Prologue

The night covered Konoha with a veil of darkness with stars flickering dimly from its depths. The luminaries of the night seemed to be watching the village asleep. The windows of the houses had long gone out, the streets were completely empty, only lonely lanterns sprinkled light along the deserted alleys. Although all the inhabitants fell asleep to gain strength for the coming day, life in the Hidden Leaf Village continued even at night. But not for people, but for the shadows cast by the branches of swaying trees that danced on the ground, sometimes intertwining with each other, and then scattering again in different directions.

Only one boy had a chance to see this mysterious world of shadows, who appeared from the darkness of the night in the light of a welcomingly blinking lantern and just as quickly disappeared from it, diving into the darkness again and running further. The boy would be glad to snooze in his crib now, like everyone else. He loved this business too much. But now he had no time for sleep. He had to complete a mission. Not one of those missions that shinobi performed on behalf of the Hokage. Our hero was still too young for such accomplishments, he barely began to study at the Academy.

"Where did the mission come from then?" - you ask. The answer may surprise you a little.

"I still think this is a dumb idea, Kurama," the boy muttered as he climbed the outer staircase that encircled the tower-like building and opened the door, which emitted a piercing creak that made the child flinch.

He ducked inside, surprised that the Hokage Residence was not locked. The Third Hokage left her at ten in the evening, heading home. Did he forget to close the door behind him? Anyone can sneak into his office and gain access to top-secret documents!

"It seems that fate itself favors you today, the old senile forgot to lock the door," the Nine-Tailed Fox's voice, rolling like thunder, sounded in Naruto's head. The Kyuubi was silent for a few seconds and responded to the blond boy's previous remark. - Stupid? I could have come up with something myself instead of whimpering about my worthlessness in ninjutsu and genjutsu.

Naruto closed the door behind him and gazed thoughtfully at the curved corridor leading to the Third's office. Pulling a flashlight from his pocket and turning it on, he walked slowly forward, trying to be as quiet as possible, although there was no one in the Residence. Having crept past the entrance to the office, since the above-mentioned secret documents in no way interested him, Naruto moved on, stopping for a moment in front of the spiral staircase that descends down to the library.

- Well, I'll find some scroll ... And what next? I still can't do it, dattebayo! He whispered doubtfully.

Kurama's response was rather harsh.

- No, you idiot. In this library, there are not simple scrolls, but the Uzumaki clan scrolls with the techniques that are in your blood!

Uzumaki shrugged.

- Well, if you think so ... - he muttered and, illuminating his path with a flashlight, began descending the stairs.

The Third's library was spread over several levels. Now Naruto understood why the Hokage's office was located on the topmost floor. Beneath it was a whole library of knowledge, from history books to scrolls with mysterious techniques that the boy was so interested in. He walked past the bookcases, illuminating his path with a flashlight and peering at the titles on the spines of the books.

"Get down below," advised the Nine-Tails.

Uzumaki obeyed and descended to the lowest floor, which was in total chaos compared to the rest of the library's clean levels. There were cupboards with some kind of flasks near the walls, incomprehensible devices blocked the passage, a pile of dusty piles of papers and scrolls littered the chaotically placed tables and in some places even the floor. Taking advantage of the fact that cleaning is rarely carried out here, hardworking spiders entwined everything around with a cobweb, through which our hero had to wade.

"Apparently, the old man doesn't come here often," the jinchuriki remarked, coughing.

"This place was once a student of his, Orochimaru, who left the village before you were born," Kurama explained. - I remember he was also interested in all sorts of scrolls. And your mother did not like him at all. I think the old man still blames himself for Orochimaru's renegade, which is why he rarely returned here.

The jinchuriki nodded curtly, directing a beam of light to the farthest corner, where a deck of cards lay on the edge of the table. He came closer, took one card with curiosity, and, pointing a flashlight at it, saw a man in bright clothes, in a stupid hat, and with an equally stupid smile on his painted face. Sometimes Naruto smiled the same way when he didn't know the answer to the question asked by Iruka.

"Joker," Kurama commented. "It seems to be the same deck of cards that started a series of failures for the second student of the Third, Tsunade. Her first big loss for money.

The Nine-Tails plunged into memories as Naruto thoughtfully examined the pictures on the other cards. Finally, he took the entire deck from the table and put it in his pocket.

- Do you know the rules of this game? the blond asked Lisa.

"Of course," he said. "But I think it's too early for you to play poker. Better to exercise more. Actually, going back to why we came here ...

Uzumaki glanced at the scroll that had fallen from this table and bent down to pick it up. Unfolding it and blowing off the dust, Naruto flipped through the text and pictures that someone had carefully provided for clarity.

"Mito's handwriting," Kurama growled. "Congratulations, this is the scroll of the Uzumaki clan technicians. Okay, read this out loud.

Naruto read everything that was written in the old scroll, although some of the words were unfamiliar to him and seemed difficult.

- Kurama, what is fuinjutsu? he frowned.

"A sealing technique like the one that sealed me in you. And what were you fools taught at the Academy? - grumbled Kyuubi. - Curious ... The sealing technique is a very useful ability. This will come in handy.

Naruto looked at the text and pictures and sighed.

- Too many of them ... Like them ...

"Hand seals," Fox finished for him, knowing that Naruto was not very strong in this area. - Yes, to seal the equipment, you need to make some effort. But it says here that you can use it an unlimited number of times.

- Oh, that's another matter! Naruto said enthusiastically. - But what can be used to seal the equipment?

- Anything. At least in your cards, - said Kurama with a note of irritation in his voice. Sometimes he thought Naruto was too stupid. At least against the background of Mito and Kushina, who was his previous jinchūriki.

"But to seal a technique, you first have to find that technique somewhere," Naruto continued, frowning again. He folded the scroll back into place and began rummaging through the rack.

"I like the way you think," the Fox said with a sneer.

What Naruto found was almost impossible to read, the handwriting was too clumsy. It was immediately obvious that these scrolls were not the work of Mito Uzumaki, but someone else, apparently, Orochimaru. Completely tired, he pulled out a book from the top shelf, opened it on a randomly selected page and, quickly skimming through the instructions, nodded, convincing himself that he understood everything. He pulled one card out of his pocket, laid it in front of him and began to fold the seals, slowly and remembering on the go exactly what movements should be done. First, there was a combination that creates a technique, and then a combination that seals it in the card and prevents the jutsu from immediately splashing out.

- What, already? Kurama was surprised. - I thought it would take longer.

Suddenly a rustle made Naruto flinch. He grabbed a map with the technique sealed in it from the table and ran away, quickly running up the stairs. Uzumaki only now realized how angry the Third would be if he found out where he was and what he was doing.

"Calm down, it was just a rat," the Fox chuckled as Naruto rushed down the street, taking the longest route home.

"It was a stupid idea, Kurama," Uzumaki muttered, not slowing down.

He only slowed down when he was completely exhausted. Confident that the danger was behind him, he was able to catch his breath a little.

- Where are we? It seems like Sasuke lives nearby, "the boy muttered, looking around. He had never been in this part of the village at night, so he was poorly guided. Then Uzumaki went at random, thinking that sooner or later he would find a landmark from which he could get home. The same Sasuke house, for example.

Uchiha Sasuke ... This boy should have been mentioned. The object of attention of all the girls at the Academy, the best student in the class, and also a person with a very high self-esteem. Naruto disliked the Uchiha, although in some ways he envied him. Sasuke was a talented child. Not that he ... Not the son of the Fourth Hokage, but a disgrace!

However, Sasuke was not spoiled. His father was very strict with him. But his mother, Mikoto Uchiha, was a very kind woman. And beautiful. Naruto, swinging on a swing near the Academy, once saw her in the window of one of the auditoriums. It seems like it was a parenting meeting that Iruka was organizing to inform parents about their children's progress. It seems that then Sasuke's mother also saw Naruto, sad and completely alone sitting on a swing. And she even smiled at him. Although Uzumaki thought he was imagining it. Nobody ever smiled at him. Unless the old man the Third, and even then rarely.

"Naruto ..." the Nine-Tails growled suddenly, knocking the boy out of his thoughts. - Get out of here now. I have a premonition of something terrible.

The boy stopped, looking around in bewilderment. It was such that Kurama sometimes warned him about the danger in the form of nearby residents, who, in principle, could break down on the "fiends of hell" that he did not love in the village. But now the streets were empty. He alone prowled the dark alleys.

"It seems your instinct is letting you down," Uzumaki chuckled as he continued on his way and turned the corner. In the next moment, he stopped in place, as if turned into a pillar dug into the ground. The boy was terrified.

What he saw was imprinted in his memory for life. And our hero saw the following ... The main street of the Uchiha quarter was littered with corpses lying in pools of blood soaked in the sand. Everything around was painted in red tones. Kunai and shurikens stuck in the fences and walls of the houses. They were lying right on the ground.

Some bodies could not be called whole. For example, a fat man nailed to the ground by a katana, on whose head, which now existed as a separate object, Naruto almost tripped. Focusing on the decapitated Uchiha, Naruto breathed frequently. Too often. He began to choke on air. He raised his gaze higher, seeing the corpse of a woman in a semi-sitting position leaning back against the fence. There was a wound or even a hole in her stomach, from which practically all the insides fell out. Behind her, an old man fell into the boy's field of vision, lying on the sand with his stomach down. The handle of a kunai protruded from the back of his head. The head was turned so that Naruto had time to see the horror grimace on the victim's face before he looked away.

- Get out of here! Snapped the Fox. - Alive!

Naruto took a few hesitant steps back, but stopped, never fleeing. His legs did not obey. And the noble heart ordered me to act differently, despite all the obvious "buts".

- Sasuke ... Is he, too ... - choked out the boy, feeling that he was about to go deaf from the beating of his own heart.

He no longer heard the commands Kurama was giving him. Overcoming his fear, Uzumaki rushed forward, jumping over the corpses of the killed members of the Uchiha clan. He didn't even bother to arm himself with some of the weapons lying around. Not remembering himself, Naruto burst into Sasuke's house, whose doors were kicked out and, hearing a heartbreaking scream, rushed up the stairs.

When he burst into the second floor, he saw a shadow dissolving in the open window, sparkling with red eyes. In the fuzzy outlines, a man in the form of an ANBU was guessed. Before his disappearance, the stranger managed to give Naruto a slightly surprised look. However, the appearance of Uzumaki did not interfere with the killer and his plans. And if Naruto had appeared a couple of seconds earlier, it hardly would have changed anything.

Sasuke, untouched by the assassin, lay on the doorstep, twitching in convulsions. As the Nine-Tails suggested, he was under a powerful genjutsu. Before leaning towards the Uchiha, Naruto looked into the room, through the intermediaries that the parents of the young Uchiha use in the pool of blood. Sasuke's father was also missing his head, rolling away into a corner, leaving a trail of blood. And Uchiha's mother was lying on the floor with a tanto sticking out of her back. And, it seems, she was still incredibly twitching. Yes, it was she, the same kind and beautiful woman that Naruto had once seen at the Academy. His heart sank, and his hand trembled, and a playing card fell from it to the floor.

Before Naruto could understand anything, a bright flash of light blinded him. An unknown force, from which cracks went along the walls and floor, threw Uzumaki back and painfully pressed the back of his head against the wall. The last thing Naruto heard, as he could no longer see, was a crash and a deafening rumble.

***

"I finally came to my senses," smiled the Third, whom Naruto saw right after he opened his eyes. "How are you feeling, Naruto?"

The jinchūriki listened to his sensations, among which, to his surprise, there was no pain. He pulled himself up on the bunk and sat with his back on the pillow. Looking around in surprise, Naruto realized that he was in the Konoha Hospital. He was not alone in the ward. Sasuke was lying on the next bed. He didn't look good. This is probably why he was given an IV. Now the young Uchiha was unconscious.

The Third Hokage, an old man dressed as the head of the village, in his ceremonial dress, was sitting in an armchair near his bunk, twirling a familiar deck of cards in his hands.

- What happened? Uzumaki squeezed out. - I ... I don't seem to remember anything. Only blood and bodies ...

- A terrible thing happened. And I'm really sorry that you and Sasuke were there when that happened, "the Hokage muttered, a smile fading from his face. - The Uchiha clan is exterminated. Sasuke's parents are dead. What is there ... Even from his house nothing remained.

Naruto flinched at the horror of what was happening.

- Nobody survived at all? he choked out.

"Well, just Sasuke and ..." Sarutobi looked back at the half-open door, through which was visible a bench in the corridor.

Naruto looked there and saw that a girl about the same age as Naruto and Sasuke was sitting on the bench. Her long hair was tied up in a ponytail with an elastic band. The stranger was dressed in a gray dress and sandals. Her head lowered, she gazed at the floor with a doomed gaze. Her legs moved barely perceptibly, dangling in the air. Naruto knew when it happened. He did so himself when he believed that everything was lost and a cruel life had no meaning.

- Her name is Mikoto. The only thing she remembers, Hiruzen muttered, looking thoughtfully at Naruto. "Amazing, just like Sasuke's mother.

- A common name? - suggested Uzumaki.

- Maybe. Did you know that Sasuke was named after my father? - nodded the Third.

The blond shook his head.

- How is she? Uzumaki inquired, looking again through the opening, where poor Mikoto could be seen.

"Safe and sound, unlike both of you," said the Third. - But, as I said, she has a complete memory loss. He only remembers his name. However, maybe it is for the best ... I would not want to remember that. Now she is waiting for Sasuke to recover. After all, they are the last surviving Uchiha ... Although there were many people in this clan, they hardly knew personally ...

He cast a sympathetic look at Sasuke, who grimaced incredibly.

"Maybe Sasuke will forget some details," the Hokage muttered. - I really hope so.

His gaze returned to Naruto again. Old man had a deck of cards in his hand.

"I've been looking for her for a long time," he said. "You had it in your pocket.

"Uh ... Yes, I somehow accidentally found it in the Academy closet when Iruka-sensei forced me to repaint the wall I painted," he managed, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

The elder smiled mysteriously.

- So this is where she got into ... Well, leave it to yourself. True, one card is missing here, "he said and put the deck on the pedestal next to the blond's bunk. - There will be something to have fun. And tomorrow you will be discharged.

- Old Man Third, can you teach me how to play? Naruto asked for the old man to leave and leave him alone with the unconscious Sasuke and the ward with absolutely nothing to do.

"Well, so be it," Hiruzen agreed. - I will teach you all the games that I know myself. Who knows, maybe when Sasuke comes to his senses, you will come and play with him? I think he will need a friend at such a difficult time ...

Naruto remembered how unfriendly to him.

- That is unlikely.