better left unsaid

Chapter 16: Based on a True Story

(Hokage Tower – Hokage's Office)

Hiruzen stood on the lookout point at the top of the tower with Naruto standing behind him. He knew the boy was there, Naruto had been standing there for at least five minutes, probably trying to correctly word what he wanted to say. Hiruzen could tell from Naruto's lack of a boisterous greeting that it was important so he hadn't goaded him into speaking.

"Old man…" Naruto finally said. His voice was rather low, showing the brevity of whatever it was he wished to speak about. Naruto swallowed down a lump in his throat and finally chose to raise his voice closer to its normal timbre, "I've read some things recently… and I know that my name is from a clan. A clan that was supposed to be pretty famous. The book told me lots of stuff, about how they were the best at fuuinjutsu, and what the crest on the back of my clothes meant. So I just want to know two things now."

Hiruzen turned around to face Naruto, showing the boy that he was taking his questions seriously, "Alright. Go ahead and ask away Naruto-kun. I'll answer what I can."

Naruto nodded and began to fire away, "Are there anymore of them left or is it just like what Shikamaru said? The part saying clan is extinct."

Hiruzen let out a sigh as he answered, "It is true. It happened long, long ago. Any of them that may be left are scattered to the corners of the world, and none of that bloodline claim the surname Uzumaki any longer. I'm sorry."

"Huh…" Naruto said, as he had expected that much from the whole 'they're extinct' thing, "Well that sucks."

Hearing Naruto's blunt summary of his clan's current state actually put a small smile on Hiruzen's face, "Yes it does I would imagine. I have worked with members of your clan in the distant past and I can certainly tell you that the book you read was accurate. They were fearsome fighters, energetic much like you but not nearly as much so." He said with a chuckle, "And they were as good at fuuinjutsu as you were informed. It eventually led to their downfall in the end. Having a village spearheaded by masters of such a complex technique led to their enemies teaming up to eventually destroy them in the end. I'm afraid all of their possessions were lost with them so there's nothing I can hand down to you in that respect."

Naruto waved it off. He didn't care much for anything material at all, "Don't sweat it, I've dealt without for this long back when I didn't know anything, it doesn't matter now right? I'll make my own clan stuff." He scratched the side of his head and laughed uncomfortably as he asked his next question, "If you knew anything about my family, anything worth telling me, like about my mom or dad could you tell me?"

'Well now that he knows his clan was famous and extinct it isn't so farfetched to believe that someone would know who his parents were. I mean how many people named Uzumaki existed in this village? He had to come from somewhere and someone would know of that name.' The old kage thought before he was struck with something else, 'Well he's telling Naruto about what's within him so he can tell him this too.' "I'll tell you what Naruto. There's a man that you'll find in this village at some point. He's a big tall man with long wild white hair and he wears wooden sandals. He's a pretty flamboyant person, you can't miss him."

"How will I find him?" Naruto wondered, excited at possibly meeting someone that could tell him about his parents, "I mean, finding one guy is hard when I've never met him and the only person with white hair that I know is Kakashi-sensei."

Hiruzen let out a chuckle as he put his hand on Naruto's head, "Trust me Naruto-kun he won't be that hard for you to find at all. He'll probably drop right into your lap. I hope this helped, and when you do talk to Jiraiya, I want you to know you can come to me and I'll try to fill in whatever he couldn't." Naruto nodded and smirked before making the ram seal and vanishing in a puff of smoke," Hmm, he is just as fast as Kakashi and Asuma said he was."