Ryuna (alternate ending)
Ryuna:
Ryuna had managed to convince Hiruzen and Jiraiya to appoint her as the new Jinchūriki just a few days ago, and now the Council meeting was underway. They wanted her to embark on a training journey to learn how to control the Fox’s chakra. The problem was, there was nothing inside her to control.
No, the Fox was sealed inside a newborn back at her home.
“I don’t agree with this,” she stated firmly, unwilling to yield.
“Ryuna, for the sake of safety, you must undergo the training,” Hiruzen argued, his voice gentle but resolute. “We can’t afford any more risks.”
“I have excellent control over the Beast’s chakra,” she insisted, even releasing a small amount of it—wasting the extremely limited chakra she’d stored in her sealing mark just to convince them. “I won’t leave the Village now.”
“Now is exactly when you need to leave the most,” Danzō countered. “The villagers are displeased with the current administration and don’t need salt rubbed into an open wound. Knowing the Jinchūriki is learning to control the Beast’s power will reassure them.”
“I already control it,” she said, fists clenched at her sides.
“Then you should be able to pass our tests quickly and return home,” Danzō dismissed her objections.
“It’s decided, then. Takeshi Ryuna will leave with Danzō for training in mastering the Nine-Tails’ power,” the Hokage declared with finality. Ryuna felt a chill of fear, the Sandaime’s words sounding like nails sealing a coffin.
“I... I’d like to say goodbye to my family,” Ryuna said in a daze.
“That won’t be necessary—”
“Of course, that’s a reasonable request,” Hiruzen interrupted Danzō’s objection, but the concession didn’t comfort her as much as he had hoped.
The rest of the meeting passed in a blur for Ryuna until Danzō began escorting her, accompanied by an ANBU guard, to her home to bid her family farewell. They escorted her as though she were a criminal walking to her execution.
Perhaps that was exactly the case.
She should have known Danzō would do this, that he would find a way to eliminate everyone involved in the investigations against him during the Yondaime’s time. If Minato-nii hadn’t died, Danzō would never have had the authority to touch Ryuna, but as things stood, she was just another citizen of Konoha, while he was the trusted ally of the acting Hokage.
When she entered her home, she was greeted by the mess that accompanied a newborn—a slightly disheveled twin brother trying to soothe Naruto while organizing their things. Kaito was too distracted to notice their approach or he wouldn’t have been so caught off guard when the door opened.
Kaito opened his mouth to say something, probably to ask how the meeting went, but froze when he saw who was with her. He, after all, was part of the investigation against Danzō and knew very well that the elder’s presence was never a good sign for them.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen; this wasn’t the plan.
“What’s going on?” he asked, caution and fear in his eyes as he held Naruto close to his chest, ready to fight or flee if necessary.
“The Hokage has decided that I need special training to learn how to use the Fox’s chakra,” she replied, trying to keep her voice neutral, watching as Kaito tensed, fully aware of the truth about the Jinchūriki and that this training was doomed to fail. “I came to say goodbye and ask you to take care of Naruto in my absence. Kaito, brother, you’ll lead the clan until my return. So don’t forget...”
“There are no orphans in the Takeshi clan,” he said, his body still tense. He was too focused on the movements of the ANBU agents accompanying Danzō to relax. “I remember.”
“Good.” Ryuna smiled and approached, wrapping her arms around her brother and Naruto simultaneously.
With just a tiny drop of chakra, she summoned the smallest of her butterfly summons. It bore a single marked seal. The butterfly landed on Kaito’s clothing, camouflaging itself with a weak genjutsu.
That was the last time Ryuna saw her family.
Her cell in the Root compound was uncomfortable, with no furniture or even a window. Ryuna had no idea how long she’d been there; time had become a confusing concept.
In the first few days, there was a pathetic attempt at “training,” which Danzō used as an excuse for his Root agents to beat her into unconsciousness. But once Kaito, Naruto, and their grandfather, Hiroshi, fled Konoha, Danzō began trying to force her to reveal their whereabouts. Ryuna knew he’d planned to use her family as leverage eventually, but their disappearance rendered that tactic useless.
The only other people she had any connection to were Orochimaru, Anko, and Kakashi. Orochimaru was safe as a Sannin, still conducting occasional work for Danzō. Anko was relatively popular, with many friends—unlike Ryuna—and her disappearance would be noticed. Kakashi, as the Yondaime’s student, had Obito and Rin, who would make a lot of noise if he vanished.
Even so, they weren’t as close to her as her brother. Ryuna had no more weaknesses that Danzō could easily exploit.
Her refusal to use the Fox’s chakra led to relentless punishment. Her lack of cooperation, combined with Naruto’s disappearance, caused Hiruzen to yield to Danzō’s demand for more brutal methods. Eventually, Danzō was authorized to transfer the Beast to a more "compliant" Jinchūriki. The Sandaime even suspected Ryuna of being complicit in Naruto’s “abduction.”
Kaito and Ryuna were officially declared nukenin and publicly blamed for the Nine-Tails’ attack.
Torture began sometime after that, but Ryuna couldn’t tell when exactly.
Despite their efforts, no one could force the Fox’s chakra out of her, nor could they figure out how to open the supposed Jinchūriki seal. They amputated parts of her body—fingers, a foot, and so on—slowly sawing through bone. It hurt unbearably. Yet her limbs always regenerated, thanks to her sealing techniques. Eventually, they used her as an organ bank for injured Root agents.
Death would have been so much easier, but they wouldn’t let her have that.
“Where is the seal?” they demanded.
“Release the Fox’s chakra,” they insisted.
At some point, Ryuna began laughing hysterically at their questions.
Where is the seal? There is no seal.
Release the Fox’s chakra? There’s nothing to release.
What else could she do but laugh? So they kept torturing her, hoping the next session would break her. But every time, she laughed harder because no answer she gave would change her fate.
Ryuna was doomed either way.
Her mind began to drift. It was probably when a Yamanaka was brought in to sift through her memories, and they discovered she had never been the Jinchuuriki.
Danzo was furious and personally beat her with his cane that day, but Ryuna laughed so hard it hurt. Every insult the elder shouted in frustration at having chased the wrong target all this time only made her laugh harder, wishing she could roll on the floor.
“WHERE IS HE?!” Danzo bellowed, desperate to find the Jinchuuriki. Hiruzen, standing behind the glass of the interrogation room, wore a stony expression. “WHERE DID YOU HIDE HIM?!”
Ryuna laughed louder and louder.
You know what’s even funnier? This wouldn’t have worked if Danzo hadn’t insisted on training her and if the Third Hokage hadn’t agreed. They probably never would have discovered that Naruto was the true Jinchuuriki.
But when Minato-nii was investigating Danzo, he warned them of the dangers, and they all had their escape routes planned to ensure their survival in case everything went south. As the head of the Takeshi and Uzumaki clans, Ryuna created a seal—a passageway to a dimensional pocket she had turned into a home, stocked with food and water and equipped with a sewage system that purified waste into potable water and turned the rest into fertilizer for the greenhouse soil, ensuring fresh food.
Without anyone inside the seal, the entire dimensional pocket would remain frozen in time.
That was her safe house, a place even Obito, with his Kamui, could never reach because he wouldn’t even know how to find it. It would be like searching for a speck of dust in space. Only someone who already knew its location could find it.
The most crucial part was that once someone was inside the seal, everything would close off, and no one else could enter without the permission of whoever was already inside. She made it this way out of fear that someone might find her notes and discover a way to access the Safe House.
So, when Danzo appeared at her house, and Kaito saw what was happening, he did what he had to do to ensure Naruto’s safety. His little butterfly led them to the Safe House, and there, if he wanted, Kaito could sign the Butterfly Contract to use them to learn what was happening in the outside world.
Kaito would know Ryuna was either imprisoned or already dead. Either way, he’d know it wasn’t safe.
Even if Ryuna told Danzo everything, he wouldn’t be able to open the seal. All of this was pointless.
How could she not laugh at such a messed-up situation?
“He’s far beyond your reach. You lost him!” she laughed hysterically, unable to contain herself—not that she cared to try at this point. “I WON! I won, I won, I won…”
Ryuna kept repeating it as she laughed at Danzo’s expression, which looked as though he’d bitten into a lemon. His face grew redder with rage, and Ryuna was still laughing when he drew a tanto and decapitated her.
Her head hit the ground, but her laughter still echoed through the room.
This time, Ryuna didn’t heal.
So, after Ryuna’s death, things will follow the Naruto canon to some extent:
Root and Danzo: Root and Danzo will continue to exist for many years, causing significant problems for Konoha. The Sandaime will keep turning a blind eye to his childhood friend.
Kakashi and Obito: They are together in the Anbu, and after Naruto’s supposed abduction, they reveal the truth about the Jinchuuriki’s identity to the Sandaime. This revelation leads to the use of a Yamanaka to interrogate Ryuna. Kakashi and Obito thought they were doing the right thing to save Naruto because the only version of the story they knew was the official one, which stated that Ryuna and Kaito had kidnapped him. Neither of them was involved in the Yondaime's investigation of Danzo, so they had no reason to distrust the official version. Since they rely on each other for emotional support, Danzo never finds an opening to recruit a traumatized Kakashi into Root, altering this part of the canon.
Orochimaru: Despite having gotten close to Ryuna and Kaito, after their departure, Orochimaru finds himself alone again and with no reason not to continue his unethical experiments under Danzo’s orders. He doesn’t know Ryuna was killed by Danzo. He will follow the canonical path, joining the Akatsuki under Pain’s leadership and continuing human experiments in pursuit of immortality (in my version, he had put this search aside for a bit because he found many other fun things to study).
Rin: She lives for a few more years before dying due to the damage to her chakra network caused by the poorly executed initial sealing of the Three-Tails. In this version, Rin receives regular treatments from Ryuna for her condition, but it will take years before she can be fully healed, as her chakra network needs to be entirely rebuilt. Even then, she will never be able to use medical ninjutsu again. Obito stays with her until her death, but he has Kakashi and other friends for emotional support.
Uchiha Massacre: It still happens, but not everyone dies. Obito’s Mangekyou allows him to face Itachi, saving a few lives (a small number). This won’t stop Sasuke from wanting revenge on his brother, but it removes his fixation on reviving his clan (strange for a guy who didn’t even want to think about girls or marriage. How did he plan to bring his clan back?). With older members (Obito) around, Sasuke has a support network and doesn’t go completely insane (but he’s still a jerk).
Kakashi: He feels guilty for not saving Naruto, but having Obito helps him avoid spiraling. It’s similar to the canon, where he lost everyone except Naruto and still avoided the boy to not feel more guilt. This time, Obito is the one left, and Kakashi avoids him. This allows Obito to maintain his double life unnoticed since the people closest to him are dead (Rin) or avoiding him (Kakashi). Otherwise, Kakashi follows the canon.
Obito: After Rin’s death, Obito investigates Ryuna’s whereabouts because he wants to ask her why she left. In his mind, Rin would still be alive if Ryuna had stayed in the village and continued the treatments. During his investigation, the trail leads him to Root, where he discovers the truth about the Uchiha Massacre and that Ryuna never abandoned the village but was killed by Danzo.
Sand and Sound’s Attack on Konoha: With this information, during Orochimaru’s attack, Obito kills Danzo and all Root agents (yes, Shin and Sai are also killed). The Sandaime dies as per canon. No one knows Obito is responsible for these deaths, and he continues living in Konoha, acting as a vigilante, killing elders, noble civilians, and anyone who goes against his moral code of protecting others (his morality = lives above missions, and those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash). The dream of becoming Hokage no longer exists at this point; he’s more like Danzo (not in the sense of kidnapping children and making them fight to the death, but in the “protect Konoha from the shadows” and doing the dirty work sense). He keeps living a normal life while secretly killing people (yes, he becomes a bit unhinged like in canon but takes a completely different path in doing so).
Tsunade: She still becomes Hokage, but it’s a much more bitter pill to swallow than in canon. She returns mainly out of guilt and a sense of responsibility. Without Naruto there to motivate her, she fulfills her duties but hates every second of it, limiting herself to doing only what’s necessary and training a successor to replace her as soon as possible.
Tailed Beasts and Jinchuuriki: Except for Kurama and Isobu, nothing changes for the others. The Three-Tails and Nine-Tails are trapped in the same dimensional space (Rin and Naruto’s seals are identical), and there’s no more chakra transfer between them and their Jinchuuriki, making it impossible to absorb their chakra into the Gedo Statue (Ten-Tails) at full power. Once Rin dies and Naruto becomes completely inaccessible, there’s no way to reach either of the two Tailed Beasts, so Ryuna unintentionally ruins Zetsu’s plans—but it works. However, this doesn’t stop Madara (there would still be Madara in the Fourth War, but no Kaguya).
Naruto: He grows up inside a storage seal with Kaito and Hiroshi (who dies when Naruto is still young) as his companions, along with some summons. As a result, he doesn’t develop an inferiority complex about his intelligence or combat skills because there’s no one to compare himself to, and Kaito treats his learning pace and needs as completely normal. With a good teacher and plenty of study materials (the entire Takeshi library), Naruto becomes very intelligent early on because studying is literally all they have to do inside the seal, and their “games” consist of physics and chemistry experiments, math tests, chakra control exercises, and the like. Remember, Naruto knows nothing outside of this, so to him, it’s completely normal. Consequently, he becomes a genius (not by learning fast but simply by knowing a lot). He starts leaving the seal occasionally at age 12 (he’s at an Anbu level by then), but at the first sign of danger, he can retreat back into the seal and stay safe. Since he’s smart and a good fighter, no one can catch him off guard.
A fun fact: Naruto sees a woman for the first time at 12 when he leaves the seal and finds it very strange. He doesn’t have the Sexy Jutsu (again, he didn’t even know what a woman looked like until then) and doesn’t consider women attractive because sexualization of the body is a socially constructed concept, and Naruto has never considered anyone attractive. You could say that in this version, Naruto is asexual, I think?
Sasuke: He grows up resentful and goes after Itachi, but it’s Obito, not Orochimaru, who trains him. In fact, Obito kills Orochimaru after the Sannin places the Curse Mark on Sasuke. When Obito tells him the truth about the massacre, Sasuke decides to leave the village but still kills Itachi to avenge his parents. He doesn’t attack Konoha because he knows Obito still protects the village, and despite everything, the man has become like an older brother to him.
Sakura and Ino: They maintain a crush on Sasuke for many years, as well as their rivalry. Since Sasuke never returns to Konoha after defecting (without Naruto to bring him back, Obito can use Kamui to visit him, so there’s no real reason to return), Sakura and Ino eventually outgrow their childhood crush and move on.
Hinata: Without Naruto to motivate her to train harder, she never becomes a powerful kunoichi and gives up quickly during the Chunin Exams. Hinata never reaches her full potential, and Hanabi replaces her as the Hyuga heiress.
Pain’s Attack and the Fourth War: Both still happen, with a significantly higher number of deaths. However, without the Ten-Tails, the war ends with Madara’s defeat (Obito defeats him), but without Naruto’s intervention, many ninjas die. Konoha suffers the most because Naruto doesn’t convince Nagato (also killed by Obito) to resurrect everyone who died in the attack on the village, and Kakashi ends up dying in this event.
In the End: The Uchiha clan, ostracized for causing so many deaths, moves to an isolated mountain where they live for generations, strengthening their clan and growing in numbers. They never return to the Elemental Nations or involve themselves in ninja wars. The ninja world, in turn, is fed horror stories about what the Uchiha are capable of when fueled by hatred and pain, and even death can’t stop them from seeking revenge, so they stay away from the clan’s mountain.