seat.

As he did so, Hiruzen was reminded of how he had helped the man. Isamu Haruno had been a decent chunin who had excelled in strategy and surprisingly brute force tactics, but whose life as a ninja had been destroyed on a mission that had nearly taken his life. It was Hiruzen who had helped the man gain a job in construction, where his ninja training and sharp mind had led him to owning the largest and most renowned construction company in all of Konoha in less than four years, which had also gained him his seat on the council. It was entirely likely, Hiruzen mused, that even if the payments for the reconstruction had to come from his own pocket, Isamu would still have insisted upon the reallocation of funds. He wasn't entirely sure Isamu wasn't already doing so. Once Isamu was seated, Hiruzen spoke up.

"Are there any other matters that need discussion today?", he asked with a touch of hope in his voice. It had been a long session, and the Hokage's chair wasn't made to be comfortable.

"Actually, Lord Hokage, I believe that there is one last important matter to discuss.", said an elderly man with short black hair and a cane.

"And what would that be Danzo?" the Hokage asked in a weary tone. He was really looking forward to his pipe.

"I believe we need to discuss what is to be done about the Jinchuriki of the Nine-tailed fox."

As soon as the words left the man's mouth there was a sudden drop in temperature in the room, which emanated from a certain red haired Uzumaki.

"I don't see that anything needs to be discussed, Danzo -sama. My son will be staying in my care, and I will be damned if you lay a finger on a hair on his head.", Kushina stated, her voice beginning soft and slowly rising to a shout near the end of her statement.

"I meant no disrespect, Kushina-san, nor did I mean to imply that he should be removed from your care. I simply meant in response to his future as a potential asset to the village. His status as a Jinchuriki would surely be a boost to Konoha's defense if he were to become a ninja of the village when he is older.", Danzo said in an attempt to soothe Kushina's anger. Even an old war hawk like Danzo knew to fear the red hot-blooded Habanera.

"Whether my son becomes a shinobi or not will be his choice. If he chooses that path, then I will support him and train him in the Uzumaki way." Kushina replied icily.

It was during the silence that followed that statement that a civilian councilman who was obviously drunk decided to mutter a few choice words. Unfortunately, as he was inebriated, his voice wasn't so quiet and the words "Demon Whore" were heard quite plainly. The foolish councilman had time enough to realize his mistake, a whole three seconds, before Kushina seemed to simply teleport across the room and was holding a katana against the idiots throat. A single drop of the man's precious life essence appeared on the edge of the blade, and began a slow descent down the sword, leaving a crimson trail in its wake.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY?", said the red-head. Each word was said in a soft and sickeningly sweet tone, but each was punctuated with a large spike of Killing Intent that slowly decreased the temperature in the room. It also had the effect of quickly sobering the moronic councilman, as well as making him and the councilmember's around them lose control of their bodily functions.

"Kushina, stand down please. I'd rather not have to have a mess to clean up.", the Third Hokage ordered with a small amount of fear in his voice. Even the God of Shinobi knew to fear the Red Hot-Blooded Habanera.

"As you command, Lord Hokage, so do I obey." Kushina said, removing the blade from the now sober councilman's throat who then promptly passed out. Kushina then sealed the katana back into a hidden seal on the inside of her sleeve and walked back to her seat, sharing a smile with the Inuzuka clan head and fellow female Tsume.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Four years passed, and the village of Konohagakure had regained a sense of normalcy. The only dark spot for a large portion of the village was a little blond boy that they called 'the demon child', though well out of earshot of the boy's mother, whose rage was legendary across all of Hi no Kuni. Currently said parent and child were taking a stroll through the city. Well, it was more accurate to say that Kushina was taking a stroll, while her little Naruto was whizzing around her like a small yellow sun orbiting a larger celestial body. For Kushina, this was normal, both for her son and any Uzumaki. That they may have been the last of the great line of Uzumaki never crossed her mind, not when her son was all she would ever need now.

"hey mommy, where are we going?" Naruto asked during a brief respite from his near constant motion. This of course didn't mean he stood still, just that he slowed down enough to not look like a little yellow blur.

"we're going to see Hiyu-chan and Mikoto-chan." Kushina said with a smile.

"Oh, does that mean Hina-chan and Sasuke will be there?" the young Uzumaki exclaimed.

Kushina's smile brightened at her son's words. Since they had been babies she and her former teammates had set up play dates between their children in hopes they would become friends. Naruto had indeed made friends with little Hinata and Sasuke, though his relationship with Sasuke seemed more like a rivalry. In truth the reason for their visit today was that Hiyu had set up a surprise party for Naruto as today was the day before his birthday. Because of the annual celebration for the defeat of the Kyuubi, Kushina never celebrated Naruto's birthday on the exact day, always a day or two before or after.

"Naruto?"

"Yes, mom?" Naruto asked.

"Do you still want to be a ninja?"

"Of course! I wanna be a ninja just like you and dad used to be! Just like the fourth was. I wanna be the best ninja ever, and be Hokage one day!"

As Naruto proclaimed his dream, the dream he had had since he was old enough to talk, Kushina's smile slipped just a tad. She still hadn't revealed to him who his father was, nor that he was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no yoko. For his status as jinchuriki Kushina wanted to wait till he could begin to feel and control his chakra. It would be then that he would need to learn the dangers of using the Fox's chakra. As for his father, well….. She wasn't sure. Originally she and Minato had decided if something were ever to happen to one or both of them that it would be safer if Naruto didn't know, at least until he was a chunin or eighteen (clan head age) to tell him the truth. Kushina wasn't too sure that chunin was high enough now. Both she and Minato had made very powerful enemies during their careers as shinobi. Kushina herself was feared second only to her husband during the third great shinobi war. Iwa was sure to make him a target if they knew his heritage.

No, it was better if he got much stronger than chunin before she told him the truth.

"well then, starting tomorrow, we start your ninja training!"

"Really!?"

"yep."

"YATTA!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Moooom, can't I take a break already?" Naruto complained.

"Fine, you get two minutes, no more." his mother replied, to which he plopped down into a sitting position to catch his breath.

It was the day after his surprise birthday party, which he had loved. Everyone he cared for had been there, even Kakashi-niisan and Ero-Sennin. He had gotten to play ninja with all of his friends, which consisted of most of the major clan head's children. After they had played for a while, about an hour or so, his mother had called them over to have a meal, ramen of course, and then a slice of cake. Then came his presents.

From his nii-san, Naruto had received a book about the beginners guide to the Academy Taijutsu. Even though Naruto wasn't a fan of reading, he was happy to get the book, as it would give him an edge when he started in the Ninja Academy in a few years. Next, from his friend Shikamaru, Naruto had been given a shogi board and a set of pieces to go with it. Choji had given him a coupon for half off at Ichiraku Ramen, which had earned the large boy an equally big hug.

Most of his other presents were mostly what would be expected for a four-year old, even one whose dream was to be Hokage. The only other presents of note were from his Godfather, Sasuke, and Hina-chan. From Sasuke, he was given a set of training kunai and shuriken, made of blunt wood but with heavy iron cores to simulate the weight of the real thing without being overly dangerous. From his Godfather, the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin, he received a calligraphy set. At his look of confusion regarding the gift, Jiraiya laughed and told him that it was the first step to teaching the runt Fuinjutsu, as perfect handwriting was an absolute must, this of course earned the old pervert a huge smile and a promise to start practicing immediately. His final gift had been from Hina-chan. After opening the small box, Naruto found a sleeping cap in the form of a panda, which would seem to be eating the wearers head when worn. Turning to the shy Hyuga heiress, Naruto had given his biggest smile of the day and simply said, "I'll wear it every night!"

This caused many of the female adults to smile and give cries of "awww!", while the girl herself had blushed a deep red and nodded.

"Okay, Naruto, breaks over, now give me another thirty laps"

Groaning, the blond stood up and began running around the track that was located on the private training grounds behind the Uzumaki clan house. His mother had woken him up at six in the morning, ands started him with thirty minutes of stretches. Then she had him do thirty laps around the track, followed by twenty-five push-ups, twenty-five sit-ups, and fifty jumping jacks, with only a minute between each exercise. From what she had been telling him, this was just the beginning. At it wasn't even noon yet!

Once he had finished the last lap, the four-year old blonde Uzumaki collapsed on the ground, giving him a major discovery: his stamina wasn't infinite.

"alright Naruto, that's enough for now. We'll take a two hour break for lunch, and then start on the study portion of your training" his mother declared, to which she was given a cry of indignation and a reply of "do I have to?"

"Yes, Naruto, you do. Every Hokage has had to be smart as well as strong to gain their position." with another sigh and an "Okay.", the last two Uzumaki in Konoha made their way inside.

Two months passed in this way, and Naruto slowly began to see progress. At first, the workouts his mother put him through were hellish on him, and he was left with almost no energy at the end of the day, having exhausting it all between both physical and mental training. But now, Naruto would end the day sore and with a slight headache, but not be as tired out as he had been in the beginning. Luckily for him, his Uzumaki heritage gave him the stamina and fast recovery rate to deal with all this. Currently it was a chilly December night, and Naruto had been invited to a sleepover at his friend Hinata's house, along with his other friend Sasuke, seeing as the next day was to be her birthday. It was late, and Naruto had needed to use the restroom. After he relieved himself, Naruto was walking back to the room the three friends were sleeping in when he heard noises coming from said room. At first, he thought that it might be one of his friends getting up to do the same thing he had, and so decided to hide just outside the door to give them a scare. After listening for a few seconds though, he realized something far worse was happening.

'Hey boss, there's another kid here, looks like an Uchiha brat. Should we take him, too?"

"No, the girlie here will slow us down enough as it is, but give him some of the drug as well, that way he won't wake up and alert anyone."

One of the first lessens his mother had taught Naruto, that he could remember, was that as a Heir to the Uzumaki bloodline he could be targeted for kidnappings. Knowing that his friend Hinata was about to be just that, kidnapped, Naruto did the most brave thing he could think to do, he ran. He ran as fast as he could, twisting down hallways and skidding around corners, until he reached a room near the middle of the compound. Being friends with Hinata-chan and Sasuke, as well as their parents being friends, this was not the first time Naruto had slept over. He had been to the Hyuga compound so many times, he knew where most of the rooms were. And he also knew that his mother and her friends normally stayed in the same room together when they had a sleepover. Ramming the doors open to the room where his mother was Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

"MOOOOM! HINATA-CHAN'S BEING KIDNAPPED!"

A/N: so, it's been a while…. Okay, it's been a looong while. I can't believe it took me two years to get this done. I won't try to make excuses, but I just haven't felt like writing for a while. For the first half of last year I didn't have a laptop, that notebook ended up getting fried, and then when I got my current one, I just didn't have the same spark I'd had before. Then when I did, it was for other stories, one of which I will be posting after some more time spent on this fic. I've also decided that setting a regular update for myself is hurting me, so from now on I'll just post when I have a chapter. All that said, I've never once forgot about this story, and while I still don't have much drive to write, I will continue to work on this until I reach the end. Hopefully the next chapter won't take two years. Till then,

Sketch out!