Naruto simply sat there, not talking, not reacting. He'd eaten the ramen by instinct, it seemed, but Iruka doubted he'd tasted any of it. He was obviously thinking hard about something. Iruka recalled the conversation in the Hokage's office.

Mizuki had been bound and taken away by Ibiki. Iruka really didn't envy him, and didn't want to think too hard about what would happen to him now. The Sandaime Hokage had heard both his and Naruto's stories, and was talking to Naruto now.

"Mizuki, along with the villagers, are wrong. You are not a demon. You are the demon's container, which is a very different thing. When you were a newborn baby, the Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyuubi in you to stop its rampage. Your sacrifice, and his, saved the village and all its inhabitants. If people had any sense, they'd thank you for protecting them. However, the villagers are more foolish than the Yondaime believed. Instead of thanking you, they treat you as they would a demon."

Naruto looked pretty shocked by this turn of events. "So what this means is that I'm cursed to carry a demon to protect Konoha, and all of Konoha hates me for it?"

"Not quite all of Konoha. The more powerful ninja, who know more about sealing techniques, understand that you are just a child with a heavier burden than most. And besides, you do gain something out of it. Firstly, you heal at a medically impossible rate. Secondly, the jutsu you just learned, tajukagebunshin-no-jutsu, is a more advanced form of kagebunshin-no-jutsu, which only creates a single clone but is still upper chunin rank. Most jonin would have been killed from chakra drain if they'd attempted to create as many clones as you just did."

Naruto looked shocked. "But… but it barely tired me at all!"

The Sandaime continued, "That is the power of the fox. You continually had to contain its chakra with your own, strengthening your coils and increasing your reserves to near my level, although my chakra use is so controlled and efficient compared with yours I may as well have a hundred times your amount. You want to become Hokage – the fox has helped you fulfil some of the requirements already. You can even call on its strength in a life-or-death situation. Many ninja would kill to have these advantages."

Naruto was stunned. The fox that had attacked Konoha had been sealed into him by the Yondaime Hokage and was giving him the strength to become Hokage too. That was a lot to take in.

"You should go get some rest. If you have other questions, come to me at any time."

And then he'd made good on his promise of ramen. And Naruto was just sitting there, staring blankly. He wondered what the boy was thinking about.

-X-

In actual fact, Naruto's thoughts were going at a ridiculous rate. 'Yondaime personally picked me as the host of the demon – I was selected by the Fourth Hokage! The demon strengthens my chakra to Hokage levels, I wonder if I can boost it even higher? There's so many things I can use my shadow clones for! I need to go train so I can pass the next exam!'

At last, Naruto was done thinking for the moment. Jumping up, he thanked his teacher for the meal and dashed off at top speed. Iruka covertly followed him to make sure he was OK, but Naruto was capable of giving virtually every person in Konoha the slip if he knew – or even suspected – he was being followed. A gap in a fence, a hidden fire escape, and some thick bushes combined with an old, now thankfully clean, sewage pipe and he was gone.

Back at the abandoned lot where he and Mizuki had had their showdown, Naruto quickly grabbed the scroll copy he'd had his clones make and ran off to another private area that Iruka-sensei hopefully hadn't found yet. He opened the scroll and read through the description of shadow clones again.

"The shadow clone is different, superior, to other clones, for it can act independently, requiring neither direction from the creator nor a complex set of predefined instructions. It acts, to all intents and purposes, like another copy of the user. However, the greatest use of it is to learn. Any experience a clone has, any knowledge it gains, will go to the user when the clone dispels. Note that this works for learning techniques and practicing chakra control, but can't be used to gain muscle or change chakra flows, as these changes are not solely in the mind."

Naruto sat back and grinned. His days, which had seemed so crammed with work before, were now looking a lot more relaxed and pleasant. The rest of the scroll, with advanced chakra control techniques and jonin-level jutsu, would keep around fifty clones busy. Browsing the library for texts on ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu would take around twenty more, as the librarians were very suspicious and would notice the sudden glut of people. One or two clones per lesson at the academy, including the lessons for other years and for sub-topics he hadn't taken would need another fifty. And then he'd take another thirty to practice group sparring with each other, who he could replace when they popped. Overall, that was 150 shadow clones per day, which he could do with a little effort, and then when they dispelled that evening he'd gain insane amounts of knowledge and experience.

Naruto went home and dreamt of what the morning would bring.

-X-

Over the next couple of days, reports came into the Hokage's office of suspicious strangers seen in the archives, the training grounds, the academy, and the village in general. Each time they were confronted, attacked, knocked out, or otherwise incapacitated they would dispel into a cloud of smoke and then a similar person would take their place a few minutes later. No-one knew the cause or the solution. Except for one man.

"Hello Iruka!" Naruto said as one of the few people who cared about him came by his home that evening. "What brings you here?"

"Look, I understand you want to use your new jutsu to its fullest advantage, but this has to stop. Your transformed clones are disrupting lessons, scaring civilians, and keeping the ANBU run ragged trying to discover who's behind this huge covert intelligence gathering mission."

Naruto frowned. "I was careful to use the Transformation technique to change my appearance each time I doubled up. Why do they think someone's gathering information? And how did you know it was me?"

"Look, did you not notice your clones dispelling all over the place? And how many do you have? ANBU think there's at least 10."

"So that's where the clones went! I thought I was giving them too little chakra. Anyway, can you ask them to stop? It really messes up my training having to make new clones all the time."

Iruka sighed. "I respect, and am slightly surprised by, your desire to train, but having random people turn up everywhere all of a sudden will get noticed, especially in a ninja village. Just be a little more circumspect. And back to my earlier question, how many clones do you have at once? I think the ANBU were a little generous in their estimates, there's no way you'd have ten shadow clones with enough strength to last most of a day."

Naruto grinned. "Actually, it's about 150."

Iruka fainted.

-X-

Iruka came to in a rush. 'What a strange dream,' he thought to himself. 'I thought that Naruto had made 150 shadow clones.'

He rolled over and saw a grinning blond head five centimetres away. "Gah!" he shouted as he leapt up. Suddenly it all came rushing back. "You actually made that many clones, huh? Well done. I'm proud of you and what you can achieve."

Naruto's face lit up. "Do you wanna know my training schedule? It's great, I saw it in the scroll, it's by the second Hokage!"

Iruka nearly fainted again. "All right," he said weakly. "Are you feeling healthy? Not exhausted or like you've depleted your chakra reserves?"

"I'm fine," came the quick response. "Anyway, I have thirty clones sparring and practicing taijutsu and combination moves, fifty learning jutsu and practicing chakra control, fifty at the Academy, and twenty at the library looking at new information. They should be starting to wrap up now." A sudden flicker of comprehension crossed Naruto's face as he received a load of knowledge. "Did you know that the difference between knowing a jutsu and mastering a jutsu is the number and speed of the seals you need to make it? And that advanced ninja can perform a close-range switching technique with air, but tend to use leaves or sand instead to limit chakra use? And…"

Iruka interrupted him. "I see you're learning a lot, and that makes me happy, but be careful. Some people wouldn't approve of what you're doing, and you also need to make sure you know your limits so you don't overstep them. Anyway, keep on training like this and you'll make Hokage in record time!" With that he gave Naruto a pat on the head and leapt away, to explain to the Sandaime that the strange clones were just Naruto and that his ANBU wouldn't have to prepare for a covert war any longer.

He just hoped that the boy didn't hurt himself in his extreme training.