Tsunade look at Naruto and the body next to him with a tired sort a pride. Behind her she could feel Jiraiya's eyes, his guilt overwhelming everything about him. "What happened Jiraiya, what could possibly have done this to him?"

For a solid minute the older man said nothing, just looking at Naruto and the boys next to him with shock and confusion.

"I told you last month that I found one of Orochimaru's old bases. I knew it would be empty, but I was hoping to find something that would help. I took Naruto, like I told you I would but it turns out it wasn't empty. There's something in the dark, and Naruto ran towards it. I heard a scream when I found him he was like this. Screaming in agony, sweating with a massive bulge on his neck. I recognize the curse mark, obviously. No seal helped, I tried a dozen of them. I can feel Kyuubi's powers erupting around him but I knew I had to get him back to you to help."

Oddly enough Tsunade was not angry, she look at her old friend and sighed. "It wasn't your fault Jiraiya, you had no way to know that Orochimaru had anything like that in any base of his." Her eyes roamed to the body next to Naruto's, her sadness and exhaustion turning to confusion. "Now only if they can figure out what the hell this is?"

She reached out and placed her hand on the cheek of the body. Turning the face towards her she shuddered. It was Naruto's face, a perfect match. The same round cheeks, the same spiky blonde hair, the same blue eyes, the same whisker marks even. It was like looking at a clone of Naruto. At least until you checked out its chakra. It felt nothing like Naruto and yet everything like him. It radiated dark but weak chakra.

Oh and it did not have the Death Reaper seal on it's belly.

Several tests has concluded that it was deeply connected to Naruto, bound to him by chakra and power. Even their brain waves had synced up, though that was changing slowly. She knew they'd wake up the moment their brain waves were separated.

She just wish she knew what the hell had happened...

"Lady Tsunade!"

Shizune burst into the room,holding documents close to her chest. "We have Naruto and the other boy's blood test results. It was a curse mark variation!"

Snatching the documents away from her apprentice, Tsunade looked them over with a critical eye, feeling Jiraiya reading behind her.

"She's right... What ever this is, it is clearly a variation of the curse mark. Several of the same proteins, most of the same enzymes... These would cause aggression, and this would cause addiction. I can't identify the rest... Still it's the chakra test that I find most interesting. It isn't Naruto's or Kyuubi's, not completely. There are traces of Orochimaru's chakra here, but it's melding. I imagine it will become independent as time progresses. It's basically a new born in terms of physical chakra, though it's spiritual chakra is equal to Naruto's own..."

Sighing once again, she rubbed her forehead.

"We just have to observe them and figure out what exactly is happening... And try to contain it if is truly a problem."

No one responded, just looking at Naruto and his doppelganger in confusion and hope...

...

Chapter end, tell me what you think about the new story in the reviews.It is an old idea I had that I wanted to play with.Love,your Ninja Overlord,Mika.