If there was one thing Naruto had learned about ninja when he was searching out the location of the Biju it was that they tended to be a very secretive and suspicious lot. This was particularly true of anything that could be useful as a weapon. So he hardly expected to be able to walk in and ask politely for them to teach him everything they knew.
Instead Naruto decided he'd just sneak in during the night and borrow whatever he needed. Now the question was, where to look? That large tower seemed as good a place to start as any. Spotting a man in black robes with a strange white mask prowling the rooftops, Naruto politely asked to use his costume.
So he had already knocked the man out first. His request was still the very height of etiquette and the man spoke no objections. Donning his newfound robes, Naruto made his way for the tower. Ninja may have a reputation for stealth, but Naruto was confident that not one of them could mask their chakra half as well as he could. They liked to simply suppress their chakra to the best of their abilities. But even if they were completely successful, one could still detect that if they knew what to look for.
Even the air had tiny traces of chakra in it, especially in an area full of so many people constantly giving it off. A complete lack of chakra could be sensed with enough training. The true way to hide oneself is to have your chakra mimic the flows of the air itself, a highly complicated technique that as far as he knew, he was the only person to ever master.
Sneaking into the tower proved simple; finding anything of value was much more challenging. He wandered around for quite some time, avoiding patrols as he went, but they didn't seem to leave writings on their techniques just lying around in the hallways.
Naruto continued to work his way up the tower, searching it floor by floor when he felt a small surge of chakra from right where his foot had just stepped. It was probably designed so that the person who triggered wouldn't even notice, but to Naruto's developed senses, it may as well have been a bonfire.
Naruto had to appreciate the effective simplicity of the trap. No matter how good he got at remaining unnoticed, he still had to walk to get anywhere. So a simple little seal that detected pressure on the floor above it could undo all the work he'd put into stealth. Naruto knew he had to get out of there quickly, as it would have warned whoever had left the trap of his presence. Still, he'd expected a little more than two seconds before he sensed someone behind him.
"What are you doing in this part of the tower?" a voice demanded to know from behind him.
Spinning around, Naruto saw a man in red and white robes glaring at him suspiciously. Yet it wasn't his robes that caught Naruto's attention. To his great shock, the man's face looked exactly like his father's had. Now Naruto had been around the world a few times, and he'd seen a number of people who looked very similar despite being unrelated.
Not to mention that it had been over five hundred years since Naruto had last seen his father looking so young. No matter how important a person was in one's life, the details of how they looked faded over time. In fact, if just that morning Naruto had been asked to draw his father's face, it probably wouldn't have looked much like the man in front of him at all.
So logically, Naruto should just write it off as a superficial resemblance that caused his mind to draw a stronger connection that truly existed. Still, deep down he couldn't bring himself to believe that. Something about that face just resonated with his memory and told him that this was exactly what his father had looked like.
This entire thought process had taken only a few seconds as Naruto's mind was racing at top speed. Even so, either the delay in a response was too long, or perhaps some of Naruto's surprise had somehow been noticeable despite the robe and mask. Whatever the reason, his father's doppelganger attacked, hurling a strange pronged dagger at his head.
Naruto leaned to the side to let it pass. His gaze was instinctively drawn to a unfamiliar seal attached to the hilt of the weapon, despite knowing that you shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent when you fight. His curiosity probably saved him a nasty stab wound, however, when his attacker appeared in front of his eyes right next to the dagger, grabbed hold of it again, and attempted to carve open his chest.
Naruto was certain this hadn't been a simple burst of speed. Thanks to his curiosity, Naruto had a perfect view of the man's reappearance, and their was no actual movement involved. Judging by the chakra radiated by the seal on the dagger right before the feat, the chakra imbued writing was somehow involved. That would explain its presence on the weapon.
Naruto narrowly avoided the attack that followed the teleportation technique and continued to struggle with dodging subsequent attempts to shred him to pieces. It was clear that his adversary was significantly faster than he was. This fight was making Naruto wish he'd done more to keep his body in shape. Although as fast as the other blond was moving, he might have been a match for Naruto even in his prime. Back when he was a young man of ninety on a mad quest for vengeance.
If he used his white chakra, things would be much different. But given the relationship between man and Biju these days, just sensing that power could cause a panic in Konoha, something he had no desire to do. Besides, Naruto could heal most any wound if it came to that, so he could afford to take some risks.
Not to mention that, while his body was out of shape and sluggish, his chakra abilities were better than they'd ever been. Now to start pulling from his bag of tricks to find a way to get out of here. For his first ploy he actually shifted his entire chakra aura one foot to the right, hoping this would cause some confusion.
It worked even better than he'd anticipated, as the man seemed to be trained to trust his senses over his own eyes and was focusing his attacks on the projection. Using the distraction, Naruto was able to avoid the assault and leap out a nearby window, landing on the roof of another building below.
His pursuer followed, quickly learning the truth of Naruto's technique and adjusting his attacks. Even so, now he had to think about them slightly rather than simply relying on instinct. For fights on this level, the tiny moment of hesitation that caused made a noticeable difference, and Naruto found it less of a struggle to keep his hide intact.
He still had a disadvantage in speed, but staying alive wasn't quite as difficult as winning a fight. Seeing as his opponent relied so heavily on his chakra sense, Naruto decided to play with his a bit more. Tearing a tile off the roof he was standing on, he imbued it with a bit of chakra and flung it at his target.
The blond easily dodged it, but as soon as it had passed behind him, Naruto made the chakra in the tile flare to many times its previous strength. The technique itself was harmless, but as Naruto had hoped, the ninja didn't know that. Sensing the buildup of power, he turned to defend himself from whatever it signified.
Naruto used the distraction to dash in and slip a punch through his guard sending him crashing to the street below and creating a small crater. Then, hurrying to make his escape before he had a chance to recover, Naruto jumped down onto the road on the opposite side of the building.
Then, he projected his chakra aura further out while simultaneously masking his actual body as well as he could. Finishing that process in a moment, he quickly jumped up and clung to the overhanging roof, hiding himself from the sight of anyone who wasn't standing beneath him. Meanwhile, he was sending his projection further out, as if continuing to run away down the alley.
Once his projection turned another corner he winked it out of existence. His plan again proved successful as he sensed the his assailant running off in the direction his projection had been headed before it disappeared. Slipping down from his hiding spot, Naruto ran off in the opposite direction. He easily made it to the wall and away from the village without seeing any sign of pursuit.
Reflecting on his recent ordeal, it had been far more exciting than he'd anticipated. Of course seeing that teleportation trick had only made Naruto all the more determined to pump these ninja for whatever they had. Not to mention the mystery around his father's lookalike.
"So, what was that ruckus all about last night?" Sarutobi asked Minato after strolling into his office.
"We had a spy break into the Hokage Tower," he answered. "He stole an Anbu uniform from one of our guards on duty and started snooping around."
"Who was the victim?" Sarutobi asked, his face turning grim.
"Surprisingly enough, the man was merely unconscious," Minato informed him. "The only thing injured was his pride."
"Well, we can be thankful for that," the former Hokage declared, cheering up a big. "Our enemies aren't usually so kind. Sadly that makes our allies the prime suspects. They most likely wanted to reduce the political fallout if he was captured. Do we know what he was after?"
"No," Minato answered. "Our analysis shows it was unlikely he got whatever he was looking for before he set off a detection seal. I'm more worried that he might come back."
"Oh? Was he that dangerous?" Sarutobi inquired.
"I confronted him myself and he managed to escape unharmed," Minato admitted, which left his predecessor suitably impressed. "He seemed to be some sort of genjutsu specialist, although his taijutsu wasn't bad either. Whatever he was doing it was very subtle, such as throwing my chakra senses off so it felt like something was in a slightly different location or had much more chakra in it that it really did."
"That's very odd," Sarutobi muttered it reply. "Usually genjutsu focuses on the other five senses. It certainly can manipulate your sixth sense, but since that's so much harder, why affect that but not the others as well? It only makes it obvious you're under genjutsu."
"It made for a clever trick though," Minato explained. "For those very reasons I assumed it was my sight that was wrong. Also, I was having trouble breaking free. I'm not a genjutsu expert myself, but it's possible it's harder free yourself under such conditions."
"I can see how that would work," Sarutobi agreed. "Clever fellow whoever he is."
"That's not the worst part either," Minato told him. "He had a sword strapped to his side but never used it. He might be even more deadly with kenjutsu. His priority was obviously fleeing, most likely lacking confidence that he could take the Yellow Flash. If he'd run into someone else though ..."
"We'd have to hope he'd avoid killing even when his own life was on the line," Sarutobi finished for him, not even bothering to mention exactly how likely they both knew that was. "Nor can we be sure he was a spy instead of an assassin."
"You understand my dilemma then," Minato said morosely. "He may not give up on his mission so quickly when we weren't even able to identify him."
"Fine, I'll help watch the tower when you can't be there," Sarutobi offered. "I know that's what you're after."
"Thank you," Minato told him graciously, glad he didn't have to come out and ask him.
Minato knew the elderly man was trying to enjoy his retirement, but he felt it was important. He just couldn't shake the feeling that they'd be seeing more of their mystery man.
Rather than immediately make another attempt at the tower, Naruto set his sights a little lower. He'd search other parts of the village, hopefully with less security, while things settled down from his first break-in. He might be able to gather a little intel first.
It didn't take much eavesdropping around the village to discover that there were a number of clans living within the walls each with their own special techniques. Supposedly they kept these guarded in their compounds built throughout Konoha.
Deciding to start there, Naruto began to raid those locations. He had much better luck with security, not even being detected as far as he knew, but his results weren't what he hoped. Some of the buildings he couldn't find anything of use in. Others, he found scrolls that looked promising, but as they were in some sort of code, they could have been a recipe for soup as far as he knew.
He'd only come away with two real scrolls, and both were very basic stuff. Not that he wasn't pleased to have them, as they covered the general theory behind hand seals and genjutsu, both being new fields of study to him. Nevertheless, his original plan was looking less and less promising.
He supposed it only made sense that they wouldn't leave their most closely guarded secrets lying around on scrolls that just anyone could pickup and read. And if the clans had such security, what were the odds of finding anything useful in the Hokage Tower? At least he did know that's what it was now. And the man who looked like has father had been the Yondaime, Namikaze Minato.
Naruto decided to continue his raids for the moment while he thought up a new plan, but the second compound he visited temporarily pushed all thoughts of new techniques out of his mind. For right before his eyes were proof that the Hyuga Clan had settled in Konoha.
Technically having married into the clan or not, Naruto had little love for the Hyuga. As such, he had never been particularly interested in searching them out, even after all his years away from them. Still, having them right here in front of his eyes, he couldn't help but be a bit curious.
Naruto knew those eyes of theirs would make this a particularly dangerous complex to sneak into undetected. Still, it was the middle of the night. As long as their guards didn't make a habit of keeping their Byakugan active, he should be fine.
Sticking to the shadows outside the complex, he approached one guard they had posted at the entrance. Extending his senses, he ever so faintly brushed them against the man's eyes, looking for the hint of chakra that would show they were active.
Finding nothing of the sort, he was about to move on when he sensed something else. There was a small source of chakra, but coming from the forehead, not the eyes. Adjusting his focus, he scanned the area to find some sort of seal in place. Probing it carefully, so as not to alert the guard of what he was doing he tried to figure out just what it was.
It was a fairly complex piece of work, but Naruto had enough experience with seals that he could work out a general idea of it's purpose. It looked as if the person who placed the seal could activate it to cause pain to the person wearing it. If he was right, they might even be able to kill the person.
Was this some sort of punishment for something the man had done? Naruto had to wonder what sort of act would deserve a seal as nasty as that. Anyway, safe from the Byakugan for now, Naruto hopped the fence and began to explore inside the compound.
He found a number of other Hyuga, mostly sleeping or preparing to join those who were. The startling part was that almost all of them had exactly the same seal as the man at the entrance. It seemed as if this was more than just a punishment. The seal must be some way to ensure the loyalty of the clan to its leadership.
Nanami had said the clan was rotten and getting worse. He wondered if she'd had any idea how prophetic her words would be. More than once Naruto had been ashamed of the name he'd taken from his wife, but he never would have imagined them capable of something this disgusting.
Naruto was half tempted to make a scene right then and there. He could find the people responsible for the seal and beat some sense into them. No, thinking it through it's not like a few people could have forced the rest of the of the clan into this. At some point in the clan's history they must have agreed to have it put on them.
As far as Naruto was concerned, the Hyuga had made their own bed and they could lie in it. Naruto would just treat them like any clan from here on out. No, even that was too kind. Naruto didn't want anything to do with them from here on out if he could avoid it.
Deciding to take some time to clear his head, Naruto began to simply walk around the village. It was a nice quiet midnight walk until a couple of drunks stumbled out of a bar in front of him. The two were complaining quite loudly about a small border village named Hibana that had just been wiped out. They blamed Kumo for it, but proclaimed loudly that the Yondaime would avenge them.
Naruto said a quick prayer for the souls of those who were slain. It was sad to see civilians drawn into a war like that. Although the beginnings of an idea were forming in his mind. It might seem a little crass to take advantage of a tragedy, but it's not like this idea would harm them in any way.
Leaving the village and heading into the woods, Naruto decided to get to work. He crafted a Bunshin of a small child in raggedy old clothing. It looked like a five-year-old version of himself and was dirty, disheveled, and thinner than a healthy child should be.
Looking the clone over, it did make for a very sad sight, but it felt like something was missing. Naruto had heard the Yondaime could be a bit of a soft touch at times, but he wanted something that would really pull at his heartstrings. Quickly, Naruto realized what was missing and dispelled the clone.
Naruto then replaced the half-starved young boy with a half-starved young girl that could have been the twin sister of his first attempt. Maybe it was just because he'd raised two himself, but Naruto felt a little girl would be harder to say no to than a little boy given an equally sad appearance.
Examining his clone, he was convinced he'd made a wise decision. The clothes that were barely a step above rags, the long, blonde, tangled hair that was an absolute mess, the overly thin frame. Naruto felt a twinge of guilt just making something that looked to be in such a terrible state.
Pleased with his results, he went to work on his own personal modification of the bunshin. Earth from the ground swelled up to be joined by water from a nearby stream and the air from around the clone. As they merged together, his creation went from being a mere illusion to very much solid.
Naruto provided the fire and lightning himself by shifting his chakra to match the appropriate element. Having a working base, Naruto then set himself to refining it. He spent the better part of a week poking and prodding at it. Like an artisan he relentlessly worked out all the imperfections that would set it apart from a real human.
He worked the chakra coils until the chakra flowed through the body as smoothly as it would a natural one. Naruto was finally satisfied that there was nothing he could sense about the clone that felt at all off. It was probably significantly better than would be needed for this small bit of theater, but better to err on the side of caution.
The only way the Yondaime would know something was off was if he probed deeply enough to detect the lack of a soul. Such an endeavor required deep meditation and was out of the reach of all but the greatest experts without your target being both trained to aid you and cooperative. Even if the Yondaime was one of those experts, Naruto couldn't see anything that would make him suspicious of this sad little girl being a soulless clone.
Naruto finally finished the process by completing the part of the bunshin technique that would imbue it with his own memories and personality. With it now animated, Naruto supervised as it practiced looking as downtrodden as possible and refined a truly deadly set of puppy-dog eyes.
When he was convinced they were ready Naruto set about getting the other actors ready. Creating two more clones, Naruto formed them into the seediest looking men he could manage, one with a sword, and the other armed with a pair of knives. He would have liked to have spent more time on them, but as his ploy was less likely to work if he waited too long, Naruto only spent a few hours on them.
They would seem normal enough, and would bleed when stabbed, but they'd only last a few days at most before the whole technique collapsed on itself. Not to mention that a close inspection would find any number of things wrong with them. Non-functioning organs and the like as the bodies were kept animated simply from the chakra of the jutsu. Hopefully it would be enough. If all went according to plan, they wouldn't factor in long enough for anyone to give them a careful examination.
Now, everything was finally in place, so it was time to set things in motion. Naruto grabbed the Anbu costume he stolen on his first attempt to break into the Hokage Tower and donned it again. Snooping around the outside of the tower, Naruto reached out his senses until he located the Yondaime. Good. There wouldn't be much point in going through with this if he was away today.
Entering the tower, Naruto went straight back to the hallway he was caught in last time. If they had such security there, it was probably to protect something interesting. Just because he meant to get caught, didn't mean he couldn't look for valuables first. Not planning to make the same mistake twice, Naruto jumped up to the ceiling, using chakra to hold himself there.
Now to see how prepared they were for people walking along upside down. Naruto continued on confidently until he felt a familiar flash of chakra. Apparently they were much more prepared for this avenue of approach than he'd suspected. That's what he got from trying to steal from a village of ninja.
Naruto wasn't about to wait for the Hokage to show up this time, or even worry about going to the nearest window. Instead, he ran straight to the outer wall and burst through it. Landing, he took off running for the village wall as fast as he could. For a while, he'd almost worried he wasn't being chased, as he made it halfway there without being impeded.
That proved to be the least of his worries as a kunai sped past him, allowing the Yondaime to teleport to it and block Naruto's path. Altering his course, Naruto dodged around him, trying to continue on toward the village wall. He was completely avoiding a fight, putting everything he had into speed as he worked to escape Konoha as quickly as possible.
The blond Hokage was not making this very easy. Escaping from someone faster than you is hard enough even if they aren't teleporting all over the place. Naruto could only credit adrenaline and pure determination for doing as well as he did. He couldn't afford to let any other pursuit catch them, as any delay might ruin everything.
Once he'd gotten on the right side of the Yondaime again, he'd made sure to bat down every kunai that came his way with a sword, preventing the man from ever using it to get in front of him again. He also made a couple of halfhearted swiped at the ninja, just enough to keep him wary. Then whenever he got a moment's reprieve, he sprinted full speed, eating up as much ground as he could.
Naruto made it over the wall somehow, immediately wishing he'd set the stage a little closer to the village. He knew there would've been too much risk of someone else spotting his clone if he did, but there was certainly a lot of risk with this approach too.
Taking to the forest did help somewhat. The Yondaime slowed down whenever he lost sight of Naruto for a moment behind some cover, most likely wary of an ambush. This development was just the advantage Naruto needed to reach his goal.
His chakra was burning brightly, allowing his clones to sense him coming, resulting in a girlish scream. Changing his course, as if in reaction to it, Naruto went straight for the sound, coming out of the forest as it opened to a small road. The scene he saw was just as he'd planned it. One man, was holding a screaming girl up in the air by her arm while holding a knife in front of her menacingly. Meanwhile another man stood nearby watching with a grin.
When the girl saw Naruto, she started calling out for help, but Naruto continued past. The Yondaime, however, reacted the moment he popped out of the forest hot on Naruto's heals. The clone holding the knife quickly found his breathing stopped permanently by a kunai through its throat. Naruto ducked into the forest on the other side of the path and suppressed his presence as he watched.
To his displeasure, rather than simply killing the second man, the young Hokage was holding him with a blade to his throat. If he was going to take him prisoner, he might notice there was something off about his captive. Not to mention that it would ruin the mood for the next phase of his plan.
Thinking fast, Naruto leaped back out from hiding, swiftly but stealthily approaching the Yondaime from behind as if to catch him off guard. However, when he thrust his sword out at his back, his target teleported out of the way, just as he'd hoped, appearing next to the dead clone. His momentum carrying him forward, the sword instead went into the clone that had just been released when its captor vanished, killing it instantly.
Naruto was already worried that not making good on his escape would seem suspicious, so he tried to keep some of that suspicion from spreading to the sole living clone. He did this by flinging the corpse of the still skewered clone at where the fake girl was cowering. At the speed it had been hurled, it would likely prove fatal if it hit.
This also had the benefit of giving him time to escape again when the Yondaime jumped in front of the makeshift weapon and batted it away. Not sticking around this time, Naruto hid his chakra and plunged deeper into the forest.
"Now, on to Act II," Naruto whispered to himself.
Naruto watched as his real body escaped into the forest, the blond Hokage deciding to stay rather than give pursuit. Thrilled by his decision, Naruto ran to the man, doing a pretty good job with the fake tears if he said so himself.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto called out, latching onto his side and holding tightly. "I was so scared!"
"Don't worry about it," he replied, "but what are you doing out here by yourself? Where are your parents?"
"They say dad left before I was born," Naruto lied, "and mom died a long time ago. I don't remember her very good."
"Well, who takes care of you then?" the Yondaime asked.
"The villagers gave me food," he answered, "but I didn't like it there so I ran away to find my big brother. I was going to the ninja village because they're supposed to be good at finding people. I even brought money."
Naruto dug through a pocket and pulled out a few coins that wouldn't even have been enough to buy a decent meal. "Is this enough?" he asked trying to work up some moisture in his eyes again for effect.
"It's plenty," he assured Naruto, proving Minato was as kindhearted as he'd heard. "What's your brother's name?"
"Big brother is big brother," Naruto told him unhelpfully. "I don't remember him very good either, but you have to help me find him. I don't want to go back to the village."
"Well do you know where he lives?" he asked, to which Naruto just shrugged.
"You're not exactly giving me a lot to work with here," he sighed. "Well, at least let me know what your name is."
"Naruko," he chirped out happily.
"What about your full name?" he asked. "People call be Minato, but my full name is Namikaze Minato."
Naruto wrinkled his eyebrows and put on an overly serious expression as children often did to show they were supposed to be deep in thought.
"No, don't worry about it if you can't remember," he said after a few seconds of that. "We can get that much at least from your village. Where are you from?"
"Hibana," Naruto claimed, seeing a startled expression on his face that proved he had heard that bit of news.
"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked, deciding his reaction was strong enough even a child would have caught it.
"No, nothing to worry about," he quickly answered. "I'm sure we'll find your brother."
"Right," Naruto said, letting a broad smile form on the face he'd so carefully crafted. "I'm sure you can do anything. You were so cool when you were fighting the bad guys. How did you do that thing where you where over there, and then you were gone, and then you were back here?"
"I'm afraid that's a secret," the Yondaime said with a chuckle.
"Please tell me?" Naruto begged, giving the puppy-dog eyes he'd worked so hard to perfect. "I won't tell anyone, I promise."
Naruto could see the effectiveness of the technique as his target looked to have almost been struck a blow. Come on, he urged the man on silently, it's not as if any kid would understand whatever complicated mechanics are involved. Or remember it well enough to repeat it back to someone.
"I'm sorry," he finally said, after recovering from the psychological assault. "That jutsu is so secret I can't even tell the other ninja in my village."
Naruto didn't hardly even have to act to give a horribly crushed expression. He would have to be a goody two-shoes about this, wouldn't he?
"If you're that interested, maybe there is something you can do," the Yondaime told Naruto, causing him to perk up immediately in interest. "You look to be about old enough to join the next class at the academy. If you train hard, you could learn all sorts of jutsu. Whatever you decide, I can set you up with a nice place to stay while I look for your brother."
Actually going through their training to become a ninja? That was an interesting notion that held some possibilities. Anyway, Naruto needed to play along for now if he was going to report back to the real him. So he soon found himself being picked up and carried back to Konoha, an assault to his pride he did his best to ignore.
Naruto really should have planned out a meeting spot, as locating his clone proved more difficult than he'd anticipated. After searching Konoha for a couple of hours, he finally found his target hiding in the shadows of an alleyway.
"About time you got here," his clone called out, stepping into the light.
Getting a better look at his creation now, it almost wasn't recognizable compared to when he last saw it. All the dirt and grime from before was gone and the hair had been cleaned and brushed. Then there was the most important change, the tattered clothes had been replaced with a rather cute pair of pink pajamas. Naruto couldn't help but snicker at that, a fact which earned him a glare.
"The workers at the orphanage just wouldn't stop fussing over me," his clone explained. "I was afraid they'd never go to sleep so I could sneak out."
"So, what did we get from him?" Naruto asked eagerly.
"Nothing," came the extremely disappointing reply. "Although he did give me an interesting idea for our next move."
"Oh?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Have a clone go through their ninja training. They'll actively teach us what they know rather than trying to guard it."
"That is a good idea," Naruto agreed. "You should get right on that."
"Not a chance," his clone shot back. "We'll create another clone. A male clone to go through the training."
"Don't be silly," Naruto insisted, actually amused by this whole conversation. "You don't think they'll find it suspicious if you disappear only to have another random kid wander into town a few weeks later?"
"So we'll wait a couple of years," his clone countered stubbornly. "That's no big deal for us."
"True, that would certainly help," Naruto conceded. "Still, why wait? Especially when there's no guarantee our next attempt would go so smoothly. You're already in, and you've made a good impression on the Hokage too. That can only help."
"I hardly think getting saved by the village leader is really going to make much of a difference with the training."
"You know I'm right," Naruto said smugly. "You're just being stubborn because you don't want to do it."
"Well, you know how humiliating this is and yet you're enjoying yourself immensely," the clone fired back bitterly.
"You know me so well," Naruto japed cheerfully.
"Fine," the clone finally agreed with a sigh. "It's only for a decade or two anyway. It can't be as bad as cleaning up the Biju's chakra was, and we put up with that for over a century."
"I'm thrilled to hear that," Naruto beamed, "because it would be a shame to deny Konoha such a cute little kunoichi."
"I said I'll do it," the clone said as threateningly as the body of a five-year-old girl could manage, "but if you keep cracking jokes like that, I won't be the only one of us missing an important piece of anatomy."
"Don't worry," Naruto said dismissively. "I'll be gone for a while anyway. I need to get this body back in shape. I also want to play around with the few useful scrolls I found."
"Good," the clone said in genuine relief. "Now get out of here. I need to get back before anyone notices I'm missing."
Naruto obeyed, dashing off and making his way out of the village. He almost regretted that he wouldn't be staying around. Who knew that picking on yourself could be so much fun?
Author's Notes:
I said this chapter would cover less than a decade and here it turned out to be less than a month. Now I just need to go back and fill in the previous 500 years with a similar pacing. That's only 50 million words or so. No problem, right?
Anyway, the big mystery of the chapter is why Minato looks just like Naruto's father. I know I'm normally not one to go into too much detail with character descriptions, but in the case of Naruto's father, it was actually deliberate.
I'm sure there will be all sorts of wild theories about this, but rest assured, I'm only doing it to drive everyone crazy when I reveal that it was all just a coincidence with no real meaning. And for those who don't believe me, I wouldn't lie to you in the author's notes now would I?
Hopefully I'm keeping people on their toes a bit as to where the plot is going. That's the way I like it.