3 Jun Uzumaki (1/2)

(Alternative t.i.tle: A Journey Hastened by Seals)

Upon regaining consciousness, the first thing Elior became aware of was that of new sensations. He felt a mild sense of gravity, of sound and of being submerged in liquid.

[Good morning. I take it you're noticing your new physical form.]

”Nnh, good morning, Yuma. Yeah, it's strange going from a non-physical form to a physical one. How long until my birth?”

[I miscalculated the time a little, but not by that much. You've got about an hour or so.]

”Has the Uzus.h.i.+ogakure raid started yet?”

[It started about 3 hours ago. Luckily, your parents had left before it began. One of the elders of the Uzumaki Clan had a hunch about the imminent destruction of the village, and ordered as many as possible to be evacuated in secrecy. Your father, being his son, was among them, despite his desire to remain behind, but your mother was what forced him to agree to escape. We're about 3 or 4 hours from Konoha, and your mother is having contractions, causing them to stop and camp.]

”Did they escape unharmed?” Elior worried about his parents despite not having been born yet.

[Mostly unharmed, outside of a couple of scratches. Fortunately, most of the ninjas involved haven't gotten this far out yet, giving your parents a brief respite.]

He mentally sighed, feeling relieved.

[Ah, miscalculated again. Seems it's happening now.]

Before he could question Yuma's statement, a sudden onrush of gravity and what could only be described as 'swimmers ear' hit his tiny form. Without needing any explanation, Elior began to attempt to speed up his birth with as much as his little body could manage to do, not that it really meant much.

Fortunately, the process went pretty well, all things considered. Elior was soon swaddled in a blanket that had clearly been through many years of usage.

A male voice, his father's voice, said, ”A healthy boy, Asuka.” Blinking his newborn eyes to clear his vision, as new as it was, Elior laid eyes on his father; a rather handsome man sporting the characteristic red hair of the Uzumaki, along with deep yet bright blue eyes. His only marking came from a scar that began just beneath his left eye and ran across his cheek to his earlobe.

A new voice, an exhausted female's, answered after a minute or so, ”Good... I was worried... with all of the recent events... I thought it'd be much harder...” Asuka Uzumaki, whose arms Elior was soon placed into, lay on a camping futon, with a blood and fluid-stained travel blanket over her. Her hair was a lighter shade of red than his father's, but her blue eyes had silver streaks that his did not. Despite her exhaustion and sweaty figure, she held her newborn child with a smile and lightly kissed his cheek. Because of his developing sense of touch, the contact felt ticklish, causing Elior to giggle.

”He's probably the cutest kid I've ever seen,” said Elior's father as he moved to sit beside his wife. ”This little munchkin will need a good name.”

Her smile unabated, Asuka lightly brushed at Elior's small head of red hair and said, ”I know just the one. Jun. Jun Uzumaki.”

”I like it... not as much as I like Ryuuto, though...”

A minor glare was aimed at the man from the new mother, ”Takehito...”

He held up his hands in surrender, ”Alright, alright, you win, dear...” With a small sigh, Takehito moved so his wife could lean on him for support. ”How quickly can you recover your chakra reserves?”