When Naruto woke up far more slowly than what he usually did, he knew that something was wrong, possibly very wrong. Then he became aware of the water and was instantly more alert due to the adrenaline that spiked through his system, because water meant Kurama.

Kurama was a rather undesirable fox to see when one was supposed to be in the middle of a clan war. Yet he could not sense any fighting. Was that because he was here? Or because it had stopped?

He got to his feet, endlessly fascinated with the fact that the water, while liquidy, was never actually wet. He wasn't directly by Kurama's cage but he was close enough. The walk there would help.

The walk there allowed him time to try and sort through his memories. He wasn't sure what had happened and he was even less sure that he wanted to find out because he did remember the burning ecstasy that came with using the Kyuubi's chakra.

. . . and using the fox's power never ended well.

Flashes of rage, infuriation and frustration bubbled to the forefront of his mind but nothing that could actually tell him what he'd done while he'd been under the fox's influence.

His thoughts strayed and froze on the fact that Takashi was dead, that he was gone and that it was all his fault. He had been so fixated on trying not to kill the enemy, on trying to decide what he should do, that he had failed to realise what was truly important. Sacrifice was needed. That's what Hashirama and Madara's entire existence was all about. Just look at the history of his own village.

He was a fool for not seeing it sooner, but then, hadn't he always been a fool?

. . . Hadn't he always been the idiot ninja who was too loud, who didn't know any better?

He didn't even know what to say to that anymore. Did he even really have an answer before?

Funerals. How did the Uzumaki handle funerals?

He'd yet to see one and he wasn't entirely sure he really wanted to see one now.

He had all this power, but he was still so useless, so weak. What would Sasuke say if he saw Naruto now? As the Clan Heir, could he say that he'd already failed his clan? It sure felt like it.

He'd failed the first friend in this world that hadn't known his secret and that was the whole reason Takashi's friendship had meant something so different to him. Madara, Izuna, Hashirama and Tobirama, they were precious to him but Takashi had been something different. Not more, just different. Maybe it was because he hadn't known the truth, had realised that Naruto was hiding something, yet he'd still accepted Naruto, in spite of all his faults.

Madara and Hashirama had seen him as the proof of their dreams first and a friend second. That didn't make their bond any less precious . . . just different.

Now Takashi was dead and it was all Naruto's fault.

Naruto wasn't even supposed to exist in this world. Takashi wasn't supposed to have died. And to make it worse, Naruto could have prevented it all.

He had the power.

All he'd have had to do was reveal Sage Mode. The Uchiha would have recognised him, and the Senju would be quick to follow. The attention would have been focused on him and not each other. Problem was, that placed Hashirama and Tobirama in trouble and that was also likely to only work once. The fighting didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon.

"Stop being so morbid, brat, it's giving me a headache." The deep growl like grumble of the Kyuubi reached him before he even got to the fox's cage.

"I'm allowed to be morbid." Naruto muttered. "I'm just a dobe, a foolish dobe at that. All this training . . . it hasn't changed anything."

"Doesn't sound like the annoying human I thought you to be." Kurama shifted as Naruto rounded the corner and walked towards the cage. "But then I'm not complaining. When you're are weak of heart and mind I have free reign of your body. I can force as much chakra as I want on you." A dark chuckle that promised chaos and violence.

Naruto's head snapped up from where it had been slumped on his shoulders before. His gaze sharpened as his eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"Nothing lasting. I was stopped before I could." The disappointment in the fox's tone was far too evident, and strangely Naruto felt relieved by it. If the fox was disappointed then that was good for him, mostly at the very least.

"What did you try doing?" Naruto demanded, tone growing angrier as his thoughts became panicked. Kurama could have killed someone, could have seriously hurt his precious people. How hadn't Naruto been aware of that?

Naruto glared hard at the fox when he didn't appear to want to answer and it almost looked like Kurama was . . . guilty or something.

"Well?"

"Kill the Senju and Uchiha brats." Kurama stated tonelessly as though trying to appear indifferent.

"You what?!"

"See that's why I didn't want to tell you. You're so unreasonably loud." Kurama grumbled.

"Why the hell would you try to do that?!" Naruto screamed, moving past rationality and into a rage that was rarely thought capable from the blond.

The Kyuubi responded with his own anger, easily matching Naruto's churning storm with his particular raging inferno. He got to his feet with a warning growl but Naruto didn't stop.

"Dammit Kurama! I've been trying to keep you a secret! You don't have to respond to my emotions every fricken time!" Naruto continued, pacing slightly as his frustration built. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"DON'T question me, you brat." Kurama snapped, snarling down at Naruto, the dull lighting around them failing to hide the gleam of his razor-like teeth.

"You tried to kill my precious people!" Naruto screamed, stopping his pacing as he whipped his entire body around to face the fox with a glare he'd only ever directed at Sasuke. "What the hell is up with that? You know, I can't believe I was actually foolish enough to trust that you and I were finally starting to understand each other, maybe even become friends. I guess I'm just as much a dobe as ever." Naruto's tone had begun angry, vicious and biting but as he continued, it grew softer, trailing off as the self-doubt clawed at him.

"You will never understand me, boy." Kyuubi hissed back, tone reminding Naruto strangely of someone who was striking out because they had been hurt. "And I find it disgustingly offensive that you even presumed that you, a lowly mortal, ever could. Friendship is something we will never share, understand that now, and understand it well."

"Then let me try! You say I'll never understand you but you've never given me a chance." Naruto snapped, not in the mood for the fox's temperamental games.

"You speak of peace and achieving that which no other Hokage has ever managed to obtain in their reign yet you know nothing of what it means to wear that hat."

Naruto blinked owlishly at the swift change in topic, not quite sure how it was connected. But before he could comment, the fox continued. "You have no idea what it truly means to be a founder of your pathetic village, what was sacrificed in order to bring it to fruition. You are blissfully oblivious in your ignorance and I both envy you and pity you for it. Keep in mind, brat, that you still don't know what true sacrifice is. Your father knew it. He was the Yellow Flash after all. A man who had developed a jutsu that had the ability to kill thousands in mere moments. Do you think he slept peacefully at night because of it? Hardly. Yet he did it because his Hokage asked him to. The very man that was taught by Tobirama and Hashirama. They will ask the same thing of you when the time comes and you will have to kill your enemy. Not be pitiful and merely knock them out. What does that really achieve?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Naruto asked, confused in more than just physically. Kurama had never spoken like this before. It was almost like he was frustrated, agitated or something.

"Did you really believe that your precious Konoha sprung up overnight and was then left alone? Think about it for once brat. Konoha, as you learnt from the one called Nagato, needed money from war to prosper, all of the larger ninja villages did. A world of peace as you brats aim for is not consistent with this. As we already know, peace was not achieved. The First Great Shinobi War happened, then the Second and the Third with the Fourth brewing on the horizon." Kurama explained, his tone showing just how annoyed and agitated he was. What was he so upset about? "The Uchiha and the Senju were the two most hired clans . . . as rivals. It didn't help business for either of them when they entered the peace agreement. Where do you think Konoha gained the assets and the funds to actually be built and survive long enough in order to establish themselves as a permanent settlement of ninja?"

"You're not saying that Konoha started the First Shinobi War are you?" Naruto whispered, eyes wide in terror of the very thought even having an inkling of truth to it. It was entirely possible as well. With Tobirama as the driving force and a shrewd one at that, he could easily convince Hashirama who in turn would convince the Uchiha that such a course of action was the right one. Yet . . . something about that just wouldn't sink in for Naruto. He would need the proof before he even considered it as a possibility.

"I wouldn't care, foolish human, if their actions resulted in the death of more foolish humans. I wouldn't have tried to kill them if that were merely my problem with the brats." Kurama growled. "Think! It's barely believable that you are the toads' Child of Prophecy."

Naruto gave the fox an unamused look before sighing heavily, posture slumping downwards once again. "Just spit it out already."

"The bijuu. My brethren. That is what I'm referring to. Do you not remember your Academy Instructor telling you about the Shodai Hokage and how he, as one of his first actions of peace, was to divide the bijuu he had collected –the nerve of that! Like some object of materialism that can be added to your selfish perceptions of wealth– to divide the bijuu amongst the five hidden villages, creating the fickle thing you know as the Balance of Power. It was his hope for peace. That is the official version for you whelps." Kurama paused, his frustration and agitation growing large enough for a moment that he was unable to actually place thoughts into rational words. "You, as a Jinchuriki, have felt at least a fraction of the fear and the irrational anger that humans have towards us. They don't see us as anything more than mindless beasts with endless volumes of chakra. Since the creation of your villages we have been used for nothing but personal gain, for chaos and violence. You blame us for the madness you have created within us and condemn us for your own foolish selfishness. You, as a Jinchuriki are placed in this category as well. You are damned to a cycle of hatred and fear that has been born from ignorance and greed of your own creation."

"I don't understand." Naruto admitted. Kurama was going in circles and he was struggling to keep up. He did understand that this was something the fox felt very strongly about.

"Look around you Naruto. This isn't exactly a luxury den." Kurama snorted. "We are treated with fear, prejudice and hatred. We are forced to give over our chakra, to comply with your violent wars and cruel existences. We are tied down to you pathetic mortals so that we cannot escape, cannot wait for you to die because that would mean our own demise. We are collected and traded like toys in a schoolyard only to be carelessly discarded when we are no longer of use. . . . You realise that I am placing Jinchuriki into this category as well."

"So you tried to kill Madara and Hashirama because of the Jinchuriki?" Naruto questioned.

"Hardly. That foolishness was invented by Suna. No, I tried to kill them because they grew powerful enough to control me, and my kind. Powerful enough to collect us. You still don't understand what it means to wear the Hokage's hat. You, who struggles to kill the enemy because it might hurt a few feelings. Madara and Hashirama grew to be legends in your eyes yet no one remembers the sacrifices they had to make to get to those pedestals that your generation has placed them upon. You still haven't realised just how much you're going to have to sacrifice to build that beloved village. You've already come to the conclusion that others will not sit back and let you achieve this dream peacefully. There will be resistance. Which brings us back to Konoha, the foundations of their prosperity and the division of the bijuu. Hashirama sold the bijuu to the other villages for money in order to help maintain peace and mostly to build Konoha." Kurama pinned Naruto with a steely yet fiery gaze. "Your brilliant Shodai Hokage gave weapons of destruction, weapons you idiot mortals created, to your enemies."

"So in other words, he might not have started the war, but he did give them the means to believe theycould win." Naruto whispered.

"Oh? And how do you reach that conclusion?" Kurama scoffed.

"When a ninja has a powerful tool, most tend to forget about limitations. I've seen it happen. They don't understand how their tool works and know only that it has the potential to be extremely powerful in battle. Potential is nothing without understanding. None of the Hidden Villages understood the tailed beasts they had bought but they did understand that they were beasts of immense amounts of chakra and therefore potentially powerful weapons." Naruto explained with a heavy sigh. "They would have grown arrogant and attacked, believing themselves to be the victor because of the tailed beasts they possessed."

"Humph. Your time with the Uzumaki does not appear to have been entirely a waste." Kurama scoffed. "But yes, you could say that. Or you could say that you foolish humans cannot live in a world of peace. It is in your nature to be violent. You yourself are a ninja, whose very definition is a silent killer."

Naruto did not reply. What could he really say? Arguing with an immortal construct of chakra was harder than it had any right to be. Besides, Kurama was being difficult about the whole thing anyway.

The blond Uzumaki shook his head, thinking things over before nodding his head once and walking closer to the furball's cage. Kurama watched his every step, not saying a single thing as Naruto got close enough to slip through the bars.

Instead Naruto stopped just in front of them, close enough to almost touch them with his forehead if he sneezed. "Kurama, I'm going to make you a promise, a once in a life time promise." Naruto began quietly, looking down at the ground.

"And what comfort must I find in a mortal promise, no less a mortal who couldn't even up hold his last once in a life time promise." Kurama scoffed, the puff of breath ruffling Naruto's hair. The blond grit his teeth but otherwise didn't get visibly upset with the fox. Instead he continued with his chosen decision. "I promise you, that Jinchuriki will have no meaning in this world. No one will ever become one. I promise you that I will find a way, no matter what, to ensure that the tailed beasts are never used by ninja again."

Kurama was far too quiet for Naruto's comfort but he didn't move as he waited for the fox's reply.

When it did come he had to resist the urge to jump in surprise because it was just that sudden. "You cannot keep that promise. You won't live forever and humans are too greedy for power to simply leave us alone."

"I will find a way. Dattebayo." Naruto stated firmly. "That is my promise of a life time to you."

"Do as you will, Uzumaki. But know this, the day you find a permanent way, is the day I will co-operate with you fully. Then you may use that blasted bloodline of yours. But I should warn you. Your bloodline inherently suppresses my chakra. Your mother was chosen as a Jinchuriki for this reason alone. That is for you to ponder and for you to decide. These are my terms. I know yours. Now leave me." Kurama turned his back without so much as a swish of his tails as growled out his reply. Naruto didn't understand what had gotten the furball in such a bad mood but he didn't have time to contemplate it. He had a far bigger and far more important project on his hands.

He wasn't doing this for himself so Kurama's words meant nothing to him. He was doing this for them . . . the tailed beasts and all their Jinchuriki.

And he would succeed.

It was his ninja way.

.0.0.0.

Naruto opened his eyes only to see the shimmery haze of a barrier. The slight snap of lightning told him that it probably wasn't a good idea to approach it.

But with his training he knew what kind of barrier it was, how to create it and most importantly, how to break it down. The Clan Head would know this, so why had they used this particular barrier? A test perhaps?

If he was under the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra then he'd probably rush right for it a few times. But as himself he could either sit passively in the centre or he could break it down himself. Which did he choose?

But then, Takashi was dead. And that was all his fault. A lot of deaths were his fault and that was something he wasn't quite sure he knew how to deal with. What did he say to Takashi's family? What did he say to the other Uzumaki?

How did he explain Kurama?

Naruto couldn't sense anything outside the barrier, couldn't see anything either. So he didn't even know who was watching him because this barrier was designed to be see-through from the outside.

He lifted a hand to his forehead and immediately regretted it.

Using Kurama's chakra always made him feel like he'd been run over afterwards. How many tails had he gone up to? Had to have been at least four with the way his body felt. Everything burned and all his muscles were tensed up.

He had to get moving, to stretch everything out. The faster he did that, the quicker the pain went away. Without the adrenaline of immediate danger to help him, he was just going to have to do this the hard way.

Even if all he managed was a basic Academy Kata, that was at least a start.

With that in mind, the blond Uzumaki braced himself mentally before slowly and painfully getting to his feet. He would do this. It was no different from when he was recovering from the time jump. Just a little more painful, like a really bad case of sunburn. He could do this. One step at a time.

He'd figure out what to do about Kyuubi later, he'd come up with a way to tell the Uzumaki about what he really was.

.0.0.0.

They'd told him to stay away but he just couldn't.

Hashirama gazed at the barrier with distant eyes. Naruto was still in there, like some caged animal. The Senju heir had begged and pleaded the Uzumaki to allow him inside the barrier if only to heal Naruto because whatever had happened to him, it had hurt him and badly. All his skin had been completely burned off.

Watching him get to his feet now, seeing the way he struggled to do such a simply thing, Hashirama knew that it had indeed been painful.

Hashirama watched helplessly as Naruto moved into a stance, the blonde's body seeming to rebel against him. A standard, far too simple kata and Naruto couldn't even move through the motions without jerking unexpectedly and sometimes even violently.

"How long has he been awake?"

Hashirama startled at the sudden appearance of the Uzumaki Clan Head and quickly rose to his feet so that he could bow to the older man . . . who also happened to be his father-in-law.

"About two hours, Uzumaki-Sama." Hashirama replied.

"Ah, so then he has had two hours to break this barrier. I wonder why he has not." The Clan Head mused. "I'm sure he knows how."

"If I may, I believe he thinks it will make his situation worse if he does break it." Hashirama replied slowly.

The Clan Head did not reply immediately but Hashirama made mastered enough of sensing to feel the contemplative edge to the older Shinobi's chakra.

"Do you know what that was?" The Clan Head stated eventually. "The way he acted."

"No, I'm afraid I do not." Hashirama admitted quietly.

The Uzumaki sighed and sat down heavily next to Hashirama. The poor Senju could only think that this man was his father in law. And that was a daunting thought if ever there was one. Hashirama lowered himself back to his feet more slowly than the other ninja, waiting patiently for him to speak once again.

"We among the Uzumaki have our own theories and we pray that we are wrong because if we are correct, then we fear the kind of person who believed it would be necessary to do such a thing to a child. And we believe he was only a child. His familiarity with his situation shows practice, the fact that he felt he had to hide it leads us to believe in our theories as well."

Hashirama swallowed at the dark undertone that the Clan head's words held. "And what do you think happened to him?" He almost didn't want to know.

"Well, as Uzumaki, we are rather curious, especially when it comes to sealing. When we had learned all that we could about sealing while settled in one place, the Wandering Fraction was born . . . One of the things that the Wandering Fraction was particularly interested in was a theory that the Uzumaki had developed. It had long been speculated that an entity or a body of chakra could be sealed within another living being. I won't go into the reasons for that as it is irrelevant and rather numerous. However, it was just a theory and one that no one wished to attempt no matter who volunteered for the project. The whole idea was left as nothing more than something to discuss late into the night when nothing else was forthcoming."

"So you think that something is sealed within Naruto-kun?" Hashirama asked, eyes wide with disbelief.

"It would explain the rage ruled chakra within him. It is a chakra that is not naturally his own."

"What will happen to him now?" Hashirama asked, eyes growing dejected at the thought that Naruto would no longer be the Heir to the clan. He'd worked hard for that.

"We will talk to him. The barrier was merely because we did not know what state of mind he would be in when he woke. If he was still under the influence of the other chakra then the barrier would have held him and prevented him from harming others. However, if he was no longer under its influence then he could easily break through it. Those were our thoughts on the matter."

"Then perhaps he will need to be told. It doesn't look like he's going to break that barrier any time soon." Hashirama suggested meekly.

"He will come out when he is ready."

The Uzumaki were eternally a mystery to the Senju boy and he was married to one. Perhaps it was time he learned. Otherwise he was going to be left floundering around behind them for many more years to come.

.0.0.0.

Naruto stared at the ground miserably. He had no idea how long he'd been in the barrier and he wondered how much longer he was going to have to stay within it. He knew they had to at least know he was awake and he also knew that he'd been there long enough to work out all the tension from his muscles.

With hindsight that might not have been the greatest idea. Well maybe it had been but there were drawbacks. He could move freely now, no aches and pains. But . . .

He was so fricken hungry.

What he wouldn't give to have some ramen. He hadn't had ramen in months, MONTHS. Oh the sacrilege. It was an insult to the very Gods of Ramen of the highest degree. He deserved to be in this barrier.

Sighing miserably the teen stretched out on the ground, glad that the Uzumaki had been thoughtful enough to give him the room to do so and upon a nice patch of grass. He didn't even have any storage scrolls with him.

Another zing and crackle of lightning accompanied by another sigh. Strangely, the lightning sounded wrong to him. It always did when he was around anything lightning based. He supposed it was because it lacked the high chirping of a thousand birds. A sound that reminded him painfully of the world he'd lost and would never see again.

Both Sasuke-teme and Kakashi-sensei used that kind of lightning and with them came Sakura-chan. His team. Heck, even Sai was on his team. And Yamato-taichou. The ragtag bunch of misfits that made up the unusual yet effective Team 7. A team that wouldn't exist again. Not that Naruto would see anyway. He'd be long dead by the time they were born again. He'd be just a distant memory of a bloody past. Perhaps he'd even get to have the title of one of the founding fathers of Konoha. But that wasn't really important to him.

And he'd never see ICHIRAKU RAMEN AGAIN!

He knew how to make the noodles. He knew how to make them well. But he'd never learnt how to make the rest because that had been Old Man Teuchi's job.

. . .

He was just so hungry.

Maybe he should just bust out.

But then what if the barrier was there as a test and by breaking out he failed it?

Arg he was just so confused. Why put a barrier around him that he could actually break out of if they didn't want him to break out of it?

Another zing and crackle of the wrong kind of lightning and Naruto growled in annoyance. One more of those and he was officially going to fix it.

Just a few modifications here, a blast of chakra there and there one had it, a Chidori encased barrier. Sure it would be way stronger and a lot harder to break out of but it would sound right.

Just one more of those zing crackle things and he was doing it. He already had half a seal formula in mind. Just one more . . .

Man he was hungry.

.0.0.0.

"I don't think he'd going to break out." Tobirama muttered as he sat with his older brother. Naruto was currently stretched out on the ground, a slight frown on his features as he contemplated something.

Every so often the blond would wince, but whether he realised he was doing it was another story.

"Maybe he'll come out when he's hungry." Hashirama suggested, slight hope colouring his tone.

"No. I don't even think then. He's probably already hungry." Tobirama replied, his frown deepening.

"Then maybe we should get Mito-chan to bust him out." Hashirama sighed and his younger brother felt his eyebrow twitch as he sensed another bout of depression coming on.

"Look, he's moving." Tobirama stated quickly, leaving out the part where it seemed that Naruto had developed a twitch of his own.

Both their hopes soared when Naruto began to make hand signs but that hopes were cruelly dashed when Naruto slammed his hand on the ground and the barrier did not come down.

No, instead, it appeared to have been made stronger.

Where a slight crackle had filled the air every now and then before, a full blown wave of noise replaced it.

"Does that sound like birds to you?" Hashirama asked, eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Yeah, like an awful lot of them. But never mind that, look at the level of the lightning chakra around the barrier. It shouldn't be that visible." Tobirama replied. "I think now would be a good time to call the Clan Head."

.0.0.0.

It took the Uzumaki three days to break Naruto out of the barrier he himself had strengthened. By the time they did Naruto was completely unresponsive. He hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for four and a half days and he'd been exposed to the lightning chakra for far too long.

It took another two days to heal the moron and in that time Hashirama had never seen the Uzumaki Clan look so grim. But then they could have just been angry at the blond. Hashirama knew that they were extremely family orientated and Naruto had foolishly and needlessly placed himself in danger.

"I don't understand why he didn't just break out." Mito muttered as she watched Hashirama check Naruto over. Hashirama had come far with his medical ninjutsu and he still had a long way to go. But that still made him one of the best because there weren't many other medic nins.

"Think about it. He just rampaged across the battlefield after losing someone very precious to him. Not to mention that he lost that precious person because they were protecting him. He probably doesn't feel he deserves to." Tobirama muttered quietly.

"Not only that. This is a secret of Naruto's that he's hidden from everyone." Hashirama sighed. "He had to have a reason."

"It's because I've always been hated for what I am . . . hunted." Naruto's raspy voice filled the small room he'd been placed in a moment before his eyes blinked open slowly. "And it's become somewhat of a habit to not mention anything about it."

"You are so grounded Naruto-kun!" Mito immediately yelled, not skipping a beat even after Naruto's sudden return to consciousness. "Don't you ever do that again! What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea of what it took to get you out of there?"

"But the lightning sounded wrong." Naruto protested with a frown. "I had to fix it."

"What do you mean? Lightning chakra always sounds like that." Tobirama frowned, not quite understanding what Naruto was getting at.

"All my ninja career I've been exposed to one very specific lightning based ninjutsu. And its intensity was so great that it sounded like a thousand birds chirping at once and was hence named the Chidori." Naruto explained.

"Such an attack would have garnered a reputation on the battlefield yet I have never heard of it."

All four in the room turned towards the Senju clan head as he walked through the door. Batsuma's gaze was cold, calculating. Tobirama and Hashirama flinched, knowing that it was never a good sign. Just behind Batsuma, the Uzumaki Clan Head hovered in the doorway, his own features equally as grim. "Naruto, it's good to see you awake." A neutral statement of a Clan Head and not the near father like figure he'd come to represent to Naruto.

"I guess you all want an explanation." Naruto muttered, having not missed the lack of the kun tagged onto the end of his name.

"I'll say." Mito mumbled under her breath and Hashirama silently pulled her hand into his own and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Naruto looked away, eyes growing distant before he sighed heavily. "My mother was the Uzumaki, this I have already told you. While my mother was a part of the Wandering Fraction, it was my father who could not bear to leave his home. My parents had a love strong enough for my mother to put aside her desires to travel and to remain in one place. She stayed with my father." Naruto began and Batsuma almost interrupted not sure how this was relevant but a slight shift from the Uzumaki Clan Head made him pause. "My mother grew to love my father's home just as much as he did and together they strove to protect it. So naturally, the day it was attacked, they defended their, our, home no matter the cost to themselves."

Naruto paused then, a small frown on his features. "The village was being attacked by a beast, a beast that could not be killed. It was a beast that inspired fear and left nothing but death and destruction in its wake. While my father was powerful, he could not find a way to stop the beast without using a sacrifice. Using their own lives as payment, my parents sealed the beast within me." By this stage, Naruto's tone was dead, unattached.

"But you said your parents were killed by an enemy clan." Batsuma pointed out.

"The beast did not happen upon our home by chance. It was directed there by our enemy." At this, Naruto's gaze hardened and his chakra filled with a barely contained rage.

"If your parents fought so hard to protect it, why did you not remain in the village?" Mito asked quietly.

"At first I did. But the people there, they learned of what my parents had done and they could no longer see me as merely a child. All they saw was the demon that had taken so much from them. They changed, treated me differently. I was a child, who was orphaned and had nowhere to go. Yet I stayed there, despite their hatred of me. It was my home too." Naruto's features softened slightly, a deep suffering dominating his eyes. Hashirama didn't think Naruto even realised that the pain was there to begin with. "There were some, few, that treated me like a person and not the demon I housed. They were my precious people. They kept me sane."

"One day, I returned back from a training trip, and the entire village was destroyed. Gone. The people were all but wiped out with only a few survivors managing to pull themselves out of the rubble. See the enemy had returned and they wanted their beast back." Naruto paused. His entire frame was shaking, his chakra growing more turbulent. "I realised that it was no longer safe for me to stay in one place, for those around me and for myself, so I did what my mother had always desired to do, and I wandered away. I drifted around until I found Hashirama. I had been without company for so long that I could not resist his offer to lead me home." Naruto finally turned his gaze back to them, only they landed on Hashirama and stayed there. They silently conveyed to the Senju that Naruto was talking about Konoha. Konoha was his home and it had been destroyed.

"This enemy of yours, are they powerful?" Batsuma asked in a clipped tone.

"Hai, they were. But I neutralised them." Naruto shrugged. There was no point worrying over something that didn't exist anymore.

"Then why did you feel the need to leave?" Tobirama pointed out, far too perceptive.

"For the first little while, I didn't actually know how many there were so I wandered around. Every time I encountered one, I killed them since they didn't attack all together. Eventually, they stopped coming. So I just assumed that they're either not going to bother anymore or they're all dead." Naruto shrugged.

"How are they identified?" Batsuma asked, mind probably already going over reports and information the Senju had received.

Again Naruto shrugged. "No actual markings. They didn't wear any symbols or anything. I just saw it as usually the ones that just attacked me for no reason. Those guys were all crazy, dattebayo." Naruto pouted to show his inner displeasure at the Akatsuki. Not that those in the room would understand that.

"Alright Naruto-kun. You didn't say anything because in the past you'd been treated unfairly due to your burden. Also you felt it safer for those around you if they didn't know. Correct?" The Uzumaki Clan Head rumbled thoughtfully.

"Hai." Naruto replied quietly.

"Then I have no choice but to remove you from active battlefield rotation and place you directly into full time blacksmith apprenticeship. Understood?"

"Hai, Honourable One." Naruto titled his head forward slightly as he replied. He couldn't help but glance over at Hashirama and Tobirama through his lashes. Their expressions were carefully controlled but he knew them both well enough to know that they were about as happy as he was, which wasn't very.

Without him on the battlefield, he had no control over what happened to the Senju and the Uchiha. However, hadn't he already proved that he was hardly adequate for the job?

Besides, in his past and their future, they'd managed to survive without him.

Perhaps this path was for the best. Perhaps without Naruto's interference, it would all work out for the best. It had to.

Not to mention, Naruto had a promise to keep. One that was going to require a lot of studying on his part. He intended to keep his promise. No matter what.

.0.0.0.

Izuna scaled the side of the cliff easily enough. He'd done so on many occasions.

He was sad to say that he'd also done so on many occasions for the exact reason he was doing it now.

"Aniki." Izuna greeted softly as he approached his older brother, who was seated at the very edge of the cliff, eyes distant, turned towards the vast lands below them. Those were the Uchiha clan lands. So much land that they didn't use. Yet they defended it, stopped anyone else from having it. Though, later, it would become part of Konoha so Izuna supposed that it wasn't all bad.

"Hai 'Zuna." Madara's greeting was as distant as his gaze.

Izuna knew that this time, Madara was thinking about Naruto. The older Shinobi from the future had sent a shadow clone to them that had explained everything. It had helped to clip a few puzzle pieces into place but it was still a rather sad tale with many holes in it. In fact, Izuna had caught more than a few dark winces upon Naruto's features as he'd talked of this enemy clan. Dark winces that he'd tried to hide from Madara especially.

Why Madara?

Why did the beast within Naruto wish to kill Madara and Hashirama?

"It is time to return to the compound." Izuna uttered quietly, hardly ever speaking above more than a slight whisper. He was always that way though.

"Already? How long have I been here?"

Madara would come here to escape the expectations of being Clan Heir. And Izuna would follow due to much the same expectations. Only Izuna was to take Madara's place should he fall like their brothers had before them.

Madara would lose himself to time, thoughts wandering over to things he could not change and things he was determined to drastically alter. Such as Konoha.

Now though, today. His thoughts were on Naruto.

"Today? Only about three hours. But the sun sets." Izuna replied. The sun setting meant night time, where clansmen were on high alert and Uchiha or not, returning late, was highly dangerous. Just as it was for any of the most powerful clans.

"Izuna." Madara stated tonelessly as he got to his feet swiftly. "Tomorrow, we train harder."

"Hai, Aniki."

The sting of defeat at Naruto's hands would burn Madara for a while yet. Having watched Hashirama bring the blond down hadn't helped matters at all. Taijima had been harsh and demanding. More so than what Madara and Izuna had ever seen from him before.

So logically, to Madara, more training was required.

He didn't like being left behind, and he felt very much like he was behind.

Madara and Hashirama were very easily best friends, but that only meant the rivalry was so much more intense.

.0.0.0.

"Why did you remove such a useful tool from the battlefield?"

Batsuma was quick to voice his thoughts the moment he was alone with the Uzumaki Clan Head.

"He is not a tool and it is that very attitude that will destroy ninja." The Uzumaki Clan Head stated immediately. "And I removed him because it is a power he cannot control. He is a danger to those around him both enemy and friend alike. Did he not attack your son directly?"

"Hai, that he did." Batsuma looked away, not willing to show the depth of the pain that stunt had caused him.

"Also, exposing Naruto-kun to the ninja world is like inviting them all to create something like him, or to try their very best to assassinate him. He is valuable but only in that he proves that he is something that is possible. I believe the term is 'Jinchuriki'." The Uzumaki Head explained further.

"Then train him. He is valuable. He could turn the tides in this blasted war." Batsuma grumbled.

"Ahh, but you see, young Naruto-kun has the Uzumaki bloodline. It is not well known that the Uzumaki even have a bloodline, but we do. And we usually keep it away from the battlefield for its uses are more plentiful than mere death and destruction, such as the Sharingan. Tell me, Senju-Sama do you see the armour and the swords of the Uzumaki Clan?"

"Hai. A craftsmanship so delicate that most clans sacrifice many of their numbers to learn your secrets. It has long been discussed, the mystery of the vanishing Uzumaki swords. When an Uzumaki falls in battle their armour and weapons go with them. Am I finally to learn the truth behind this matter?"

A low chuckle of amusement. "That is simple yet clever sealing Senju-sama. Our weapons and armour are all tailored to each Uzumaki within the clan. It would not work quite the same way for anyone else should they attempt to use it. But each weapon, each piece of armour, that is all crafted by our bloodline and only those who have mastered their bloodline completely can create such weapons."

"A bloodline that creates weapons. That is most useful."

"You would enjoy watching an Uzumaki use such a bloodline in battle. If Naruto-kun can master his bloodline, then he will be far more useful than a rampaging chakra powerhouse. Very few can match the adaptable and volatile nature that the Uzumaki Bloodline can be."

"Ah. I see now. You were making an invested decision. A tool is only as good as the user. You're simply ensuring that Naruto-kun will master a tool he can understand and use to its fullest potential." Batsuma allowed himself a small appreciative chuckle.

"Hai. Yet I fear that Naruto's circumstances have compromised his ability to use his bloodline effectively. It is something that requires the most delicate of chakra control. Naruto-kun is very lacking in this regard, an issue that makes more sense to me now." A heavy sigh.

"What do you make of his story?"

"He speaks the truth yet there have been no reports of what has happened to him in any of the surrounding villages. How far has he travelled?"

Batsuma shook his head. "I have never heard of that Chidori jutsu he spoke of, so how far indeed."

"That is a question I sense that we will never know the answer to."

And Batsuma couldn't help but wonder why the Uzumaki Clan Head was so unaffected by that, yet it was not his place to say more. He would just have to trust that the other ninja knew what he was doing. He certainly had more experience than Batsuma. Naruto was also to be the boy that took the elder Uzumaki's place and for the sake of the Uzumaki and the Senju, Batsuma hoped they wouldn't regret not trying to learn more about Naruto's origins.