Meeting 3rd Hokage

Arashi spent the rest of the night thinking about what to do from here on. Many plans were formed in his mind. With the increase in his soul, his thinking process had sped up considerably. If not for his body not acquainted to the sudden increase in soul, his brain could have handled multitasking. After thinking for a long time, he decided to increase his sealing mastery first. He was determined to be become a great seal master in the future and revive the legends of Uzumaki clan. Also his many other plans depended upon his seal knowledge.

If sealing Kyubi inside a baby was possible, he wanted to explore the limit he could reach with his sealing capability. Creating separate space to seal nine tails, contacting Shinigami, the curse seal of Orochimaru and Tsunade's Yin Seal were among the best example of what seals could do if mastered. He had formed many ideas after carefully researching his memories.

He also thought about how to share his gifts with Kushina. He had some theories but he would have to test them before using them. If Orochimaru could transfer his soul to body achieving pseudo-immortality, he could do something like that without transferring his soul but sharing his spiritual power to help increase someone's spiritual power. All such theories would only be possible after he master at least his clan's research. And the safe room had all that he needed.

He also thought about their training plans. With the help of scrolls in the room, he was certain both of them could become very strong. He decided to explore what his improved soul was capable of as he continue his training. He already could sense his surrounding for chakra signature. He had guessed that he had awakened a new ability like a shinobi sensor. But he knew training without actual combat experience would be detrimental in the future. He didn't want to end up like Kaguya. Obviously she had powers vastly superior to Naruto and Sasuke but due to her having no battle experience, she got sealed by them.

"Good morning Arashi." The cute voice of Kushina broke his train of thoughts. Looking at Kushina's face, he was reminded of her tragic fate. Her death after just giving birth to her son while not able to take care of him, deeply saddened him. Now he didn't want her to be separated from him. He would train harder to change both of their fate.

"Good morning Kushina. How was your sleep? Did you get any bad dreams?" asked Arashi carefully. He wanted to know how she was coping with being alone without any parents or relatives.

"I slept well. No there were no nightmares. But I miss my grandpa and our village." Sadness was clearly seen as on her face. Arashi cursed himself for his stupidity. How could he have asked such a question to a six year old girl who had lost her everything dear. Now that he thought about it, his thought process had matured overnight. He wasn't thinking like his old self. Now he was feeling like an adult in a child's body. He thought this must be one of the side effects of having your spiritual power(spiritual power is directly related to the soul. When his soul is increased 10 times, his spiritual power rose 10 times.) increased 10 times overnight.

He hugged Kushina and pat her back.

"Bear with the pain, Kushina. Even if they are not hear, there love and blessing is with us. Keep this pain locked away in your heart and use it as a fuel to give you willpower to carry on the path towards the future. Don't despair or loose faith in yourself. As long as I am here, no harm will come to you. Promise me Kushina, to train hard with me and become so strong that a day like this will never come again to our loved ones."

Hearing Arashi's words, Kushina wiped her tears with a resolute expression. She promised herself, she would train very hard and become someone very strong. She didn't want to think about a day when Arashi lay dead in front of her protecting her from the enemies. The thought of loosing her last friend, strengthen her resolve further. She would protect him or die trying.

Seeing her eyes filled with determination, he smiled. He really had no idea how to get rid of the pain and sadness from her. He was only seven years old even though he matured early. His future memories didn't show him how to act like an adult. Breaking his train of thoughts, he started telling her his thoughts regarding their future.

"Kushina, from here on whatever we have to do, we will do it together. We urgently have to get stronger, at least jonin level before we leave our village. I think nobody else will come here and we can use this place as we like. We will find every scroll we can and learn them. We have to search the ruins for any money. We can save it for later when we leave the village. if people of Konoha came searching for us, we will decide what to do after we look who come. If the hokage or anyone from the Senju clan comes, we will go with them otherwise we will follow our previous plan and go out only after we reach Jonin level."

Though he didn't want to admit, spending time in the village would be very difficult. He hoped he could travel with Kushina stealthily and reach Konoha without alerting any enemies, he knew from his memories, this had got him killed by ROOT shinobi. If not for knowing the specialty of Kushina of having a body that could weaken nine tails, perfect for being a jinchuriki for Kyubi, Danzo would have used her in his nefarious plans. He truly wanted to kill the man and his ROOT members altogether. All his actions had caused many unwanted enemies for Konoha later.

As he thought about Konoha, he decided to pack all the scrolls inside the room just in case something unexpected happens. Suddenly he heard sounds coming from the outside. Fearing someone had come for them he quickly gestured Kushina to remain silent. He started to focus on his sense of hearing. Slowly he could someone reporting.

"Hokage-sama, we have arrived late. No one of the Uzumaki clan could be found. I think they have been slaughtered or captured by the shinobi of three villages. We can't even found a single body. Only blood stains and broken building. Not a single building is kept standing. I fear they were due to intense struggle between enemies and Uzumaki clansmen." said a voice respectfully.

"Damn bastards. How could they get into the village with the seals around it? Did someone from our village betrayed them? We didn't even catch a single information of such large scale attack. What were our spies doing? If we can't even protect our allies, how will we protect our village? How will I show my face to the previous Hokage when they ask where was I when Uzushiogakure was attacked?" Another voice which belong to the 3rd Hokage of Konohagakure spoke. His voice was filled with venom and regret for not arriving on time to save the Uzumaki clan. His face was full of sadness looking at the destroyed remains of an once bustling village.

"Hokage sama, no need to drown yourself in hatred and self loathing. Even though Uzumaki clan is destroyed, we can still find any survivors if we spread our search radius to other village. I don't believe there are no one that escaped the disaster. Perhaps we should announce to the world we are looking for survivors of Uzumaki clan and will protect them. Even though we can't save them all, we can still protect whoever joins our village. Giving them a clan status in the village will also strengthen their protection from attackers. This way we can legitimately demand survivors from other villages. If they are not willing to return them to us, its like declaring war against us. Three great village attacking our allies together has already broken the non-aggression contract signed by kage of five great villages after the end of First Shinobi War." Another voice spoke with laziness and calmness. Arashi deduced it must belong to someone of Nara clan. They were lazy bunch but terrifyingly intelligent. They were advisors to the hokage.

Listening to his advisor's suggestion, 3rd Hokage's face lit up. "Yes we shall do as you have said. Even though we couldn't save them, we can at least save the survivors and prisoners from any dangers. Though doing such will surely escalate the situation, we cannot do nothing after what they did to the Uzumaki. If they want war, then so be it. We do not fear them. Last we won despite the odds against us. This time we will surely teach them a lesson they can't forget. They will think twice before doing something." 3rd Hokage riled up his chakra clearly showing determination regarding his decision. Everyone around him felt as if a pressure as if a mountain. They couldn't help but think, the man in front of him was known as a God of Shinobi. His strength was really terrifying.

Arashi was also brought to his knees by the pressure. Kushina was already on the verge of fainting. Shielding her from the pressure using his spiritual power, he couldn't help but think, the man in front of him was the younger self of the old man who had faced Orochimaru, 1st Hokage and 2nd Hokage together. Though the hokages were clearly not in their peak power due to being reanimated using Edo Tensei, but it showed how powerful was the 3rd Hokage. That was his strength during his old age, now he was in his prime. He could see why the man was known as God of Shinobi. Even though he didn't had any bloodline power, his mastery of 5 elemental ninjutsu made up for that. He was the best example of what a man could achieve through hard work.

He began to think if he could learn from him, his strength would soar rapidly. He can learn more jutsus about five elements. Most importantly, he would be able to change many future events. He knew doing so would make his future memory not so useful anymore. But he didn't think about it much. With just him alive and being with Kushina would surely cause the her being the mother of Naruto impossible. And he knew if he went to Konoha, he would prevent Kushina from becoming the nine tails jinchuriki at any cost.

His thoughts were interrupted when Kushina began to shake him. Her face was pale after feeling the pressure of 3rd Hokage's chakra.

"What are we going to do now Arashi? Should we go out or hide here?" Kushina question once again brought Arashi to make a major decision regarding their future. After some more thinking and contemplating his gains and loss of his decision would bring, finally he came to a decision.

"Kushina, we are leaving this place. If we go with the 3rd Hokage, we will not face any danger. He will protect us at least from our enemies. And most important fact is Konoha will provide us a opportunity to train and become stronger quickly. Also we don't have to worry about being mistreated. With the Senju clan there and Mito Uzumaki still alive, nobody will dare to go against them." Yeah with Mito Uzumaki there, he would at least train peacefully for some years.

"Ok Arashi. But what about the scrolls in this room. Should we take them with us?" Kushina asked while pointing her finger to the rows of scrolls on the selves. Looking at these scrolls, how could he left them here. These were the main reason why the three villages attacked them. Such treasures would have to be handled properly.

"Don't worry Kushina. We will take them with us. But promise me, don't tell anyone about these scrolls when someone ask. These are our Uzumaki clans centuries of collection. We will rebuild our clan in Konoha using them as foundation. Lets find a storage scroll and keep these scrolls within it."

Both Kushina and Arashi searched around the room for storage scrolls and found them on a corner. They began storing all the scrolls inside them. After storing all the scrolls, they kept the storage scrolls inside their dress. This way no one would suspect anything. Who would believe two 6 and 7 year old child would have treasures for which hole Elemental nations would fight for.

"Lets go Kushina."

"Un"

Holding each others hand, they slowing pushed open the door. Thankfully, no one was nearby. It seemed 3rd Hokage and his subordinates were searching in another place. Nodding to each other, they began looking for the hokage. After some time searching, they found his team. As they approached them, Arashi could see the a man in his late thirties known as God of Shinobi, 3rd Hokage of Konohagakure, Hiruzen Sarutobi, looking at them with a clear sign of joy. Suddenly he rushed towards them. In a blink of an eye, he was in front of them. He slowly lowered himself to their level and asked in a kind voice.

"What are your name kids? Are you injured anywhere? You do not need to be afraid of me. I am here to help you." As soon as they heard his words, the two children were unable to maintain their tears anymore. They had faced all kinds of terror for the last few days, not knowing if they would live another day or not. Even though Arashi was acting like a mature kid in front of Kushina due to his gifts, he was a seven year old child. His life experience was of a seven year old. Though the future memories somewhat gave him more experience, they were not something he had been through yet.

Both began crying while hugging Hiruzen. All of their pent up emotions were flowing out as tears. After a minute or two, Arashi was first to compose himself. Clearing his face of tears, he said

"My name is Arashi Uzumaki and her name is Kushina Uzumaki. We were hidden in a saferoom by my father Aizen Uzumaki, the 2nd Uzukage. We come out as soon as we heard your voices."

"So you are the son of 2nd Uzukage and she must be the grand daughter of elder Long. My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konohagakure. Its a blessing that you are well. I was terrified when I heard about the attacked. You have my word, the three village will pay for what they did to Uzushiogakure." Hiruzen promised the two kid with a very serious expression. He meant every bit of his word. He would make them pay dearly. He would not go back on his words.

"But revenge is not that you two should think about now. You two are very young. You have to train harder and become strong before you go looking for revenge. Even then you should not go alone. Come with us to Konoha. There you can learn all you want. Our village will protect you from any enemies. Not only that, I promise I will look for any survivor. If you choose to establish your clan in Konoha, they can live their peacefully." Hiruzen knew of how important the status of Uzumaki clan was in the hearts of Konoha shinobis. Uzumaki clansmen had helped first hokage Hashirama Senju to built all the barriers and seals used for protecting the village. Not only this, but in the first shinobi war, they had fought alongside the Konoha shinobis in order to repel the enemies from the Land of Fire. Even the wife of first hokage Mito Uzumaki was from Uzumaki clan.

Nobody could forgot how she had helped her husband in the fight against Madara Uchiha. She had sealed the Kyubi inside her becoming the first jinchuriki. Till now she is protecting the village from the tailed beast. Even he was not confident to hold such beast sealed inside his body. As for defeating it, only Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju could achieve such feat. They were on another level compared to him, even though he was called now as God of Shinobi. He knew he didn't have half the strength compared to them. They were on a league of their own.

Arashi and Kushina had already prepared for this. They looked at each other and nodded. "We will go to Konoha with you."

Hearing their reply made Hiruzen happy from the bottom of his heart. He now would take steps to protect them from inside and outside enemies. He was no fool to think there were nobody in Konoha who had betrayed the Uzumaki clan. He would investigate this matter thoroughly. If one could betray their allies, who knows if he wouldn't betray his village someday.

"Very well then. We should not delay any longer. Lets return to Konoha, your new home."