#hiddenuzumakiau

I have a hard time believing that all uzumaki just up and disappeared into the world after uzushio was destroyed, most probably went underground and went into hiding in various places under various fake aliases, to that degree there probably were some uzumaki who went to konoha after they announced that they’d take in any refugee uzumaki, maybe the uzumaki went to konoha and just kept under their fake aliases and disguised appearances (non-chakra kind cause shinobi would see through it) so that konoha didn’t become a second uzushio when uzumaki started coming back together

for this reason i propose the au that Umino Iruka is the child of an uzumaki person or couple who escaped to konoha, because other than his hair and eye color he’s got the tan of any tropic island native, his loud personality can easily blend with the uzumaki loudness, iruka is a frequent of ichiraku alongside naruto, he was known as a major prankster as a kid which seems in line with uzumaki playful personalities, and his name literally translates to “dolphin of the sea,” iruka meaning “dolphin” and umino meaning “of the sea” the same way gaara is called sabaku no gaara translated to gaara of the desert

i can totally see dolphins being a kind of clan symbol or even a straight up animal summon common in uzushio since they’re an island nation

also it’s a pretty much agreed upon fandom hc that uzumaki have large quantities of chakra and struggle to control it as a result, which can kinda explain iruka struggling with ninjutsu as a student in the academy

he’s shown to have some understanding of sealing for the string light barrier ninjutsu he used (though it’s seen much more frequently in boruto than in naruto) personally i hc that he created or specialized the technique and eventually taught it to his students as part of the curriculum which would explain why it’s rarely seen in naruto but more frequent in boruto especially by students of the academy (idk how reliable this is since i never read the manga but the fandom wiki says the students using the technique is special to the anime, so you could also just throw boruto out the window and say it’s iruka’s special sealing thing he taught himself and no one else)

uzushio was called the “village of longevity” and are known for their vitality which i think can explain iruka being able to keep up with higher ranked shinobi despite being only chunnin, of which is not common from what i could tell i also just think it’s funny he’s an honorary jounin in a group of famous ppl like kakashi and gai so we’re gonna take that as him being jounin level

idk what the connection between chakra sensors and uzumaki is if there even is one beside karin but i do think iruka being some kind of sensor type explains him always effortlessly finding naruto when it’s shown how naruto evades others of much higher rank and skill when he wants to

it’s stated that his parents died during the kyuubi attack that naruto was born in and he was pretty young then (prob early teens or preteen) so i can imagine if he had uzumaki features he’d have already grown up on the norm of hiding them but not been old enough to be told the truth of why

if he ever finds out then i imagine it’s by going through old stuff with his parent’s things with the info tucked into a corner alongside any valuables, or maybe he even meets karin or another sensor who feels his chakra and is like hmm this feels familiar

maybe he’s not even uzumaki necessarily, it’s possible to think he’s just a descendant of someone from uzushio who was part of a vassal clan of the uzumaki, which would explain away his non-uzumaki features

if we go down this route than we can view the “Umino” clan as being similar to the inuzuka clan with animal companions, specifically dolphins

previous reasons for him being uzumaki can still be recycled for why he’s ethnically from uzushio

this solution would explain kushina’s lacking connections in konoha, with the exception of mikoto, compared to minato who everyone seems to know personally especially since as his wife and high ranking shinobi she would have interacted with them frequently, as well as her seeming disinterest in uzushio as a cultural heritage and her people

kushina could have been discreetly in contact with several uzumaki or uzushio people in konoha, shinobi or civilian, under various disguises and just not been as invested or have time for minato’s friends or her own shinobi social circles when her lost family were right there for her to be with instead

it makes sense for their interactions to be discreet too since the uzumaki/uzushio people would have to keep their identities hidden from others and interacting regularly with a publicly known uzumaki would turn heads, plus kushina as the jinchuriki prob wasn’t well received by the civilians so from this angle too it makes sense to not be seen together so that the civilian ire wouldn’t be tracked on to already struggling and disguised uzushio families

this is now me being entirely self indulgent but i think it would also be really sweet and cute if kushina visited the disguised uzumaki/uzushio families in a matching disguise as a subtle connection to say they’re still family even if they’re in hiding

imagine kushina occasionally visiting iruka’s family and was a sort of auntie or sister figure to him growing up, and he assumed she died during the kyuubi attack like his parents when he couldn’t find any records of her whereabouts (which he wouldn’t have been wrong)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ everything from here is me just going off the rails so feel free to ignore lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

also who’s to say there wasn’t a reason obito reminded kushina so much of herself and has such a different personality compared to other uchiha, maybe one of his parents was an uzushio refugee that kushina didn’t know about cause they married into the uchiha clan and died before obito could ever get to know them since he grew up an orphan

i don’t want to say this is because he’s part uzushio since uchiha also have high vitality but i do think his struggles with ninjutsu as a kid could be explained by uzumaki chakra quantities and it is kinda insane how many times he sorta not-dies in canon if he was just a regular shinobi in the academy before meeting madara, maybe madara somehow knew he was part uzushio and that’s why he chose obito to bring about his plan

because how else would a regular uchiha be on the same power levels as an uchiha who’s the literal reincarnation of Indra, a sorta demigod

so i kinda word vomited on my first two posts abt my thoughts and i feel it wasn’t very coherent so for the sake of my notes and anyone who doesn’t want to go back through all that i’m just gonna do a more concise summary of the au here

the hidden uzumaki au is basically a what if there were more people from uzushio who survived it’s destruction and some escaped to konoha under disguises

in this au kushina was a sensor and could sense the unique quality of uzumaki chakra, which allowed her to discover and become close with some of the survivors of uzushio who came to konoha under disguise

current people of uzushio origins:

umino iruka: child of a refugee uzumaki couple who hid in konoha disguised under the “umino” name after uzushio’s destruction, he was born right after uzushio’s end, his parents joined konoha shinobi ranks and eventually became chunin, they’re both uzumaki but they’re branch members and only kohari(mom) inherited the red hair, she wore a brown dye so she wouldn’t be clocked, iruka got ikkaku’s(dad) hair and never knew mom’s real hair color, mom liked to doodle fuuinjutsu at home and let him watch her, he was never formally taught but grew up to create his own barrier fuuinjutsu as a result of childhood memories, he grows up unaware of his uzumaki heritage

- kushina was aware of them and visited under disguise as a cousin frequently, the parents knew her true identity but iruka didn’t, they celebrated naruto’s conception together but she was under watch and protection after so she couldn’t visit

maito gai: maito dai’s grandparents left uzushio around the time mito came to konoha, dai grew up with no knowledge of his uzushio connection, met gai’s mom, a non-uzumaki who escaped uzushio before it’s destruction (retired shinobi work in konoha), they had gai, who got mom’s personality with dad’s interests and quirks, got his tortoise summons from his mom who’s clan held the contract, maito gai is aware his mom was from uzushio since his dad told him but he doesn’t tend to tell people cause his dad also told him his mom kept it secret, most people assume he got his summons from his dad

- kushina was unaware of gai’s mom but recognized gai’s summon and visited gai on occasion, she didn’t disguise herself as she was already acquainted with gai’s dad and his mom was already dead so there was no secret identity to keep, due to his public connection to kushina he could not interact with naruto after his birth

uchiha obito: his uchiha dad met his uzumaki mom while stationed near uzushio during the 2SW before it’s destruction, fell in love and when he was meant to move stations he abandoned duty to be with her and is looked down upon by the uchiha clan as a result, had obito, uzushio is destroyed and mom dies during, dad and obito escape to konoha but dad dies soon after because Uchiha fall apart when their most loved one dies idk, obito would be abt age three or four when this happens, he goes to the academy and is raised by his grandma, doesn’t remember his parents and is unaware of his mom’s origins because the uchiha don’t wanna talk abt his parents and he suppressed most of his memory of before konoha due to trauma

- kushina was unaware of obito’s heritage and mom but saw herself in obito and felt he was familiar, he’s her favorite of minato’s students

senju tsunade & namikaze minato: half the namikaze came to konoha alongside uzumaki mito from uzushio as a protective vassal for mito and the senju clan, the namikaze are generally blonde with blue eyes, they’re fishers, weather warning and coast guard of uzushio with their wind nature, the namikaze in konoha declined as the senju did and minato grew up an orphan in his clan compound, tsunade’s mom is namikaze, both are aware of the namikaze clan’s origins and tsunade asked minato and kushina both if they would leave konoha with her, both refused

- kushina marries minato and was close to tsunade before she left konoha

haruno sakura (new!): kizashi(dad) is an uzumaki civilian who survived uzushio, lived as a traveling merchant and ended up in konoha where he married mebuki(mom) and took her last name, he had premature graying so his red hair didn’t need to be disguised cause it looked dirty pink, he had sakura, travels as a merchant to where he knows uzushio survivors are hiding on occasion, mom is from konoha (and a follower of ninshu where she got the circle symbol from, which i’m writing as a religious philosophy similar to daoism) and works as a nurse at the hospital with her high chakra control allowing her to perform iryo-ninjutsu despite being a civilian

- kushina was aware of kizashi and visited under disguise as a younger cousin, he didn’t know her true identity but knew she was a shinobi, she was invited to their wedding and pregnancy announcement, they were a civilian family so she didn’t mention her own pregnancy, just that she wouldn’t be able to visit for a while, they assumed she was on a long term mission and when she never came back they assumed she died

tenten (new!): both parents are non-uzumaki who escaped uzushio’s fall and met in konoha in their early 20s, recognized each other as being from uzushio, fell in love, married, and had two kids, a son (oc) and then a daughter(tenten), the son(tenkai) apprentices as a traveling merchant to bring wares of weapons back to sell at their family shop, tenten is aware of her heritage and looks up to tsunade as a role model as a result of their connection, the family became aware of the haruno family after tenkai’s apprenticeship under kizashi and are now close family friends

- kushina was unaware of them due to not sensing the unique uzumaki quality in their chakra

sabaku no gaara & siblings (new!): for this au rasa(dad) had a branch uzumaki parent who liked to travel before the 2SW started, who settled in suna and married the kazekage, rasa eventually developed his magnet release kekkei genkai and became kazekage, married karura(mom) and had gaara who got his red hair, his children are unaware of their uzumaki blood but rasa did suspect and gaara, who looks most like him and has his red hair, being his only child capable of holding shukaku, the ichibi, was a confirmation for him

it has now occurred to me that literally every person i have talked abt having uzushio blood has had close relations with kakashi at one point or another in canon, kakashi just attracts uzumaki(?) attention like a magnet in this au lol

his Eternal Rival gai has been slowly but very aggressively trying to befriend since the moment they met, they are now best friends

minato is his genin teacher and has almost quite literally adopted kakashi into his family as a son/brother figure, kushina right alongside him

obito is genuinely obsessed with kakashi throughout the whole show, like at first it’s just one sided jealousy and rivalry but also he gave kakashi his eye while dying and then has stalked kakashi since

iruka was injured during a mission led by kakashi that put him on the path of teaching so he’s known kakashi for a while and they’re basically coparenting naruto together

at the very least tsunade must have liked and trusted him enough to be hokage after her and for shizune to be his assistant as hokage, and there’s also their mutual connection to naruto