1. The key to...

Night was falling and many of the villagers had already gone back to their homes. You could see people gradually extinguishing the lights oozing out of the windows of the high-rise houses. There was, however, a place in which work was still simmering.

In a spacious classroom, several dozen children, under the watchful eye of a sensitive teacher, were drawing something on paper. From the outside it might have looked as if the children did not care what they were drawing because their eyes were closed, but they were not. They were all practicing their muscle memory so that even during combat or poor visibility they would be able to draw the symbols without error.

The teacher would walk past the rows of students and scrutinize each child's calligraphy technique. From the look on his face, one could see that he was obviously satisfied with the children's results, until he reached the last row. He stopped right in front of Kuro and watched his technique with a little disappointment. It wasn't that he drew terribly, just that his progress compared to the others wasn't as impressive. With a barely noticeable sigh, he finished his rounds of all the children once more and returned to his seat.

A few hours later he announced the end of the class and dismissed the group. All the children stood, bowed to the teacher, and slowly began to leave the classroom without fuss. Kuro was the last one to walk, because he noticed that while he was drawing, the teacher stopped briefly beside him.

"Kuro, take your time, stay here for a while." - As Kuro expected, the teacher stopped him as he walked past him.

Kuro nodded, and after waiting for all the children to leave the room, he turned to the teacher.

"Kuro." - The teacher began, looking Kuro in the eye. - "Your calligraphy is progressing noticeably. I can see that you've put an exorbitant amount of effort into it. However, your skill is still inferior to your peers." - The teacher paused and reached into his desk drawer.

Kuro didn't say anything, he just tilted his head slightly to the side and looked questioningly at the teacher, waiting for him to continue.

The teacher placed three scrolls on the table and turned his gaze to Kuro. - "These scrolls contain seals. Two of them have low rank seals, and the last one has a medium rank. You can choose one of them."

Kuro froze; he did not understand why the teacher was suggesting that he take the scroll.

"Master Huon, why are you giving me the scroll?"

From the moment he entered this academy, Kuro had difficulty learning calligraphy and stamps. Many people told him to stop learning calligraphy, but not because they despised him for his lack of talent. The Uzumaki clan had always been known for being caring and loving to their fellow clansmen, so they just didn't want Kuro to torture himself.

Those around them thought as if Kuro thought that he didn't live up to the clan's title as fuuinjutsu masters. But it was as if Kuro couldn't hear the calls of his loved ones to stop, spending hours every night in addition to his daytime calligraphy. Despite his efforts, he could only achieve so much.

"Kuro you are the most persistent of all the children I have taught, I can see your eagerness to learn. You may not have such a high talent for fuuinjutsu, but you persevere to reach new heights. I believe that if you continue like this, you will achieve a lot, you just need a good support."

"And yet teacher..." - Kuro was interrupted; he didn't want to hear any objections to that.

"These seals I created myself. The first scroll has an air cushion seal, you can use it to create support in the air. In the second seal of tracking, as you can understand from the name with it you can use it to track the target to which the seal is applied. And the last seal of concealment, it blocks all chakra and almost all life force, allowing you to hide from sensors. I say again, you can choose any of them."

Hearing about the feature of the last scroll, Kuro wondered. It had been over six years since he had been reborn in the world of naruto. As soon as the newborn Kuro was able to see clearly, he discovered that his parents and not only that, all the guests, passersby had different shades of hair from bright red to pale pink. Adding up 2 + 2, he realized that he was a member of the Uzumaki clan and at that very moment he realized what kind of shit he was in. From his memories from his past life he remembered that in the anime this clan had been brutally slaughtered and destroyed.

The anime did not say a clear date for this tragedy, but it definitely happened shortly after Kushina was sent to Konoha. In a panic, Kuro tried any way he could to figure out which gap he was born in, because if he had been born after that or a little before the moment when Kushina was handed over to Konoha, he would have faced imminent death. Luckily for him, a few months later, he heard his parents talking about the birth of a chime to the head of the clan.

Kuro realized that he still had a chance at survival, though not as much. When he was a little older, at the age of two, Kuro tried to convince his parents to move out of the village somewhere, but they just watched all my attempts with a smile and did nothing.

Then Kuro began to ponder how he could get a chance at survival. He could have tried to escape, but it was too turbulent a time and the kid just wouldn't survive on his own, albeit with the memories of a 23 year old student. And that, not to mention the fact that he basically couldn't leave the village on his own, given the clan's notoriety for its seals, the village's defenses against infiltration were top notch, hence against escaping from it as well.

Kuro wasn't himself for several days in a row, as if he had lost all will to live, he didn't want to eat or drink. Kuro just spent all his time in his room day after day and never left it. This went on until his parents forcibly dragged him out of his room, saying we were going to welcome the new chime of the clan, and that was out of the question.

We were gathered around a large stage with a variety of musical instruments on it. The head of the clan stepped onto the stage, he was gorgeous, from his appearance, to his powerful aura, everything gave the impression of a strong leader. When he finished giving his speech, he called out to his daughter. Kushina wore a light crimson kimono, her hair reaching to her shoulders, she timidly walked to her father, who looked at her with a smile. When Kushina approached her father, he lifted her up and announced the celebration of Kushina Uzumaki's third birthday to the world. The whole neighborhood exploded with loud applause and enthusiastic shouts, everyone from small to large sincerely congratulated the birthday girl, but there was one boy who didn't applaud or exclaim, but looked at Kushina intently, as if mesmerized.

"Here it is... My key..." - Kuro whispered faintly.

Ever since then, Kuro had been looking for an opportunity to become some sort of chaperone or personal servant for the young chime. Kuro didn't care at all about the difficulty or even impossibility of such events, he didn't even care about the fact that Kushina was sent alone to the anime.

So began the hard days of Kuro's training, from the beginning he tried to learn fuuinjutsu from his parents, but they were civilians, so he enrolled in the Elementary Academy, where he is to this day.

"So Kuro, please choose wisely, when you master at least one scroll, you will have a chance to overcome the wall in front of you." - Master Huon snapped Kuro out of his thoughts

Kuro walked closer to the scrolls and scrutinized them, pondering at the same time what would be most advantageous to choose. I can get the ability to maneuver in the air, but it won't help me in any way right now. I can also get the ability to track a target by putting a seal on it. Hmm... that could be used to find my way out of the village, but with my skills I won't be able to do it discreetly given the specialization of our village. Lastly, I can hide from my enemies, which seems most useful given the impending end. Kuro pondered his choice for about 5 minutes, and finally reached for the tracking seal scroll.

Kuro's choice made Master Huon a little curious, as the tracking seal scroll is slightly lower than the one with the air cushion seal or the same concealment seal. Intrigued by Kuro's choice, he asked: "Why did you choose the tracking scroll?" - But when asked, Kuro answered vaguely, "I have a use for it."

Although Master Huon did not receive an intelligible answer, he could no longer detain Kuro. Before leaving, Kuro bowed to his teacher and thanked him for such a gift. As he left the Academy building, Kuro was in a wonderful mood and a smile played on his face.