12 Making Mama Proud
"Do I seriously have a clan gramps?!" Naruto asked Hiruzen who nodded back.
"Yes, you and your mother are related to the Uzumaki Clan, a prominent clan in Uzushiogakure." Hiruzen replied seriously. Naruto sat back down still donning a shocked expression.
"So that means.... that means I have a family!! You... You bastard!! You lied to me!!!" Naruto shouted angrily at Hiruzen who wasn't fazed by his outburst. Instead Hiruzen had a grim expression on his face.
"Naruto, I'm very sorry to say this. But the Uzumaki Clan has been destroyed by four of the Five Great Nations. The survivors of Uzushio's destruction went into hiding and scattered across the globe to seek refuge." Hiruzen explained, shocking Naruto once more.
" D.... Destroyed.... Why?" Naruto asked the old Hokage. Hiruzen sat up straight and blew out smoke from his pipe.
" The Uzumaki Clan's godlike skill with fūinjutsu earned them both respect and fear throughout the ninja world. Most believe that the village was too powerful to be allowed to continue. And so they targeted and destroyed it. "
" Who did that? "
" The nations who invaded and destroyed it were Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Sunagakure and other small Shinobi nations who allied themselves with them."
" Why didn't you get involved? "
" Because we were aliies. Uzushio's Uzumaki clan and Konoha's Senju clan were distant blood relatives. This was also what started the Second Great Ninja War but most people believed that economic disparity between the countries was what started it."
" Did you even try to help them? " Naruto asked him while clenching his fists tightly. Hiruzen looked away.
"I didn't even know that it was happening at that time. The invaders knew that they would fail with Konoha's help so they targeted all of Konoha's Shinobi in Uzushio first before starting the invasion. By the time I received word of it, the destruction was already done. When we got there, all we found were dead bodies." Hiruzen whispered but Naruto could hear him loud and clear.
"The destruction was for nothing as the invaders didn't find one single thing about the clan's Fūinjutsu. I've seen what the Uzumaki can do first hand with Fūinjutsu, hiding the information about their Fūinjutsu somewhere was a smart thing they did." Hiruzen added.
"But why would you lie to me? You said that you didn't know anything about my family? Why gramps, why?!" Naruto asked the question that has been bothering him from the start.
" The hunt for the remnants of the Uzumaki Clan members is still ongoing till this day. Even though you may be the last living member of the clan, they will not stop their hunt so that they could 'eradicate the devils trying to play God from this world'." Hiruzen quickly replied.
" But my name literally has Uzumaki in it! Are you trying to kill me?!" Naruto asked while glaring at Hiruzen. Hiruzen chuckled before shaking his head.
" No and I would never so that. Members of the clan are renowned for having bright, red hair, possessing incredibly strong life-forces and chakra. The people of Uzushiogakure were noted to have notoriously long lives, so it gained the epithet 'The Village of Longevity'. " Hiruzen explained.
" So I'm actually hiding in plain sight?" Naruto wanted to confirm by asking him. Hiruzen nodded, confirming it.
"This is a lot...." Naruto whispered while rubbing his face. Hiruzen slid a book at Naruto's direction.
Naruto grabbed and looked at it. 'Fūinjutsu for Beginners by Jiraiya. Volume 1' was the title of the book. Naruto looked at Hiruzen for more information.
"This book will be introducing you to Fūinjutsu. It contains the basic of basics, seal recognition, the foundational languages of seals for the first part, culminating in the storage seal. It also has guides on calligraphy. " Hiruzen then handed Naruto a calligraphy set.
" Before you start crafting seals, you must first have perfect handwriting as one wrong brush stroke could potentially make the seal explode in your face, effectively killing you." Hiruzen explained seriously, sending chills down Naruto's spine.
"Here are some more guides on calligraphy. I've failed you many times Naruto, but not this time." Hiruzen vowed while looking into the blonde's bright blue eyes.
'Me and Jiraiya owe you at least your heritage. Half of it should suffice for now. The other half.... I'll cross that bridge when I get there.' Hiruzen mused. He also handed Naruto another scroll.
"Your next two deliveries are contained in this scroll. The payment is 20,000 ryō." Hiruzen explained as Naruto gladly took it from the Hokage's hands.
"Before you go, take this. Fuinjutsu users had levels to tell theirs and other's skill. This is the Uzushiogakure scale to measure themselves." Hiruzen stated as Naruto grabbed it and put it into his pocket. Naruto smiled at his surrogate grandfather.
" Thanks gramps! I'll see you soon! The next time you see me, I'll be an expert at Fūinjutsu! Believe it!!" Naruto declared before running out of the Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen sighed, it was finally over. The guilt washing over him made the stoic Hokage want to cry and beg for Naruto's forgiveness.
Hiruzen hoped that this would be the start of his redemption arc.
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At Naruto's dump house.....
[Perk Gained!]
"Huh?" Naruto hummed and looked at the floating screen in front of him. He had set his things that he received from Hiruzen down on yhe dining table.
[Mother's Name: All levels that have skills related to Fūinjutsu increase faster by 40%]
Naruto smiled warmly. The word 'mother' meant a lot more to him now. Now knowing who she was, he vowed silently that he would make her proud and to not make her sacrifice to let him live be in vain.
"I don't think just becoming Hokage is enough for someone like me! From now on, I, Naruto will surpass all of the Hokages! Believe it!!" Naruto grinned broadly to himself and took out the paper Hiruzen gave him.
The paper contained the Uzushiogakure scale to measure themselves in Fūinjutsu. The first level was novice and this level applied to most of the shinobi forces. It ranged from no knowledge to barely any.
Then there were beginner, intermediate, advanced and finally master. All these levels had a number scale within them from one to nine. For example you could be an advanced level eight or a beginner level nine. Even master had a scale from one to ten.
There were no living level ten masters in the world according to this paper. Even Minato was nowhere near being a level ten master. To gain that level you had to create a whole new facet of fuinjustu like inventing summoning or even inventing fuinjutsu itself. According to the paper, there have only been five recorded level ten masters in history and four of them were Uzumaki's, his mother included.
Apparently, people who had the potential to be fuinjutsu masters were one in a thousand. Being a genius isn't enough to master Fūinjutsu.
But Naruto wasn't deterred by the statistics, he would not let numbers hold him back from being the greatest. Naruto then started reading the first Volume of the Fūinjutsu book Hiruzen gave him. Fūinjutsu requires a lot of things.
It requires a whole slew of sub skills like code generation and breaking, advanced formulas and concepts, a simultaneous abstract and exact understanding of the world and how forces interact just to name a few.
Naruto knew he was stepping into a whole new world with Fūinjutsu. It excited him, it was shockingly more exciting than eating ramen or learning a new super awesome Jutsu.
Naruto quickly became obsessed with the subject of Fūinjutsu. But he knew that he needed to have perfect calligraphy handwriting first before he could even start on the basic seals.
Naruto looked at his calligraphy set and grinned broadly. He cracked his knuckles and stretched for a few seconds.
"Alright! Let's get started!!"
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"What time is it?" Naruto asked as he looked out of the window. It was night time. Naruto had been obsessing over improving the calligraphy skill that he had ignored eating dinner.
[Calligraphy: Lvl 10
The art of producing decorative handwriting or lettering with a pen or brush. Writing speed increased by 20%. When the skill maxes out, you gained the perk Perfect Writing.]
"Wow.... It's 10 p.m. already? I'm too obsessed with this." Naruto chuckled as he prepared to go to bed. After taking a quick shower and tidying up his house, Naruto laid on his small bed.
He still can't believe that he had a Clan that was outside of the village. He still hasn't processed learning things about his mother, Kushina.
But there was still one question lingering in his head before his eyes closed. Who the hell was his father?
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"Bye Naruto! See you tomorrow!!" Sakura waved at Naruto who cheerfully waved back.
"See you Sakura-chan!!" Naruto shouted as Sakura slowly walked away to her house. After their first tutoring session, Sakura has been training together with Naruto everyday.
It was exhausting for her as she had never done any intense physical activities in her life. But Sakura grit through it. If she wanted to be a kunoichi, she needed to ignore the soreness and pain in her body as it is just weakness leaving her body.
Sakura had her own training program instead of using Naruto's. She also started studying about what kind of ninjutsu a person like her could use.
Sakura had low chakra reserves. From other people's point of view, it would seem like a disadvantage but it was an enormous blessing in disguise.
She could proudly say that her most defining skill was her proficiency in chakra control. Such exact use of her chakra allows her to perform a jutsu with maximum efficiency without wasting much chakra.
With some advice from Iruka sensei, she decided to start learning basic Genjutsu since her aptitude is well-suited for it. With Iruka's guidance, Sakura also showed interest in Medical ninjutsu.
It is a branch of ninjutsu associated with healing, as well as the manipulation of their own, or another's body, practised by shinobi categorised as 'medical-nin'. The use of medical ninjutsu requires very advanced chakra control, as well as extensive knowledge on such things as herbs, medicines, the human body and even poisons.
The knowledge of medical ninjutsu can be used for a variety of purposes apart from simply healing. It can be used to create poisonous gas, deranging the target's nervous system, or directly attacking a target with chakra scalpels. Tsunade Senju, renowned as the greatest medical-nin in the world, was able to apply the extreme chakra control required for medical ninjutsu to create chakra-enhanced strength.
Naruto was about to continue training when he heard someone approaching him. He turned around and saw Satsuki walking towards him.
"What do you want, Satsuki?" Naruto asked her, annoyed that she interrupted him at the perfect time.
"Let's spar, no holds barred."
To be continued.....
