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Naruto woke up screaming.
The sound tore out of him before he was even fully conscious. One hand already clamped over his right eye. With fingers pressing hard against skin that was whole and unbroken... yet somehow still didn't feel like it. His heart slammed against his ribs, breath coming in short, ragged pulls, and for a few seconds he genuinely couldn't remember where he was.
The arrow. The wet give of the socket. The way the world had gone white then red and then nothing at all on that side. With blood running hot down his jaw while hollows closed in around him.
He blinked hard, once, twice, and the ceiling of his apartment slowly resolved above him. The same water stains and crack running along the corner near the window gave the boy a sense of safety.
Just his own ragged breathing filling a room that was too quiet in a completely different way than Lordran's quiet ever was.
Once Naruto calmed down, he shuffled toward the bathroom. As he scrubbed lazily at his teeth, his half asleep reflection stared back at him. His hair stuck out at odd angles with toothpaste foam dripping down his chin. His mind was somewhere else entirely, replaying the rush of everything that had happened over the past few days.
After brushing, he made his way through the maze of his clutter toward a glass of water. The mess was part of the apartment's charm, as far as he was concerned. His plants, though, those were a different kind of beauty entirely.
He took a swig of water and sprayed it out across the small garden crowded onto his windowsill. He owned a proper watering can somewhere in the mess. He just liked doing it this way more.
"Drink up, my little babies."
Naruto formed a hand sign with a grin. Naruto Style: Water Garden Jutsu. He took another swig and sprayed the rest across his plants.
Maybe it was the death and decay he'd spent the last few days wading through. But standing here now, surrounded by something green and stubbornly alive, meant a lot more to him than it used the plants were watered, he eyed the rest of the wreckage covering his floor and sighed, summoning a handful of clones.
"Clean this up."
The clones glared at him but didn't argue, muttering something about unionizing as they got to work. Naruto rummaged through his inventory while they did.
[ The History of the Uzumaki Clan. ]
The book looked old in his hands, its edges frayed, and the leather cracked with age. A faint red spiral sat pressed into the center of the cover.
"Is it disrespectful to read something this important in here?" He shrugged the thought off almost immediately. "Some of my best ideas happen on the toilet anyways."
[ My name is Tobirama Senju. The year is 572 of the Amatsu Calendar, commonly known as the end of the Warring States Period. ]
"Tobirama Senju? Isn't that the second great stone face guy?" Naruto could practically feel Iruka's disapproving glare from somewhere across the village for how casually he'd just thought about Lord second.
[ With the formation of the first village, many more will follow. That is the nature of the world; it changes, for better or for worse. Many clans have shown interest in joining my brother's village. And he has sent me on a diplomatic mission to the Uzumaki clan to offer an invitation. It would give us an incredible strategic advantage should other villages emerge, though I doubt my brother considers any of that. He simply wants to extend his hand to our distant cousins. ]
"Distant cousins?" Naruto froze at the idea. "Wait, am I related to the first and second Hokage?"
The more he sat with it, the more the frustration crept back in.
Distant cousins to the founders of the village, he thought bitterly, and not one word about the Uzumaki clan in the entire academy curriculum.
His fists clenched. He hadn't exactly been the academy's star pupil. And some small, generous part of him tried to argue he'd probably just missed the lesson.
Yeah. Right.
That thought lasted about as long as it took to form, but it was still just enough to keep him from marching straight to the Hokage's office and failing the hawk's test. Instead, he took a shower to cool off. Normally he preferred showering in the rain with nothing but a bar of soap, standing out on the balcony while the villagers below complained... again.
Naruto didn't want to assume the worst about every single person in this village. But the more he learned about himself lately, the less certain he was about anything he used to take for granted. Stepping out of the bathroom, his eyes caught the spiral pressed into the Uzumaki book's cover again. The same spiral carved into the center of his Konoha headband.
"Clone number one, grab that Uzumaki book and skim it for anything about the spiral in the Leaf symbol," Naruto said, toweling off his hair.
"Why not just read it yourself?"
"Because," Naruto huffed, "I just got out of the shower. I don't want to ruin the pages. God, am I stupid or something?"
The clone raised a finger.
"Not. A. Word."
The clone flipped carefully through the brittle pages for a few minutes before it finally spoke.
"Okay," the clone said. "There's a bit near the middle that actually talks about it."
"Well? Don't leave me hanging, read it!"
[ The spiral was the crest of the Uzumaki. When we designed Konoha's symbol, Hashirama insisted that we include it. ]
Naruto and his clones went quiet.
[ My brother, dramatic as ever, believed this symbol represented our unity. The two separate paths spiraling together, and growing stronger with each turn. ]
The shadow clone tossed the book at him with a smirk. "Here. You can keep reading this while I take a break."
Naruto barely caught it, too preoccupied to question the sudden insubordination.
[ The Uzumaki Clan have a strange relationship with the Senju Clan. There is a blood connection, and the Uzumaki have never denied it. Yet they care nothing for it. When the Senju waged war on the Uchiha... ]
Naruto blinked. "Wait, why did Sasuke's clan fought the Senju?"
"You really need to fix ot knowledge on stuff like this." The Clone said while eating ramen.
[ The Uzumaki never once offered assistance, nor asked if they could help. They remained distant, almost indifferent. If you ask me, let them stay on their islands. With villages rising, it's only a matter of time before they come crawling to Konoha for protection. ]
Naruto's lips pressed into a thin line, irritation bubbling up. "Screw you, asshole. What makes you so great anyway."
He felt a strange pride settle in despite the insult. His clan's stubborn independence read like something etched into their very bones. The Uzumaki didn't take orders from anyone.
He turned a few more pages.
[ It has been a week since I was granted an audience with the clan leader. They rejected Konoha's offer outright. ]
Naruto snorted, picturing exactly how frustrated Tobirama must have been.
[ I sent a message back to the village, and now my brother has ordered me to remain with the Uzumaki. "Learn their culture and history," he says. "Make friendly relations." My brother's hope for kinship borders on naive, but I will do as instructed. That is what a shinobi is meant to do. Follow orders. ]
"Bet you hated that, huh?"
Naruto smirked, flipping through page after page until something made him stop.
A drawing filled most of the page. A bearded man, his head covered by a hood, spirals of intricate fuinjutsu seals radiating outward from him like a halo. Bright strands of red hair peeked out from beneath the hood.
The figure looked unsettlingly alive, like the drawing itself was staring back at him.
[ The history of a clan can often be inferred from its folklore. The Senju have the tale of the Yang God. The Uchiha have the tale of the Yin God. Interestingly, the Uzumaki have the tale of the Hanged Man. ]
"Creepy."
But he couldn't stop reading. His grip on the page tightened.
[ According to the Uzumaki, the Yang God Ashura, had two sons. One loved battle and adventure. The other was inquisitive seeking knowledge above all else. When the time came for a successor, the scholarly son chose not to fight his brother for the title. He deemed the position worthless for what he actually wanted. His brother became Ashura's successor and founded the Senju Clan. ]
Naruto blinked, stunned.
[ The man traveled the world in search of any and all answers. And his journey brought him to the islands of the Land of Whirlpools. It was here that he hanged himself to summon the God of Death. ]
"Is the Uzumaki clan somehow related to Lordran?" Naruto genuinely wondered. "If they could summon the God of Death, could they reach a land full of the undead? What even was Lordran, really?"
[ For nine days and nine nights, he hung there, asking his questions of the Shinigami as it waited for him to die. Yet, on the dawn of the ninth day, he still lived. The Shinigami, impressed by the man's resilience and unyielding vitality, offered him something no mortal had ever earned before. A fragment of divine knowledge. The God of Death taught the man how to summon him at will, a privilege reserved for the brave and the damned. The Shinigami taught him the secrets of the Sage of Six Paths. ]
[ A way to manipulate chakra using written words. Outside the Uzumaki Clan, this became known as fuinjutsu. Within the Uzumaki Clan, it was revered as the Art of Runes. ]
[ This man became the founder of the Uzumaki Clan: Oden Uzumaki. ]
Naruto stared at the words, his heart pounding as they settled into him like an anchor.
This story resonated with him in a way he hadn't expected.
It was about someone carving out his own path through sheer stubbornness. The founder of his clan wasn't important because he was Ashura's son, or because of some grand legacy attached to his name. He was important because of what he'd done and what he'd earned.
It reminded Naruto of his own story. Just an orphan with dreams too big for the life he'd been handed. But that had never stopped him before, and it wasn't about to start now.
He turned the page, sinking into Tobirama's drawings of daily life in Uzushiogakure.
An Uzumaki village of large, communal homes that seemed to welcome anyone through their doors. Wide open doorways framed with colorful banners fluttering in the breeze. Naruto could almost hear the laughter spilling out of them, families sharing meals and stories under the same roof.
Another page showed a festival, people dancing beneath rows of glowing lanterns, wearing intricate masks in honor of the God of Death.
Naruto grinned at a drawing of children gathered around buckets of ink.
He chuckled and flipped again, landing on a group of craftsmen carving shields reinforced with seals.
Then his laughter actually bubbled up out loud when he found a drawing of a small Uzumaki child practically drowning inside a bowl of noodles. Not quite ramen, but close enough that it didn't matter. Naruto could almost picture himself in that exact spot, surrounded by family, sharing meals and laughter like it was just an ordinary Tuesday.
For a moment, the image alone was enough to bring tears to his eyes.
[ I once asked the clan leader why the Uzumaki Clan's crest is a spiral. ]
Naruto wiped his eyes and kept reading.
[ A whirlpool holds its shape, unchanging. But a spiral breathes and grows, shifting with every turn. What begins as a simple swirl transforms as the vortex gives way to the spiral... ever deeper, ever evolving. ]
[ For even if it seems to spin the same way, every turn carves a new path. The floor beneath it changes. The air thickens. The scenery shifts. In each twist lies a new truth. In each descent, a hidden strength. So too does life shift and flow, bound not to the flatness of fate, but to the living spiral of choice and change. The Uzumaki walk this spiral, unbroken and ever reaching. ]
Naruto closed the book, the words still echoing in his head.
The Uzumaki walk this spiral, unbroken and ever reaching.
He felt, for the first time, like he actually understood what it meant to be one. The spiral wasn't just a symbol. It was a way of living. A reminder that every hardship and every turn, carved a new path forward instead of closing one off. The Uzumaki didn't cling to the past, and they didn't stay rooted in one place waiting for things to happen to them. They grew. They adapted. They endured.
They didn't break.
They just kept reaching.
Naruto rose from the couch and wandered over to the window. Below him, the village stretched out in quiet stillness, bathed in the soft light of dawn.
"I'm an Uzumaki," he murmured, placing his hand gently over his eye. Pain wasn't going to be the thing that stopped him. Not tonight, not ever. "And the squire of Oscar."
He exhaled slowly.
The spiral never ends, he thought. It just keeps going, deeper and stronger with every single turn.
"And so will I, dattebayo."
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Meanwhile, deep beneath Konoha's streets, the sewers stretched out in a utilitarian gloom. Thick iron pipes ran along the low stone ceiling, rusted at every joint and dripping in a slow, uneven rhythm that echoed in the narrow passage.
The walls were rough hewn stone reinforced with old wooden support beams. Dim light bled in from grated openings far above, cutting the darkness in thin, angled shafts that barely reached the water pooling along the tunnel floor.
A masked shinobi moved through it; footsteps silent against wet stone, until he reached a blank stretch of wall deep enough that no patrol would ever have reason to walk this far. A quick series of hand signs later, the stone shifted and split apart, revealing a passage descending further into the dark.
He walked deeper before finally kneeling.
"Lord Danzo," Sai said, presenting his report. "Hiruzen Sarutobi was observed from a distance in conversation with Naruto. Based on my observations afterward, there is a notable divide forming in their relationship."
Danzo said nothing, his expression unreadable, as though the outcome had already been fully expected.
"Continue."
Sai went on, laying out Naruto's nightmare in flat, clinical detail, along with his reaction to the Uzumaki clan journal. The old shinobi remained silent through all of it. There was no telling whether any of it pleased him or not. His face gave up nothing.
"Lord Danzo, if I may ask," Sai said, eyes lowered.
"Continue."
"Was the journal real?"
"It is real," Danzo said. "But deliberately altered, in specific and calculated ways, to test him."
He let the silence stretch a moment before continuing.
"Reality is not what happened, Sai. Reality is what a man chooses to believe happened. And what he is willing to act on because of that belief. A truth no one accepts might as well be a lie. A lie enough people build their lives around becomes the truth."
Sai nodded understanding that they altered the journal to see which version of Naruto's own history he would choose to carry forward. That choice tells them infinitely more about the boy than any rumour ever could.
If Naruto had reacted with suspicion toward the inconsistencies. Root would have needed an entirely different approach. Since the boy hadn't caught the alterations at all, that told Danzo something too, though Sai didn't press for exactly what.
"Are the runes real?" The pale boy asked instead. "The ones mentioned in the journal."
Danzo's eyebrow rose fractionally, the closest thing to genuine curiosity Sai had seen from him in some time.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Tobirama sensei did report that the Uzumaki clan possessed some manner of specialized seal they referred to as a rune. What it actually was, or what it could do, no one outside the clan ever learned. And the Uzumaki took whatever they knew to the grave along with everything else."
Sai nodded once, filing the answer away without comment.
"Continue to observe the boy. Any new developement is to be reported as quickly as you can."
"Yes, Lord Danzo."
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Author's Note: And with that, the chapter comes to an end.
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Q: Why did I have Naruto get his eye pierced?
I got this question after the last chapter.
The brutality of it wasn't there just for shock value.
This is the exact area of the game where my own avatar got headshot so badly that I've basically decided the crossbow hollow is secretly Hawkeye from the Avengers in disguise. If you've actually played this section, you already know exactly what I'm talking about. You will get headshot at least once here. It's basically a rite of passage for every Souls player, in my opinion.
I figured it'd be fun to let Naruto experience that exact same brand of suffering firsthand.
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Q: Why did you take inspiration from Norse mythology and add it to the Uzumaki Clan?
Mainly because the Uzumaki already have a lot of Norse-adjacent qualities baked into canon if you squint at it.
- They live on an island nation, much like Norse coastal settlements, thriving in relative isolation while adapting to a harsh environment around them.
- Their fuinjutsu already feels like a natural parallel to Norse runes. Both function as magical symbols capable of shaping reality around the user.
- The red hair ties in well with Norse imagery too.
- And their reputation as fierce warmongers, which comes up in the Minato one-shot, lines up nicely with the battle-hardened spirit usually associated with Vikings and Norse culture more broadly.
That said, this isn't a full deep dive into Norse mythology as a whole. You won't be seeing Loki, Thor, or the Nine Realms show up, and this isn't quietly turning into a Ragnarok retelling. The Norse inspiration is exactly that, inspiration. It's a way to give the Uzumaki their own distinct cultural identity, something that feels powerful, mysterious, and worth digging into on its own, without stepping outside the themes and rules Naruto's world already runs on.
There's also the fact that Naruto's going to be crossing into other worlds throughout this fic. I thought it'd be fun for the Uzumaki to have a cultural identity that stands apart from the general Japanese aesthetic everyone else in the setting shares.
Does that mean the Uzumaki are somehow connected to Lordran? I'll let you all find that out.
And yes, Oden Uzumaki is intentionally meant to parallel Odin from Norse mythology.
Oden. Odin. You can see where what I did therer.
The Hanged Man story is a famous piece of Norse myth in its own right too. Odin sacrifices himself by hanging from Yggdrasil for nine days and nine nights to gain the wisdom of the runes. Oden Uzumaki hanging for nine days to summon the Shinigami and gain the knowledge of seals is a direct parallel to that.
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Q: Who are the Yang and Yin Gods of the Senju and Uchiha?
I really like stories where families or entire cities end up with their own unique folklore attached to them. In the shinobi world, canonically, most people know about the Sage of Six Paths in some form. There's plenty of room in-universe for that folklore to get contradictory and messy depending on who's telling it. But what about his sons?
That's where the brief mention comes from, showing how the folklore around Ashura and Indra has developed differently within each of their respective clans over time.
That's It… For Now.
I want to thank you all for taking the time to read, comment, and follow along with this story. Your feedback means more than you know, and it helps push me to make each chapter bigger, sharper, and more true to the worlds of Naruto and Dark Souls. And if you can't wait for the next update, you can read ahead to Chapter 100 on P@trEon.
Until next time,
Praise the Sun.
\-Adam-/