Testing and Revelations

Naruto was once more visiting the underground to see Sakumo. It was easy to sneak out during the night from the ANBU, especially as they, or at least the one tasked with following him closest seemed too sentimental to watch him directly. They were also less attentive after a full day, especially as they didn't expect someone trying to leave.

As he turned around a table full of rambunctious men, he saw Sakumo sitting in the same corner he always sat with a cup of something in front of him - likely sake or tea. While he walked to the booth he reflected on what he needed to get from the man. A cloning technique so he could stay out of scrutiny while doing things that were worth his time.

He would also probably punch the man in his stupid masked face when he made fun of his sloppiness.

As he entered the booth, Sakumo looked at him, his eyes filled with mirth. When the White Fang opened his mouth, Naruto knew he was going to hate what the man would say. "Oh, Naruto, making a fashion statement to your peers? Taking after Kakashi are you?"

Naruto was right, he wanted to punch that stupid look off his sensei's stupid face. He barely held himself back. Getting riled up about it wouldn't help, so instead he shot back, "Tch, well at least I got something out of it. I'm taking after Kakashi more closely than you think."

Sakumo, to his credit, merely blinked in surprise. "You got a Sharingan implanted?"

Responding in a tone that implied he didn't want to talk about it further, he answered, "Yes, I did. Now I have come to the conclusion that I need some way to be in two places at the same time, preferably in a way that I can know what happened to the clone so it won't look suspicious if I were questioned on something I did."

Sakumo decided to drop the subject of the Sharingan, he didn't need to baby the blonde, he was strong and knew perfectly well the risks of experimenting with new techniques. That experiment in their spar should've really drilled it in. The boy could push his own boundaries without breaking just as Kakashi had. Instead he thought about his charge's request.

He did indeed know of a technique that fit the description Naruto gave; however, that technique was forbidden for a reason. He knew that Naruto had the reserves to perform it, but he didn't know if the blonde would use it responsibly.

Normally he wouldn't question Naruto's ability to use anything responsibly, he was a responsible and cautious person by nature barring a few cases of his curiosity pushing the boundaries. What made him hesitant to trust the blonde with the technique was the very trait that caused the boy to push the boundaries those few times. His curiosity and thirst to learn was a fantastic trait for anyone; however, it was also one of the few emotions the boy had little control over. Near every other emotion the boy had nearly mastered, able to hold it at bay and let out in bursts, so much so that his actions could seem robotic.

The Jinchuriki had an obsession with learning that bordered on unhealthy. If he gave the technique to the blonde, Sakumo was worried that he would use it to learn at an increased pace. While this wasn't a bad thing, it could become a problem if he took in too much information at once. If that happened, it had the potential to severely harm the boy's brain despite his incredible healing. There was no coming back from a brain that was damaged too much even with the potential healing the Kyuubi could provide.

Oh he had no doubt Naruto would test the limits of the Jutsu before he tried to take in that kind of information, but the fact was that he could miscalculate. The boy wasn't anywhere near infallible. Anything too enticing and the boy could become a slave to his desires despite the recent injuries he'd taken due to his experimenting. And something like the Kage Bunshin was tailor made to be the wet dream of someone like Naruto. Even if he didn't fall too far for his desire for knowledge, the boy already put himself through an insane training regime, he shouldn't push it much more than what he already did.

With this in mind, he decided to partially grant his request and in a month or two grant him the actual Jutsu he was looking for. Perhaps test his caution and discipline.

"I do know a Jutsu that does what you are asking," at this admission he saw some excitement flash in his apprentice's eyes before the boy suppressed it, "however I am concerned you may overuse it despite your caution, so I will teach you a different clone technique. We can start with that before moving on to the Jutsu you want. It is a fairly advanced Jutsu after all, a Kinjutsu even."

When he heard that Sakumo wouldn't teach him the Jutsu he wanted, Naruto's eyes flashed with fury. Only years of practice restraining his fury kept him from lashing out.

Luckily, when the blonde heard that he would be taught a substitute before learning the more advanced technique placated him. To think it was a Kinjutsu. It would be the first one he ever learned.

However, if it was classified a Kinjutsu then he must've underestimated just how dangerous the information feedback could be, for that had to be the reason it was a classified a Kinjutsu.

Filing this information away for later, Naruto nodded in thanks to the man before asking to be taught the technique. Sakumo nodded his consent and got up to walk to the underground arena.

As they reached the arena, Sakumo started to explain the cloning Jutsu, "The Jutsu I will be teaching is called the Doton Bunshin no Jutsu. As the name implies, you make a clone by pushing your chakra into the earth - like many other Doton Jutsu - and molding it into your form. Unfortunately these types of clones can't adapt to situations very well. You -"

"So in other words they're dumb?" Naruto deadpanned.

He was ignored, "have to give them detailed instructions mentally or out loud if they are already formed. Now, I think a demonstration is in order."

With that, Sakumo deliberately went through the hand signs and, needlessly in Naruto's humble opinion, called out the name of the jutsu as the ground beside the White Fang began to distort and form into the shape of the man, color and all. Likely a result of the chakra keeping its form taking the users intentions and making a minor genjutsu to do so.

Sakumo stayed quiet as he watched his student observe the technique before he tried it himself.

As expected, he didn't get it, as nearly anyone - especially one as relatively inexperienced and young as Naruto - trying a jutsu for the first time wouldn't, the only consistent exception was someone with a Sharingan copying it and Naruto hadn't moved his headband to observe it. Even if they did something like that, it was by no means perfect, those with the Sharingan merely did the technique as it was seen done, perhaps modifying the amount of chakra in it at most.

This was why the Sharingan could be dangerous. If the user copied something from an opponent that didn't know what they were doing, the opponent screwed up, or it was a suicide technique, then bad things would happen to all parties involved.

The Sharingan, despite being formidable, was not as infallible as the Uchiha made it out to be.

What was surprising was when the ground did in fact warble, even rising into a small lump with two stubs, yet wasn't anything like a human. With a somewhat inexperienced natural Doton user, doing that on first try would definitely be expected, even getting a shape wouldn't be all that difficult for them. Naruto however, was no Doton practitioner. In fact this was his first experience with the element - aside from the extremely minor basic survival technique to clear a small hole for a fire - as far as he knew. Though the resourceful boy may have hidden one from him.

Still, the blonde wasn't even an experienced practitioner of any element. Granted, he was talented and powerful but exhibiting this type of skill for Ninjutsu was surprising. He wasn't sure if even Kakashi had exhibited this type affinity for Ninjutsu.

Not only that, but Naruto had a Wind and Water affinity. Having two with little or no prior training and no Kekkei Genkai was incredible. However, Futon users, and to a lesser extent, Suiton users tended to have a harder time with Doton Jutsu.

So for Naruto to be able to even make the ground rise was quite the accomplishment. Naruto, as always, was quite displeased. He seemed to only be satisfied with perfection, and sometimes not even what most called perfection pleased the pariah. It made for a fantastic student and a dangerous person.

Ending his contemplation, he watched Naruto try a few more times before he decided to leave. Naruto didn't need his constant supervision, in fact, it would likely annoy the blonde. And as much fun as it was to heckle the blonde he knew better than to mess with a ninja training a new technique, even one as typically tame as a clone technique. Especially one with as obsessive tendencies as Naruto had.


Naruto had been going at the new Jutsu for close to an half an hour now and he was already getting a bit tired. He partially attributed this to just having the Sharingan implanted. He hadn't been tired like this after just half an hour of training of this kind in... well probably since his first lesson with Sakumo.

Still, he had always been a stamina freak and if he was already starting to tire, then the Sharingan must be more of a drain than he had thought. Perhaps it would lessen with time to get used to it, but if it continued like this when covered then it might be more of a hindrance than help.

For now though he would keep it, learn its secrets, and only then if it was still that much of a hindrance would he rid himself of it.

Still, his progress during this half hour did not satisfy him. He was only able to mold the earth into the loose shape of a human and it was too short to be him. It was infuriating! Honestly, how hard could it really be, was he just not doing it right?

No, that couldn't be it. He knew he had been doing it right. Then what was wrong with him? Was he just not talented enough? That question caused ice cold fury to race through his veins. All his life he had been told that he was talentless, that he wouldn't turn out to be anything special. That he wouldn't even be able to measure up to the average.

No more!

Intellectually, he knew he was bounds ahead of his peers. He felt it wasn't just because of necessity and a head start in training, that he had talent. However being put down since day one had some unconscious effects on his self confidence.

If he didn't have the talent, he would work for it as he had everything else in his life. He would become something noteworthy even if he didn't have talent. He was plenty willing to put in as much hard work as was necessary.

Maito Gai hadn't been particularly talented from what he had heard, yet now he was one of Konoha's best.

Yes he would forge his path by his own two hands no matter how much blood and sweat he had to lose. He refused to shed tears though, tears were for the weak, tears were for those who couldn't face their problems, tears were those who had joyous lives. He couldn't afford to be weak and he had never had a joyous life, he barely had a handful of memories he could look back on fondly.

With that burning fury and unmovable pride, he pushed himself all night until he only had enough energy to sneak back into his apartment before daylight. He lay in his bed exhausted, but feeling a little more accomplished.

He had been able to consistently use the Earth Clones Jutsu, now he just had to perfect it.


Itachi Uchiha woke up early, as he always did, and got ready to start his day.

Going through his morning ritual of brushing teeth, getting dressed, and eating breakfast did little other than get him prepared for what would almost certainly be another dreadful day with clan politics mixed with his new and vigorous training in ANBU.

His father had not been pleased with the four Uchiha being executed to say the least. He knew that if he had been found to be involved in any way with the attempt on Naruto's life that he would be in deep trouble despite being a Clan Head.

If he was found to have ordered it or known of it and ignored it, the man wouldn't be executed, as he was a Clan Head and a still a competent shinobi, he wouldn't be executed, but this would have an effect on his word in inter clan politics. With the civilians, his word may be taken as a hero's, but the majority, and more importantly notable, shinobi would not see it the same way. They would see it as an act to attempt to weaken Konoha and open it for an invasion.

Very few who were alive during any big war wanted that to happen again.

On the other hand, Itachi could understand where his father was coming from. Many in the clan despised Uzumaki and wanted him dead. Fugaku, as Clan Head, had to appease them or he could be replaced, and while his father was far from an ideal leader, he was more experienced and competent than many others who would try to take the seat of Clan Head.

Of course Itachi suspected his father held a grudge against Naruto as well, but it was smaller or much better controlled than many others.

Regardless, he at least took solace in the fact he would be able to escape clan politics and his father to ANBU for a time, even if it involved grueling training, before he had to hear his father vent. So traveling to ANBU HQ, Itachi dressed himself in his ANBU equipment in the locker room with Team Ro and started to head towards the training grounds.

He didn't get far out of HQ before his Taicho stopped him. Hatake Kakashi, or Inu as was known in ANBU and most Jonin, was his ANBU captain and from the short time Itachi had interacted with the man, he had gathered that the man was full of regret, but an experienced shinobi.

"You know Itachi, it's unfortunate that those family members of yours were traitors. You have my condolences and if you need someone to talk to, I always have open ears."

His words were not what he expected, nonetheless he was grateful for them. Despite his dislike for their actions, they were still clan members and it pained his heart to have to be the one to catch them.

"Thank you Inu-taicho. I may take you up on that offer, but I am fine at the moment."

Kakashi just nodded his understanding and walked to the training ground to begin the drills designed to integrate him into Team Ro.

They went over basic formations for different scenarios, reacting to hypothetical threats, and occasionally gave advice or trash talked. Team Ro was a lively bunch.

Still, some didn't like that someone as young as Itachi had gotten into ANBU. Some due to jealousy and others due to concern. Fortunately, there were others on the team who would defend him.

One such person was Kakashi as he had been indoctrinated into ANBU at a young age as well. Another was Tora, one of the more reclusive operatives even among ANBU, only really known to be acquainted with Kakashi.

He didn't know much about Tora other than the fact that he dedicated almost all his time to ANBU, had been in ANBU at a young age, and was a skilled shinobi.

Regardless, Itachi was grateful they looked out for him. He didn't have many people he could call friends, but they were definitely some that he could see himself becoming more than just acquainted with due to operating in the same division.

After a couple of hours of drilling and training, they went back to ANBU HQ for lunch.

As Itachi was about to go sit alone in an unoccupied corner, Kakashi came up to him with a proposition, "Ne, Itachi, why don't you sit with us. It's okay if you want to be alone, but you should get to know your teammates a bit better. I understand you may not like being around people much and want some quiet, I was and still am like that, but maybe you can change the team's view of you."

Itachi merely stared at Kakashi for a few seconds before nodding his consent. He may not typically partake in much conversation like this, however perhaps it would be different than peers he was used to dealing with.

Throughout lunch, he mostly listened to the others conversations as he didn't have much to say and preferred to listen. Kakashi still tried to get him to voice his opinion on certain topics, and it seemed to make the team a little more comfortable around him.

After lunch was finished, they immediately left to go on their assigned perimeter check of the village. There was almost never anything of interest on these from what he had gathered, but it was important to keep vigilant in case of intruders.

They didn't patrol the area directly around Konoha, instead it was about two miles out. There was little point to patrol very close to Konoha as the Barrier corps took care of that with the detection barrier surrounding Konoha. After they got back with no sightings of unusual activity, it was nearing 5 o'clock. Itachi and his team were let off at this time as their shift was over.

Some closer friends among the unit mingled for a bit, some even making plans to go out. Itachi, however, wasn't close to anyone yet and wasn't in a social mood so he left for the woods around the Compound.

Arriving in the woods, Itachi couldn't help but bask in the serene feeling of nature. Why couldn't people stop and be at peace like this forest? Perhaps humanity merely wanted to keep moving forward in pursuit of their goals, so much so that they completely ignored that which surrounded them, including the well being of others.

The forests of Konoha were Itachi's favorite place not only because of its serene quality, but also because in these forests he had discovered something that showed him peace could be attained. As he neared the tree in which his belief in his dream was given, he couldn't help but admire it.

At first glance there was nothing special about the tree aside from being quite large even among the trees in Konoha; however, after closer inspection, one could see the faded carvings of a simple symbol. It was of the Senju and Uchiha crests joined together.

Itachi knew his history and as such recognized that the Uchiha and Senju did not get along for as far back as history was recorded. To see such a symbol and how Konoha now stood showed that even the most hated groups could come together and create something great.

Itachi realized that Konoha was far from perfect, nevertheless it was his home so he would protect it as best he could while also trying to seek a path to peace so no more young - or any - generations had to endure such a terrible thing as a great war.

Thus far he merely looked to climb the ranks and gain respect. To change the world, you needed to be well respected and feared - as much as he hated to admit it - that was how this world worked. Propose an idea that may cause a deviation from what it had been in long memory without the proper respect and fear and you would be laughed at.

It was unfortunate but people were stubborn like that.

As Itachi looked to the sky, he noticed he had been lost in his musings and it was now getting pretty late. His mother and brother would worry if he was not home soon. With that in mind, he made his way home.

As soon as he entered he was greeted by his mother, "Itachi-kun, how was your day?"

Itachi answered in the soft voice he took on when with his family when politics weren't involved, only a hint of fond exasperation coloring his tone, "It was a regular day with no threats. A typical scouting around the perimeter of the village, Kaa-san."

Mikoto smiled at her oldest son for the briefest of moments when she briefly turned away from her cooking, "That's good to hear. I was worried something was wrong. You're home kinda late, don't you think?" She paused to add an ingredient and stir the pot before continuing in a suggestive tone, "Is there something or someone you would like to tell me about?"

Itachi barely blinked at his mother's implication before brushing it off, "I was merely enjoying the forest, Kaa-san," the prodigy said in such a flat tone that it caused Mikoto to pout.

"It seems I can't expect any grandchildren soon then? Well I suppose it is a bit early for that anyway."

Itachi decided he would ignore that statement entirely and drove the conversation in a different direction, "Kaa-san, do you know where Sasuke-kun is? He didn't greet me like usual when I came in."

Mikoto pondered a moment, seemingly disappointed she couldn't embarrass her son, and answered, "Well I think I saw little Sasuke leave to walk around the compound a while ago. He should be back soon."

As if her word was could predict the future, the door slid open and Sasuke walked in with all the dignity his eight year old self could produce, which was predictably not much.

However, as soon as the boy caught sight of Itachi, all that faux regality bled from his form in favor of childish excitement, "Nii-san!" the boy shouted and bounded over to hug his brother.

Itachi smiled indulgently and bent down to receive the hug, "Hello Otouto, how was your day?"

Sasuke proceeded to explain in great detail how his day had been, complete with exaggerated hand motions. Itachi listened in seemingly great interest and indulged the boy with a question every so often.

Mikoto smiled at the scene. Itachi normally didn't show a lot of emotion, preferring to sit back and listen or give quick responses. Not to say her boy was emotionless, he was just a reserved young teen. It did her heart good to see him interacting with his little brother like this. It had broken her heart when she saw how Itachi turned from a sweet, loving, and innocent if quiet boy to a quiet young man who had a realistic and very adult-like outlook on life.

That was the price of war. It turned children into soldiers and those children into corpses or adults. Her mournful thoughts were cut off by the sound of a timer going off signifying that dinner was done.

Mikoto quickly turned to the food and started to plate it as Itachi ushered Sasuke to the table. As if the food trumpeted his arrival, Fugaku walked through the door looking quite worn out.

"Rough day, Fugaku-koi?"

She was answered with the signature Uchiha, "Hn."

Of course being an Uchiha herself, she could understand what that particular 'hn' meant. As she expected, Fugaku had a long day dealing with the Uchiha elders and council.

It was no surprise after what had happened yesterday with the executions. The whole clan was outraged, even the ones who typically didn't show much care either way for the Kyuubi container.

She didn't hold any malice towards the boy like most over 20, she only felt sorry that the child had to live in such circumstances. She had only seen the boy a few times and he seemed to deal with it well enough. The callous kunoichi in her just told her that people were dealt various hands in life, his was just a bad one. It was a fact of life that he had to deal with.

She still felt for him, but being a hardened shinobi, she had seen many atrocities - caused some herself - and an orphan that people didn't help was nothing new, especially one that was a Jinchuuriki. Many of them had a story like the boy's, it was a common destiny among those dealt his hand. Kushina-chan had barely escaped such a fate even if she wasn't exactly trusted her first years here since she had been an outsider.

Besides, she had enough responsibilities and problems in the clan on her own that she didn't have time to help the boy. Doing so would only turn near all the village, including much of her clan after those executions - on her and she wasn't too eager for that. It was self-preservation really.

Still, the Uchiha in her was quite upset that one of her own had been put to death regardless of circumstances. She understood the consequences it would have for the village if the boy had been killed, but that didn't temper the fact that she didn't like seeing her clansmen die.

She scanned the faces of her family as they all dug in after a quick 'Itadakimasu'. Her oldest son was in thought as always, possibly about the executions. She could never really tell exactly what he was thinking nowadays.

Sasuke had schooled his face into a passive facade after her husband had entered to try to gain some approval from him, but it was apparent he was struggling to contain his lingering excitement from talking to Itachi. The woman could also glimpse a hint of desperation for acknowledgment from Fugaku.

Fugaku had set his face in stone as he ate, probably contemplating how to proceed with the situation with the elders and council. He may not get as much heat from the civilians in the clan, but they were still upset about their kin being executed. Add them to the heat the ninja gave and the stress became quite high. She may not truly love Fugaku with all her heart due to their arranged marriage, but she still cared for him a great deal.

She had to stop her observations as Fugaku spoke, "Itachi, I presume your day in ANBU went well?" After barely a nod from Itachi, he continued, "Have you found anything more on why our kin were executed and who they were brought in by?"

Another shake of the head was his answer.

Fugaku seemed to slump ever so slightly. "I see. I suppose the Hokage has buried all leads then."

After that final comment, dinner continued in silence save a few questions of how each of their days were with short answers. When finished, they all went their separate ways with Sasuke following Itachi to his room.

Once alone in the kitchen, Mikoto sighed in despondence. She hated how her oldest son didn't - and hadn't for a while - relied on her. Even Sasuke was leaning more away from her trying to seek the approval of his father.

It was frustrating how this family had become. In the years prior to the Kyuubi attack, she had been happy. Her family had been close, the Uchiha accepted in the village, and her best friend alive and expecting a child.

The Kyuubi attack had ruined it all. The Uchiha became outcasts, her best friend died, and her family grew apart. In the silence of the kitchen after all the silverware was put away she voiced a question to the silence quietly, "Why is the world such a terrible place?"

Her question went unanswered.


Naruto woke up feeling sore. It was by no means a good feeling, but he was also quite used to it. Using so much chakra in a single training session had a habit of tiring a person out. Not quite in muscle fatigue, just an overall feeling of soreness even if it was creating something like a clone.

What was different today was that he could feel a constant drain on him. The Sharingan, he noted after his clouded mind cleared. He also remembered getting that clone technique working. It still had a ways to go until it was usable in his books, but it was a good start. Besides, he still needed to test its limitations.

With absent mindedness born of repetition, he got out of bed and went to clean himself up. Brush teeth, shower, get dressed. It was very monotonous. After his morning routine he got some breakfast and left the house.

As he left, he noticed his newly assigned ANBU escort stayed on him. How troublesome, he would have to lose them and try to make it look like a combination of luck and skill gained from a life on the streets. After all, there was no way a team of ANBU would lose their target merely because he/she got lucky.

He took some time to bounce through some of the more populated areas of Konoha, eventually leading to a short confrontation he instigated by bumping into someone. He used the distraction to gather a small crowd that soon caught sight of the ANBU and slowly tried to disperse with the look of children caught with their hand in the cookie jar. He took the opportunity provided to set off a preset paint bomb that splattered the one he had bumped into and a few merchant stands. As a little chaos erupted he took the opportunity to slip behind a stall and behind a few more to reach the corner of an alley.

After he turned the corner to the alley, he dropped down a chute into the sewers he had found a few months ago that had been hastily covered up. He hated how this place smelled, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

Now he would use the rest of the day practicing and testing the limits of his Doton Bunshin.


Back on the surface, the ANBU assigned to follow Naruto were in a panic.

How the hell had they lost him?! The boy had literally only been involved in a minor confrontation that they quickly dissuaded the crowd from escalating and then a small paint bomb went off. Naruto was almost certainly the culprit as he had a reputation for being mischievous. It was expected, even him trying to make himself scarce had been expected. What was not so predictable was the fact that he would be able to pull it off so well that in the ensuing seconds of panic during which the had lost sight of him, the boy had managed to slip away from them.

That wouldn't be terribly difficult for a ninja to pull off since they hadn't been particularly alert with such an assignment, but this was just a kid. There was no signs of struggle either so that meant the kid had disappeared on his own, most likely down an alley. Unfortunately all the alleys within reasonable distance were empty, the only possible exit being a manhole and those were all sealed by Fuinjutsu to keep saboteurs out in addition to weighing a lot more than a kid could pick up.

They were so dead.

Akiko made her panic known, "What are we gonna do?! We lost him and Hokage-sama will have our heads if something happens to him!"

Her captain, taking charge of the situation, gave orders, "Calm down, he couldn't have gotten far. We'll split up and search for him. When you find him, send a signal. Disperse!"

Akiko took the area to the West inside the walls. As she searched the area, she couldn't help but feel a bit of worry. What if Naruto was hurt because of her negligence?

The more time that passed, the more guilty and worried she became, until finally after eight hours of constant searching, Akiko found him in a clearing in the forest west of the village. As soon as she spotted him, she sighed in relief and notified her team of her position.

While she waited for them to arrive, she watched the boy. All he was doing was sitting there. It seemed like he was playing with something in his hands, but she couldn't get a good look.

What was he even doing so far out of the village? Akiko supposed that he could be hiding from the villagers and wanted to be left alone, which was reasonable, but how in the world had he gotten here without their notice? Not only that, but how had she not noticed him in her previous sweeps of the area?

Her contemplation was cut off by three swirls of leaves heralding the arrival of her teammates. Her captain went through a series of hand signs to communicate, "How is the boy?"

"He seems fine. He has only fiddled with his hands."

Kuma nodded and motioned to continue their watch with more vigilance. It only took a few minutes of watching Naruto before he moved again. This time he got up slowly with a somber expression on his face.

He soon began to meander towards the village at a subdued pace. When the village was getting close, the blonde suddenly put on a smile and walked through the parting masses.

With morbid realization, Akiko concluded that the smile that everyone saw and the civilians so despised was also entirely fake. She was really starting to worry. Did he even have any friends?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized how much she had missed by taking information and rumors mostly at face value. Inu-taicho would be dissapointed. With that realization, she became immersed in her thoughts, moving mechanically to guard the bedroom door once Naruto went in, as such she missed how sloppy and mechanical the blonde's movements were.

A few hours earlier with Naruto

After he had lost the ANBU, Naruto went to his favored training ground to practice his newest Jutsu. It was a large, open area with a small lake, no grass, sat below a massive cliff jutting out from the Hokage Mountain, and was hidden by some basic Fuinjutsu. He didn't know who had built it, but the person obviously wanted a training ground to practice privately. Naruto had only found it by luck on one of his runs for the Boss.

He was now about two hours into testing the limits of his Doton Bunshin, and he was about ready to snap.

Normally, Naruto was a fairly patient person; however, one of the few things he was impatient about was dealing with idiots or something that had stupid mechanics. The Doton Bunshin had the unique quality of being able to be both of those things simultaneously. In two hours he had only accomplished two things. One, which was barely even something worth noting, was creating the clones twice as efficiently as his first few successful attempts the night before. The second, which was more a deduction than an accomplishment, was that the clones were incredibly hard to get to do exactly what he wanted even when he had in mind exactly what he wanted them to do and were only marginally less dumb when he gave commands aloud. Even then they had to be detailed to a ridiculous degree in order to accomplish the task he set. It was so frustrating that he wanted to pull his hair out.

Tell them to move right and they don't stop until they hit a wall. Order them to stay still and they revert to stone after a while. It was quite infuriating. The only reasonable combat purpose they served was as a distraction, though at least in a fight they acted on instinct rather than having to be given intricate commands. That also unfortunately meant that it was pretty easy to get around them.

Deciding to take a quick break, he went to grab some water from the lake.

As he sat next to the water, he couldn't help but let his mind and hand wander to the headband covering his right eye. Before he knew it, Naruto was sliding the headband up and off his head. As soon as he opened his new eye he experienced a sense of vertigo and a heavy increase of the drain on his chakra. It was odd seeing with two different sets of vision. In fact, it was even starting to give him a bit of a headache. He could only imagine it would get worse moving at combat speeds. He absently noted that he needed to fix that time limit and sense of sickness.

The Sharingan's vision was also interesting. Looking around he could see the most minute of details, each blade of grass and each leaf, stem and all, on a tree 30 feet from him. Glancing at his arm, he could see the minute twitches his muscles made. So that was probably how the Uchiha could predict movements, interesting.

The blonde slowly went through the seals for the Doton Bunshin and watched with fascination as he could see how the chakra flowed from his body and hands to form the Jutsu. The ability to see chakra like that would be perfect to analyze techniques more easily in detail to not only copy, but also to potentially find flaws in a technique.

While that was fascinating, that couldn't be all there was to the copying ability the Sharingan was revered for. To merely see how the chakra flowed to the technique would not be enough to let the Sharingan copy techniques. If that was how it worked, then the Hyuuga's Byakugan would be able to do the same thing, probably even better.

So what, exactly, let the Sharingan copy techniques? It was a question he suspected few had asked, or at least few had seriously contemplated. He liked to do that, after all, knowing how something worked was the first step to learning how to counter it.

Naruto glanced at the clone he had made. Perhaps he could find something out about the copying ability by copying movements from his clone? He then gave his clone meticulously detailed orders to follow a pattern of movement he had once seen an odd green spandex clad Jonin perform.

After he relayed the instructions - it took five minutes - he followed the movements with his Sharingan. After the clone had finished the simple grapple, he started into the movement.

To his astonishment, after he had started into it, his body began to move as if it had practiced this maneuver before rather than only watching it. Did the Sharingan somehow transpose a movement into muscle memory, and most probably the chakra equivalent for Jutsu? That was very interesting.

However, he noticed that as he had done the grapple, he may have been able to perform it like he had practiced it before, but it still felt foreign to his body. So that meant even with the Sharingan he would have to practice to get used to the movements. Regardless of that, it would still speed up the process of training significantly.

As he was thinking, his eyes wandered to his reflection. The boy trailed his eyes down his oddly colored hair to his now scarred face and his eyes promptly widened slightly in shock as he locked gazes with his reflection.

There were two tomoe in his Sharingan. He knew the Sandaime was a staunch advocate of hard work and would not condone to implanting an eye that was already partially developed. The man would have insisted he only be allowed an eye with only a single tomoe.

His having two meant that something caused it to evolve when implanted. He quickly went through all the information he knew about what made the Sharingan evolve. It wasn't much - the Uchiha were very secretive - but he did know that they tended to evolve under high stress situations, emotional distress, and extreme training.

He hadn't experienced any of those recently - or almost ever for that matter aside from the training part - so what had happened to make it evolve?

If it evolved without any of those things, then it must be something associated with all of them. So what did all of those things have in common? It had to be a byproduct of those situations, so what did the body do under those circumstances.

One thing immediately came to his mind. Adrenaline. When under vast amounts of stress or training extensively the body released adrenaline hormones to speed up thought process, reaction time, etc.

That didn't make much sense though, while adrenaline may affect the senses to an extent, it shouldn't be linked to a thing such as the Sharingan's evolution.

So what else came with intense emotion? He thought back to the feelings he had one of the few times he had experienced intense emotions. He blocked out the memories of what happened and focused on what he felt. Never again would he remember what happened.

In his mind's eye he remembered pain, so much pain. He remembered confusion, a smaller part. He remembered hate, the burning inferno that it raged, greater than any he had felt before or after. He remembered his pride being tested, his will to not yell out and cry in pain, to let the fools be satisfied with hearing his pain. He remembered a great sadness from the loss he endured.

He remembered so many other inconsequential and small emotions.

Finally he remembered the last feeling of that night. His first taste of power. His first taste of chakra. He remembered how his chakra exploded in an eruption of power and swirling emotions.

That had to be it! A massive influx of chakra caused its evolution, perhaps the hormones some intense emotions released played a role as well, but it had to primarily be that. The influx of chakra. Chakra, he remembered from his studies and limited experience, could surge and act oddly when one experienced intense emotions. It was why a civilian with no training could call on astonishing abilities - for a civilian - in necessary situations. A mother saving her child from being crushed by debris for example.

From what he had read and deduced, it could also increase a ninja's ability beyond their normal limits. There was a reason the saying 'An animal is at its most dangerous when cornered,' was applied to humans despite most humans not identifying their species as animals. They were willing to do anything to escape in addition to seemingly getting a surge of strength.

Regardless, that had to be it. A massive influx in chakra caused the Sharingan to evolve. He may not be able to sense chakra levels well, but he did know that he had more chakra than any of the Uchiha with only one tomoe in one of their eyes. The more experienced one may have matched or surpassed him, but that was irrelevant.

That was why it normally took so long to evolve the Sharingan regardless of how many emotionally taxing situations one was in. There was a limit to how much chakra could surge with emotions alone. The person had to take time to grow and mature in their chakra capacity before they could handle the next level. Perhaps high stress situations merely sped the process in some way.

Naruto was suddenly hit with a wave of drowsiness in addition to the vertigo he was already experiencing due to the split perception. He quickly covered his Sharingan hoping to prevent any more adverse affects.

He took notice that his breathing was now a bit labored, as if he had been under somewhat intense exercise. Not only that, his body itself felt like it was tired, but he knew he could move almost as easily as if he was fresh. It was an odd feeling to be sure.

Perhaps the unnatural addition of the Sharingan made his chakra system react awkwardly and thus his body feeling so odd despite having not done anything physically draining. It seemed he had underestimated just how taxing it would be to use the Sharingan. Hopefully with experience it would lessen.

After some time to rest he spent a few hours honing the Doton Bunshin no Jutsu and elaborately wording his instructions to the clone he would use to fool the ANBU. Once he was confident that there wouldn't be any terrible mishaps, he poked his head out from the barrier seals hiding this place and gave the clone his consent to start his 'mission'.

The ANBU were too relieved to notice too much of a difference, if they did, they didn't care or dismissed it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Many things are good in moderation, but anything, especially good things, can become a problem if followed obsessively." - Hatake Sakumo


Hello again, back with another chapter. This one is shorter than my previous ones and will probably be just a few hundred words shy of what my typical chapters will be in the future. Any feedback/questions are welcomed. And thank you to everyone who has commented. One last thing, I plan for this to be a massive and already have about 10 more chapters written (though all of them need heavy editing), so it will be awhile until the crossovers pop up. I hope you all enjoyed.