We do not own Naruto or any copyright content. All copyright content goes to their respective owners. All OCs are owned by us.
Shy Fox Chronicles
Chapter 11: Mysteries of the Past
The Uzumaki Estate had fallen into a relative quiet, something that had greatly unnerved the residents of Konoha. Especially after Kushina had hardly been at the residence for nearly a week and finally just returned. They had only just started getting used to the wild clan that they had in their midst. Having a Konoha-raised Uzumaki as their Hokage, and her expert navigation of the post-war stressors had done wonders for the clan. However, Kushina was quietly working on some more minor duties in the lounge, she heard Naruto from beside her say something that shook her.
"Momma… I'm bored." Naruto moaned, as he barely kept his head up as he sat on a cushion next to her.
"Naruto, honey. Momma has important Hokage business to attend to." Kushina tried to explain to her son.
"Why do I have to be here though…?" Naruto groaned, before finally giving in and letting his head hit the table before him.
"Because I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you getting yourself into trouble." Kushina explained with a sigh.
"Trouble is fun…" Naruto grumbled through the table.
"No, trouble is not fun. Trouble is dangerous." Kushina told her son with a frown.
"Just like being a shinobi. And Uncles Kakashi and Obito say it's fun too." Naruto countered, barely lifting his head back up.
Kushina sighed. "Naruto… being Hokage is a very important job for a shinobi. Not to mention a huge honor. Your poppa was Hokage before me and everyone respects him for it." she explained to her son.
"Poppa would let me have fun…" Naruto grumbled to himself, spacing out a bit from boredom.
Naruto was expecting a reply from his mother, as he always got. Yet none came. Naruto turned to look at his mother, who was doing her best to hold back tears. It took him a second to realize why she was crying before he leapt over to hug her.
"Sorry, momma…" Naruto said, snuggling his face into her as he spoke.
Drying her tears, Kushina looked down at her son with a sad smile. "It's okay, Naruto. I just… wish your dad could be here. He would've loved helping to raise you and seeing how you're turning out." She told him, stroking his spiky blonde hair.
"Was dad really that good at being a Hokage?" Naruto asked.
"He wasn't Hokage for long, sadly. But, despite that, he made great strides for the village in the little time he did get." Kushina told him, a smile on her face as she recalled the day Minato told her about him being appointed the Fourth Hokage.
Naruto sat there, as his mind turned to the dream he had had some nights ago. "Did dad go on adventures before becoming Hokage?" Naruto asked curiously, trying to shift the conversation.
Kushina giggled a bit. "Oh, he had a lot of adventures out on missions. We both did. In fact, one such adventure that happened when we were children was why I fell for him in the first place." she explained, a wistful smile on her face.
"Blegh… Ino germs…" Naruto said, making a disgusted face.
Kushina grinned a bit. "Does my Naruto have a crush on the Yamanaka princess?" she asked playfully.
"No. Shikamaru said girls have germs like Ino." Naruto answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
Kushina giggled. "No, they don't, Naruto. Momma is a girl, after all." she pointed out.
"Momma's not a girl. Momma is momma." Naruto replied, denying that fact.
"... I can't be mad at you. Come here" Kushina said with a sigh and a smile, hugging Naruto close.
Naruto happily snuggled into the hug before looking up at her. "Did you two ever go to any big, scary mountains?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Oh, plenty of times. And scary valleys, abandoned mansions and castles. All kinds of places." Kushina explained, smiling as she recalled some of their missions together when their teams worked together.
"Have you ever been inside any scary mountains?" Naruto asked curiously, which got an eyebrow raise from Kushina.
Now, Kushina began to get confused. "No. Why do you ask, sweetie?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.
"One of the kids at school told me about a Mountain of Death. Is it real? Or is it like those things in Grandpa Jiraiya's books?" Naruto replied. He was lying through his back teeth, but it is not like his mother noticed that.
Kushina picked Naruto up and brought him face to face with her. "Naruto. Never. Ever. Ever go to that mountain." she told him with a serious face.
"Why?" Naruto asked simply, blinking in a confused manner at his mother's change of demeanor.
"Because it's a 'Mountain of Death.' You'll die if you go there and that would make momma sad. Do you want to make momma sad?" Kushina explained, trying to get the point across to her boy.
"Auntie Rin calls Uncle Obito's laundry a Mountain of Death, but I survived falling in it." Naruto explained, as if trying to calm her down. However, it had the opposite effect.
"I'm not joking, Naruto. You are never, ever, ever allowed to go to that mountain by yourself. Not until you're strong enough to be Hokage. Understand?" Kushina told her son, her serious gaze locked on his eyes.
"Yes, momma." Naruto answered blankly.
Kushina smiled. "Good. Now, if you're good while momma gets some work done, I'll take you to get some ice cream." she told him gently.
"Yay ice cream!" Naruto yelled happily, reaching his arms to the sky in joy.
With a smile, Kushina set Naruto gently in her lap and got back to her work. However, contrary to what she thought she instilled in her son, it had the opposite effect. He wanted, no, he needed to head to that mountain he saw in his dreams. The Mountain of Death.
Half An Hour Later: Fruit of the Cream Ice Cream Stand
Naruto happily skipped ahead of his mother towards the ice cream shop. The summer sun beat down on the two Uzumaki, making it a perfect afternoon for the village's best dairy confections. As Naruto impatiently waited for his cone to be done, he noticed Kei and Miko walking towards the stand. Seeing his friend, Naruto smiled and waved his arms wildly towards his friend.
"Kei!" Naruto chipperly called out and rushed over towards him.
Hearing his name be called, Kei looked and smiled at the sight of his friend. "Naruto! How are you doing?" he replied, rushing up to greet his friend.
"Momma's finally done with all her boring paperwork and we're getting ice cream!" Naruto answered eagerly, jumping up and down in excitement.
"Sweet! Mom and I just got done with studying. Stupid dusty, old scrolls…" Kei replied, muttering the last part.
"Kushina, you old fox. Glad to see you got yourself out of all that paperwork for the day. How have things been going for you?" Miko asked with a smile before she quickly ordered.
Kushina groaned. "I feel like my wrist is cramping up from all that paperwork…!" she replied in frustration.
"Oh, you'll get used to it. It's like learning to throw shuriken. You never forget." Miko joked, trying to cheer her up.
"Don't mention throwing. I wanted to chuck my desk out the window. I was getting so frustrated…" Kushina sighed, shaking her wrists to loosen them up.
"Oh, tell me about it. Father has been driving me up the walls over the scroll organization lately. I'm ready to send a desk into his face at this rate." Miko sighed as well, remembering the arguments as if they were yesterday.
As the two women began to talk, Naruto sensed an opportunity. He soon grabbed Kei and pulled him away, but not too far as to make it suspicious. He then turned to confront his friend.
"Kei. What do you know about the Mountain of Death?" Naruto asked.
"I know that some pretty weird stuff goes on in it. I also know that very few who go into it come back alive. The ones who live… don't live well." Kei replied while raising an eyebrow, wondering where his blonde friend was going with this.
"Okay, I know I'm going to sound crazy, but I had a dream some nights ago. There is someone inside that Mountain." Naruto explained, which caught the Kamishini boy off guard.
Kei was surprised by that. "Wait… you too?" he asked, surprised by his friend's words.
"Wait… you had a weird dream about it?" Naruto asked, confused that his friend was not calling him an insane moron. He was not complaining, but it was certainly confusing.
"Yeah. I had a dream that I was making my way through it down into some weird vault. Sei and Shin had the same dream too, for some reason." Kei told him, finding this whole situation odd.
"Four people having weird dreams about the same mountain… that isn't a coincidence, is it?" Naruto asked as his mind began to wander onto more… interesting conclusions.
"We need to talk to Sasuke. If he's been having it too, then something really weird is going on here." Kei told his blonde friend, having a feeling that something was off.
"I asked my mom about that place, but all she told me was not to go there. Did you ask anyone about it?" Naruto asked.
"I asked my grandpa about it, but…" Kei said, recounting the conversation with Seishin.
Earlier that Morning: Kamishini Residence
Kei walked through the labyrinthine halls of the Kamishini Estate, looking for a specific room. Contrary to what anyone would believe about them, the higher rank you were in the clan, the harder it was to find your room. However, Kei had just enough knowledge to get where he was going and knocked on an old oaken door.
"Who is it?" The elderly, but powerful voice of Seishin asked.
"Grandpa? It's Kei." he called.
"Come on in, boy. The door's unlocked." Seishin answered through the door.
With that, Kei opened the door and stepped inside. Despite the room being the largest one other than the ordinary one in the house, Kei certainly would not know it just by looking. Titanic bookshelves stuffed to the gills, grand cases full of ancient artifacts, and literal mountains of paper covered the place. He had to use what shinobi grace and reflexes he had to walk through the place. However, he soon arrived at a colossal desk of thick, dark hardwood, made in a style not used in centuries. It was equally cluttered with many different things of similar old origin. All before homing in on the towering, ancient figure that was his grandfather, who turned around on his swivel chair.
"What is it that you need, my boy?" Seishin replied, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you know about a creepy, old mountain at the edge of the Land of Fire? The one right near the coast." Kei asked, trying to be subtle.
A bushy white brow on the top of the elder statesman's head raised high at such a specific question. "I know many things. Though I fear your mother will be furious if I tell you much about such a… mature topic." Seishin replied, the old man showing a rare moment of fearful vulnerability over his daughter's temper.
"I overheard a shinobi in the village talking about it. Something about, and I quote, 'a lot of weird and dangerous shit' being inside it…" Kei explained, lying smoothly.
"... If I tell you, your mother is not finding it out. Understand?" Seishin answered sternly.
Kei nodded and made a motion of zipping his mouth shut, locking shut, and throwing away the key. Seeing that his grandson understood, Seishin nodded and continued.
"It is known more recently by that title. That is merely due to the fact no shinobi has come out of that mountain alive. However, there is a reason for it." Seishin explained, which immediately got his grandson asking questions.
"What reason is that, Grandpa?" Kei asked him.
"The mountain was settled, long ago, by a people older and grander than our own. A people that we long have held kinship to. The mountain's true name is Seaheart, home to the Seaheartians." Seishin answered, as simply as reciting something that was common knowledge.
Kei was surprised to hear that. "The kingdom descended from the royal family of our homeland?" He asked in disbelief.
"Indeed. The sole unbroken line of blood connected to our homeland. Lord Moto, our ancestor who had last interacted with them, spoke of a kingdom of splendor, riches, and mystical might that seems… even as we mix chakra and the power of the divine… honestly impossible." Seishin said, as if trying to pick out the right words to use. An act that further shocked Kei, as it was rare for his grandfather to be at a loss for words.
"They used power from the gods without needing chakra to make it easier to control?" he asked his grandfather in sheer disbelief.
"No, boy. Able to use the raw essence, the raw power of the realms themselves. Beyond that, even fashion that power into items, scrolls, weapons, armor, and even into themselves using runes. Yet unlike us, they were not warlike people. Despite their power." Seishin continued.
Kei was in sheer awe of what he was hearing. "That's… that's…" he tried to say, at a loss for words.
"Indescribable? Incredible? Unbelievable?" Seishin asked, trying to help his grandson along.
"Y… yeah…" Kei replied, nodding as best he could.
"It is a concept that many pillars before me have had to wrangle with. The concept of beings so powerful, so knowledgeable and skilled, yet not using it to destroy like so many have. And to vanish without a trace in the blink of an eye from the world." Seishin said, with contemplation and mournful sorrow in his voice.
"Do… do we know if they're still there…?" Kei asked hopefully, praying that answers to his and his brothers' strange dreams lay within that mountain.
"We do not know if they are even still there, boy. All we know is no Seaheartian has been seen in forever, and that anyone who attempts to enter their mountain now, does not return." Seishin explained in a guarded tone.
"Oh…" Kei replied, a bit nervous.
"Now then. Like I said earlier. Do not let your mother know I told you this." Seishin said sternly.
Kei nodded. "I won't, Grandpa. Not a word." he replied to his grandfather.
"Good. Now off you fly, young one. I have got research to do." Seishin said with a dismissing hand gesture.
Kei nodded and saluted before heading off. As he did, one thing was already on his mind: He had to tell his friends about this…
Present Time
"... If Sasuke has had these kinds of dreams, then we have to go to that mountain." Naruto said sternly, looking over his shoulder to check to make sure his mother had not noticed them.
"As bad an idea as that sounds, I'm with you on that. If Sasuke's been having dreams like ours, then this can't be a coincidence. We gotta check this out." Kei agreed, nodding as he looked at their mothers to make sure they did not overhear while trying to make it look like they were picking out ice cream flavors.
"Right. Later, we go check up on Sasuke." Naruto said simply.
Kei nodded as the two boys looked at ice cream flavors. Trying to make it seem like they had not just had a conversation about a potentially life-threatening personal mission. When the two women looked at their sons, they simply saw them looking over ice cream flavors with contemplative looks on their little faces.
Later: Uchiha Clan Compound
The two boys headed through the gates, ice cream in hand with the guards letting them through without a second thought. Both were common sites on the compound… even if it meant trouble. Mercifully, they did not have to go far to find Sasuke, as he was sitting looking at the Koi in the Koi Pond out front.
"Hey, Sasuke. I didn't know you liked fish." Naruto said with a smirk.
"They relax me. Is one of those for me?" Sasuke replied, raising an eyebrow when he noticed his friends with three cones, one held by Naruto and two by Kei.
"Yes, it is. Here you go, buddy." Kei said with a smile, handing Sasuke his cone.
"Sasuke, I need to ask you a question." Naruto said after eating a bit of his ice cream.
"What do you need to know?" Sasuke asked, licking his mint chocolate chip ice cream.
"Have you had any dreams about a mountain lately?" Naruto asked bluntly.
Stopping mid-lick, Sasuke thought about it. "Now that you mention it… yeah, I have." he noted, going back to his ice cream.
"That's it. We are going." Naruto said to Kei almost immediately after hearing that.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Going where?" he asked before getting a surprised look as he realized. "Wait… have you guys been having dreams about that weird mountain too?"
"Both of us and Kei's brothers have. Five people having similar dreams? That's not a coincidence." Naruto said sternly.
"My dreams involve going through a weird mountain maze to get to that creepy mountain. What about yours?" Sasuke replied, starting to wonder what was going on.
"Mine had me ending up in a weird clearing with wolves in it…." Naruto began to explain.
"With three cubs and two grown up ones? With one cub being hurt?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.
"Yeah! Then I somehow end up walking and ending up at that mountain maze you mentioned with a huge mountain in the middle!" Naruto explained, starting to become more suspicious.
"Me and my brothers had the same dream. Except ours goes to us being inside the mountain after the clearing and making our way through it down to some weird vault." Kei noted, finding this whole situation crazy.
"Alright. Get packing as stealthily as we can, boys. Tonight, we are heading out for it." Naruto said as he put his hands on his hips.
"I'll try, but we can't let Itachi find out. He'll tell the grownups, and we'll never get to go." Sasuke told his friends, looking around for any signs of his big brother.
"Well, then don't let him catch you. Simple as that." Naruto said nonchalantly.
"I have an idea of how we can avoid getting caught…" Sasuke told his friends, a clever smirk on his face.
"And that is…?" Kei nervously asked.
"We tell our parents that we're going on a camping trip with just our friends. Help us get ready for the academy in a year." Sasuke told the two, licking his ice cream.
"That's perfect! I knew you were smarter than a duck Sasuke!" Naruto said, jumping to hug his friend.
"To be fair, ducks are actually really smart. Still, that's a good idea." Kei told his friends, a smile on his face.
Sasuke gave an annoyed grunt at his blonde friend's antics but had a small smile. "I have my moments." he replied as the three went back to their ice creams.
Dead of Night: Outside the Walls of Konoha
Naruto and Sasuke stood at an old, twisted oak tree a few hundred feet beyond the city gates. The two were ready to give up the ghost until finally the triplets arrived, packs all set for a long journey. Sasuke turned to face them with an annoyed look.
"What took you three so long?" Sasuke growled.
"Mom and dad wanted to make sure we were all set up for our 'camping trip.' They worry too much." Shinkoku told the two.
"It's probably a good thing they don't know where we're going. They'd lock us in the hashi for good…" Kei said fearfully.
"Right. Is everyone ready?" Naruto asked, steadying his own pack.
The other four nodded, looking to make sure they had not been found out yet.
"Alright then. Let's get going. And let's hope that mountain has what we're looking for… with not as much danger as everyone says there is…" Naruto said nervously, as he turned to look at the long road ahead of him.
He did not know what was out there, or what was waiting for him, but it was now or never. They had to face the Mountain of Death. And whatever secrets laid within…
To Be Continued…