Some words from the Author:

Hi all! Chapter 4 is out! Enjoy your time reading and have a great day ahead! :D

Chapter 4 A Chanced Discovery

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since the failed Hyuga abduction attempt by Kumo and Naruto finding out about the Kyuubi no Youko. Life pretty much went on like usual for the blond. He would keep up his training early in the mornings with Lee — who had fussed over him the next day after finding out that he was hospitalized, attended the academy classes with Hinata, grabbed some bites at Ichiraku's — the old chef as well as his daughter had the same worried reactions as Lee, if not more, and read whatever good books he could get his hands on during nighttime.

Though, it did not come without a positive twist.

Naruto was still finding this a little hard to believe — the once neutral-looking Hyuga clan members he met along the Konoha streets would now greet him politely, and he would always return their gestures by waving back with equal politeness, which definitely earned him some added points in their book. It had been rather awkward at first with the sudden attention, but this was definitely one change he would welcome with open arms.

On the other hand, most of the villagers would still throw him the usual looks of hate and disgust, with a small group of them now spreading rumors about how the demon brat had somehow charmed the Hyuga clan under its dark clutches, but Naruto knew better than to let those spiteful comments get to him. And thankfully, none of them seemed to know about him unconsciously tapping into Kyuubi's chakra during his most recent fight; the Hokage must have covered it up pretty well.

However, the best thing that happened was that the Sandaime himself had deemed Naruto's selfless deed worthy of successful B-rank mission, and the blond had been rewarded with a nice sum of mission payment as a result. The ten-year-old vividly remembered how surprised he was when he first found the payment envelope with a short official note attached, under his door in one of the mornings. Though, Naruto did not have anything specific in mind about what he should do with the money at the moment, so the boy decided to just keep it under a loose floorboard below his bed where he hid the rest of his more precious possessions from curious eyes.

It was weekend today, which meant the young Uzumaki was free from any classes for the entire day. This was precisely why he now found himself in the usual training field right now, trying to figure out a solution to the latest problem he had been facing since a week ago. It was none other than...

"Bunshin no Jutsu! (Clone Technique)"

Naruto called out the name of the jutsu he was struggling with for the .. well, he had lost count of how many times he had said the same words, and the boy looked expectantly as several faint 'poof's sounded beside the ground where he was currently standing on. When the wisps of smoke cleared away, however, Naruto's hopeful face once again deflated at the sight greeting his cerulean eyes.

Instead of two healthy-looking clones he had been expecting, he was looking at two pale, sickly-looking versions of himself that were not even able to stand upright, let alone convince the others that they were anything close to the real thing. And in the next second, they fazed out of existence in puffs of white smoke, once again leaving the blond alone in the field.

'I'm still using too much chakra?' Naruto sighed inwardly for what must have been the umpteenth time. It was not that he was one to give up easily, but he must admit that his continuously unsuccessful attempts and the memory of his classmates producing good clones in only their first tries did dampen a little of his spirit somewhat. The E-rank ninjutsu had seemed so easy, but despite all his grueling efforts, he simply could not do it.

From his slightly haggard breathing and the glistening film of sweat covering his skin, it was evident that Naruto had been at this for quite a while now. With a soft thud, the blond-haired boy slumped down onto the bed of grass under him in a spread-eagled fashion, ignoring the sticky feeling of his now sweat-soaked shirt clinging against his body like wet glue. In fact, it was already near noon time, and the gradually warming sun of mid June did little to alleviate his discomfort.

'I'm not.. gonna give up,' Naruto told himself, allowing a tired smile to grace his sweaty face. 'Somehow..today, I think I'll manage something. I can feel it!'

Tugging at the top opening of his shirt a few times to let some cool air in, he stayed like this for a few more minutes, allowing a fraction of his fatigue to dissipate before slowly getting back up on his feet. Naruto shook off a few blades of grass that got stuck on his clothes, his feet carrying towards the biggest tree in the area under which he had left his other belongings. Just like most of its kind in Hi no Kuni, this one was brimming with brilliant green leaves, offering natural cover from the sun's harsh glare like an oversized parasol.

Under its cool shade, Naruto fished out a clean sweat towel from his small backpack, ran the tea-green material over his face and left it hanging around his neck after he was done. It was only then that his stomach decided to make itself known, and rather loudly at that. A sheepish grin tugged at the boy's lips as he promptly reached down again and took out a container keeping his lunch, before he got himself seated with his back against the woody trunk.

"Itadakimasu," he said out of habit as he began munching on one of the few sandwiches he had prepared for himself earlier in the morning. Occasionally, a few birds would come swooping by his way, and the kind-hearted blond would treat them to a few berries he had brought along. Letting the delightful taste of fried eggs, chicken, and sliced tomatoes to melt in his mouth before he took another bite out of his sandwich, Naruto's mind began to wander aimlessly.

A week ago, Konoha Academy...

"All right, everyone, settle down. Now we'll be going through the Bunshin no Jutsu!" Iruka stood with his back facing the blackboard, clearing his throat in an attempt to get his students' attention. Beside him, his teaching assistant - another chuunin with shoulder-length silver hair, one Touji Mizuki was leaning against the wall and looking rather bored as usual. "And no sleeping in class, Shikamaru! Geez, you too, Chouji, please stop eating!"

After a round of snickers followed by a embarrassed "Hai!" accompanied by a low groan of what sounded like a yawn from the sleeping student, Iruka nodded, and began explaining the notes he had written on the board prior to the lesson. Like usual, Naruto took his seat beside his first friend Hinata, with Kiba and Shino sitting close behind them.

"Bunshin no Jutsu, if done correctly would create an intangible copy of your own body," Iruka continued in professional manner of speaking, before gesturing to Mizuki. "Now, watch closely as Mizuki-sensei demonstrates the jutsu. This is very important."

"No problem, Iruka," Mizuki positioned himself in the front of the class where everyone could see him clearly, and went through the handseals as slowly as possible. When he was done, with a gentle 'poof' of smoke later a perfect copy of himself was standing next to him, down to every detail. Smirking slightly as he watched the awestruck faces from most of the students, the silver-haired chuunin assistant remained standing as he was, allowing Iruka to carry on the explanation.

"Now, can anyone tell me if there's any difference between the clone and the original?" the teacher's eyes swept across the room for any volunteers to answer his question, and to no one's surprise, a pink-haired girl eagerly raised her hand. "Yes, Sakura?"

"The clone doesn't have a shadow," she pointed out confidently, and Naruto, being the avid learner he was, made sure to scribble down that particular detail in his notebook. It could be a potential exam question, after all, and who knew the knowledge might come in handy in the future.

"Very good, Sakura," the girl visibly flushed at her teacher's compliment, and she quickly smiled across one Uchiha Sasuke sitting at one end of the room in hope to get some attention, but groaned when the stoic-looking boy did not even spare her a single glance as usual, all the while staring at the wall as if the white paint were far more interesting. As long as Naruto could remember, most of the girls in his class except Hinata had been trying hard to get the Uchiha's attention from time to time, but with zero success so far. Well, too bad for them.

"And does anyone else has anything to add on?" the scarred chuunin enquired, and seeing no raised hands this time round, he went on explaining. "Actually, there's another way to differentiate between the clone and the original, but it is not encouraged in real combat. Observe."

Everyone's eyes followed when Iruka lightly poked Mizuki's copy on the shoulders, and it seemed to distort for a second and then puffing out from existence. "As you can see, the Bunshin is very weak to any sorts of physical contact, so the real purpose of the jutsu is just as a quick distraction. Any questions so far?"

Normally, Naruto would have some questions wanted to be answered, but today, the lesson seemed to be straightforward enough, so he did not have any so far. Iruka gave his eyes another thorough sweep around the class to make doubly sure not to miss any raised hands. When there was none, he took a glance at the wall clock, noting the time, and nodded. "Okay, since we still have some time, let's give the jutsu a try. Please come up when I call your names to have a go at Bunshin no Jutsu. Aburame Shino, you're first."

Naruto watched as the silent-looking boy wearing a pair of black glasses and light gray, high-collared coat calmly stood up from his seat and started walking towards Iruka.

"Good luck, Shino," Naruto whispered as he walked past him, and the boy in question turned to gave him a curt nod which literally meant 'Thank you' for those who knew him enough.

In fact, Naruto had started talking to him since two weeks ago after he got out from the hospital. To the blond's discovery, besides his lengthy and logical way of speech, Shino was, in actual fact a pretty decent friend. The only reason that most students in his class had stayed clear away from him was that Aburame clan members were known to house a colony of Kikaichū (Parasitic Destruction Bugs) inside their bodies to assist them in various situations, but whatever response Shino was expecting from the blond, "That's really neat!" was definitely not one of them.

The bug-user performed the jutsu perfectly in only his first try, and the chuunin instructors nodded approvingly, before calling the next student in the name list. It was only to be expected; those belonging to prominent clans usually had a head start in shinobi training that others like Naruto did not. The blond watched as student after student went up and returned with bright smiles, and while not most of them could do the technique on their first tries as compared to those belonging to clans, they could at least produce something close to a good clone. Hinata's was perfect too, earning a small cheer from Naruto on her way back and heck, even Shikamaru who lazed around earlier managed to do it, something which surprised the rest of the class to no end.

The process continued, and after another flawless performance by the class genius, Uchiha Sasuke who quickly became the receiving end of a lot of admiring looks from the girls, Naruto knew he was next on the name list.

"Next, Uzumaki Naruto."

The boy took a deep breath, before walking up to the very front and stood facing his classmates. Getting a permissive nod from Iruka to start, Naruto made the correct handseals and reached out for his chakra. Eyes closed in concentration, he could feel the warm energy start moving from his core, slowly as it picked up speed and coursing through him. 'I can do this!'

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

For a moment, everything seemed to be silent, but a second later, an eruption of funny laughter from his classmates reached his ears. Perplexed, Naruto nervously cracked open an eye and looked at his results, only to see two sickly-looking, discolored lumps which were supposed to be his copies on the ground next to him. They did not even resemble him in any way. 'Wha...? I'm pretty sure I did the handseals correctly..'

Iruka seemed to be wanting to say something, probably to throw him some advice or get the class to settle down, but Mizuki had beaten him to the punch. Walking closer, the silver-haired teaching assistant gave Naruto what seemed like a kind smile like he always did, "You know, you don't have to be so nervous, Naruto. Let's give it another shot, all right?"

Naruto knew he was not as nervous as everyone thought he was, but nevertheless, he nodded, before going through the handseals all over again. This time, with a little more confidence, he called out the name of the technique again. 'Please let this work!'

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Without much luck, the same results greeted his vision, and the only improvement this time was that his clones actually had a tiny bit more definition in their forms, but that was all. They were still weakly pale and were lying with their tongues lolling out of their mouths as if they were dehydrated, for the lack of a better term. The roar of laughter erupted once again, only louder this time with hurtful jeers of "Loser!" and "Idiot!" thrown into the mix. Although it made Naruto felt somewhat better to see that his friends were not the ones laughing at him, he would be lying to say that he did not feel any hurt deep inside.

Trying to suppress a flicker of disappointment before it could enter his expression, Naruto scratched the back of his head and forced a sheepish grin as he made his way back to his seat. Though, at his failed attempts at the jutsu earlier, no one caught an oddly calculative, triumphant-looking smirk creeping onto Mizuki's usually kind countenance.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata began as she saw Naruto got back on his chair. Naruto turned to face her, noticing her concerned look. He sighed inwardly.

"I guess I messed up. But don't worry! I'm all right," Naruto grinned wider at her, and although he sounded all cheery like usual, Hinata could not help but notice a tiny bit of hurt in his voice before it was quickly hidden. The boy was a horribly bad liar, but deciding she should give the blond some space to himself, Hinata merely nodded, though not without shooting him worried glances from time to time.

The rest of the lesson was a blur to Naruto. He found it difficult to pay much attention, as his mind already too clouded with the earlier events. In fact, the blond was barely aware that the bell had even rung until he heard a loud cheer from the class. The students erupted into happy chatter as they rushed out of the class in a stampede of eagerness and hurried movements. Even Shikamaru, who was dragging himself out of the door like a flatworm showed some enthusiasm in leaving.

Iruka sighed at their antics as he rubbed the horizontal scar above his nose. Were they so afraid that he would lock them inside here? Or were his lessons really just that boring? The scarred chuunin turned to looked at Naruto's place, and was genuinely surprised to see the blond sitting there, unmoving with his books and notes still on the table. Hinata had remained, too as well as one Uchiha Sasuke who was usually in no hurry.

"Naruto?" Iruka prompted as he walked closer to the blond, trying to kick up a conversation.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei.." Naruto flashed his usual smile, but it lacked most of the warm, sunny-feeling behind it. Most people would not notice, but Iruka was definitely not most people. If anything, he felt himself softened at such a sight.

"You don't have to feel so down, you know," the scarred teacher gave him a knowing look. He did not even have to guess what his little brother figure was feeling right now. Gradually, Naruto's smile became much smaller, but it somehow revealed much more of his hidden emotions. Iruka only placed one hand on the boy's right shoulder in a silent attempt to cheer him up, causing Naruto to look up at him.

"Come on, let's give the jutsu another go, okay? Maybe then we'll figure out if there's anything you're not doing right," Iruka grinned, and Naruto visibly brightened up at this. Nodding, he stood up and followed Iruka to the front of the class where there was more space to move around.

As Naruto did the handseals slowly so that Iruka could take a good look at them, Hinata and surprisingly, Sasuke approached them as well, a well-veiled expression of curiosity gracing his facade. During the first year, Naruto was nothing special, so Sasuke thought the blond was really just a complete idiot like he had appeared to be, but ever since Naruto started becoming friends with Hinata, things just… changed.

For starters, the blue-eyed boy had suddenly stopped his pranking habits — though Sasuke suspected Naruto never really enjoyed pranking others in the first place — to a bare minimum, and had taken his studies much more seriously even when he was struggling at the start. Sasuke remembered once when Naruto had approached him to ask something; Iruka and Hinata had left, so he was the only one he could ask for help. And to say Sasuke was taken aback was an understatement; the blond boy would always ask about interesting details that others would usually neglect, and sometimes even the genius found himself unable to give a straight answer to some of the questions. Sasuke was not sure how and when it all happened, but he had unconsciously become someone like a friend to the Uzumaki.

The stoic-looking Uchiha with duckbutt hair seldom talked to Naruto when there were other students around during class time, so they would usually do it during the taijutsu spars instead if they were lucky enough to be placed together in a match. And when they did, it would usually involved exchanging a few helpful tips with one another by pointing out the flaws in each other's movements, without being overheard by the others of course. Once, when the Uzumaki boy had pointed out a flaw in his traditional Uchiha fighting style, Sasuke was left flabbergasted.

Naruto was more determined than anyone he had known, the Uchiha prodigy could clearly tell that, and the blond was gradually getting better and better throughout the semesters. Heck, even when every time Naruto lost a match to him, Sasuke felt the boy was getting increasingly challenging to defeat. There was this odd niggling feeling behind Sasuke's mind that the blond was not giving his all, but he pushed that lingering thought aside for now, and focused on what was going on in front of him.

He watched as Naruto performed the clone technique and once again failed to produce the intended results, his jet black eyes not missing a quick spike of blue chakra around the blond's feet when he looked closer.

"Dobe, you're probably using too much chakra," Sasuke said without thinking, surprising the other three occupants in the classroom as they turned to him. Naruto twitched slightly out of habit at the nickname like usual, but he knew Sasuke did not mean it literally, so he was more interested at what the Uchiha was saying. The jailer of the Kyuubi looked down at his hands thoughtfully. 'Well, if you put it that way...'

Iruka gave Sasuke one of what he could think of as a disapproving look at his usage of the first word, before nodding at the boy's hypothesis and turning back to his blond-haired student.

"I was thinking the same, too. You're overloading the technique, Naruto. The Bunshin no Jutsu only requires very little chakra," Iruka agreed, though he had a pretty good guess of where Naruto's enormous chakra was coming from - the furry tenant residing inside the boy's stomach. "Hmm.. maybe I should get you started on a simple exercise to try improving your chakra control. Have you ever heard of the leaf concentration exercise?"

Back to the present time...

The leaf concentration exercise, of course, involved the use of a leaf being placed on any part of an individual's body, and with a pinpoint amount of chakra as an adhesive medium, one had to prevent it from falling off. Yes, just like what Naruto was trying to do right now.

It was easier said than done, however.

Eyes closed —something he found to help him concentrate better— and seated in a comfortable position, the blond tried blocking out the ambient noises as best as he could, his main attention solely focused on a single leaf sticking against his forehead. For the past few days, Naruto had been practicing this a lot when he was free or when it was quieter during night time, but it had been rather unfruitful; the whole point of the exercise was so that he could have better chakra control, or in other words, use lesser amount of chakra, but Naruto just couldn't lower its usage past a certain extent. It was as if he was trying to squeeze a tiny drop of water out from an endlessly raging river.

Of course, the blond had considered spamming his Suiton: Mizurrapa for the entire morning until he was dead tired and low on his chakra, then maybe that would be little enough to create a proper clone. The thought was desperate and sounded crazy, yet at the same time seemed rather appealing to him, but he squashed the notion after giving it some serious thinking. It was not a feasible method in real combat at all, and he had been through one just two weeks ago.

'Six seconds.' Naruto sighed as the leaf slid off his forehead and fluttered innocently onto his lap. He found himself contemplating whether or not he should keep trying the clone technique for the rest of the afternoon, but a small part of him decided he should probably look at the problem from a different angle. Maybe there was an alternative way to perform the jutsu? Now that was something to look into, and it seemed to be a much better idea.

The boy thought of looking for Iruka to get more advice, but he quickly decided against the idea; the scarred chuunin had been staying back after classes to help him despite his busy schedule, so the least Naruto could do was to allow his teacher to enjoy a good rest during the weekend. Hinata would probably be in the middle of her clan practice in the Hyuga compound and Sasuke… well, he did not have the slightest clue where Sasuke's house was.

'Some extra information about the jutsu would really help,' Naruto told himself. The boy seemed like he was thinking hard for a minute, and his mood brightened up considerably when the proverbial light bulb clicked on in his head. A big grin then tugged at his lips.

How could he have forgotten the best place to get hold of such information?

Later in the afternoon, Konoha's Local Library...

'Bunshin no Jutsu…. Bunshin no Jutsu..'

Disguised under his usual Henge, Naruto kept that thought firmly inside his head as he ventured down to yet another of the many vast wooden shelves filled with various books and scrolls. It was still lunch time for the rest of the populace, so the blond was pretty much alone in the vast library; well, this was one of the main reasons why he liked visiting the library during lunch hours, but he made it a habit to keep up his Henge nevertheless, just in case someone accidentally discovered his presence and decided to throw him out.

Academy textbooks only held limited information, so he came to the conclusion that the best way to improve his situation was to find out more extra details related to the jutsu he was struggling with. Though, right now, Naruto found himself facing with a rather…. troublesome issue, unconsciously imitating what Shikamaru would say in these sorts of situations; well, he had come across a lot of scrolls explaining the other two academy jutsu, namely the Henge no Jutsu which he already had it down months ago and the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) which he would be learning in future, but…

'Come on! Why isn't there anything on Bunshin no Jutsu?'

Naruto could not help but let out a tired sigh as he once again tried his luck checking through another bookcase on which laid an endless wealth of knowledge. The ten-year-old scanned through the contents left and right, but once again, he could find nothing relevant. Heck, he had even checked through the shelves twice to make sure he did not miss anything. Deciding it was still too early to give up, Naruto continued searching through every shelf in the area.

Roughly an hour later, a physically drained, still empty-handed blond continued walking past shelves after shelves of reading materials which he had searched previously. Evidently, even with his amount of stamina, the non-stop searching process was starting to tire him out. He began to wonder at the lack of any related information, looking a little disheartened. 'Is the jutsu really that easy?'

And so, feeling somewhat lost, with his head distractedly pointed to the ground, he dragged his feet through the aisles towards the last, old-looking shelf that remained unchecked in the area... and promptly collided with someone who was carrying a large stack of books and scrolls that obscured her vision. The sudden impact ended with both of them collapsing on their backs, the thick pile of books and scrolls slipping out of the other person's grasp before scattering unceremoniously onto the floor.

Naruto let out a surprised yelp as a single or two of the thicker books fell on his legs, the process dispelling his Henge no Jutsu without him knowing it happening. And as if that were not enough, one of them must have knocked onto the old shelf, and a small, weathered-looking scroll rolled off its precarious position and dropped onto Naruto's head, eliciting another yelp from the poor boy.

"Oww..." Naruto groaned, before gingerly rubbing the throbbing area and sat up quickly, trying to survey the situation even with his vision now seeing two of everything. He sluggishly picked the half unfurled scroll that landed on him earlier and brought it in front of his face for a quick look. His blue eyes were still too dazed to get a clear picture of everything, but he managed to make out three big words he was searching for.

"Bunshin… no Jutsu..?" he read, and his eyes widened with disbelief and joy as if he had struck gold. This was what he was searching for since over an hour ago! And to think it had found him instead of the other way round. Oh, the irony. Though, Naruto suddenly felt he was forgetting something, or more accurately, someone, before realization hit him and he turned towards whoever he had collided with.

That someone, now revealed as a teenage girl looking not much older than him was gently dusting herself off, before her hand began groping to find something on the floor. With her Konoha forehead protector tied backwards around her waist like a sash, she was clothed casually in a dark red dress with a white coat over the garment, and it was only seconds later that she found what she was looking for — a pair of swirl-tinted glasses which she hastily wore it back on. And, like Naruto, it was only then she remembered she had just collided onto someone else earlier.

"O-Oh no! I'm sorry! I'm very sorry!" the teenage girl in question panicked as she hastily shoved aside the books that were strewn all over the tiled floor, and hurried beside Naruto in a heartbeat. When she was closer, the boy noticed she also had blond hair, but it was a lighter shade compared to his and tied in a loose ponytail with occasional strands sticking out, giving it a slightly disheveled look. She quickly helped the still slightly groggy-looking Naruto back to a standing position, a very concerned look gracing her face as she dusted him off.

"Are you alright? I-I.. didn't expect to bump into anyone here! I was…. " the girl continued breathlessly in an almost incoherently fast manner due to obvious panic, and started bowing effusively in apology. "I was so careless I... Please be alright! I'm so very sorry! I really am!"

"Uh... Uhm.." Sweatdropping at her rather exuberant display, Naruto was left speechless on the spot, not really knowing how to continue, and it was only a few seconds later that he found his voice back.

"I-I'm okay, I guess…uh.." Naruto said with his stunned expression still in place, a little unsure of what to make out of the situation. Checking himself over for any signs of injuries, the worst he could feel were just some light bruising on his left leg, but he decided not to worry her with it; after all, it was nothing a good night's sleep could not fix. "And, well… it's my fault for not seeing where I was going, so I should be the one apologizing." He managed a small grin. "Sorry."

"No, no… how can it be your fault? Like I said, I was careless," the girl insisted, shaking her head. Out of courtesy, Naruto settled with helping her piling up the stack of books and scrolls, and the bespectacled teen took this chance to study the boy in greater detail; there was something telling her that she had heard about him somewhere from one of her Hyuga friends, and after doing some memory recalling, it hit her.

Raising a finger to point at the boy unbelievingly, she found herself blurting out what was of her mind, "Blond hair… blue eyes... whiskers… no way… you can't possibly be… Uzumaki Naruto-kun?"

The was a moment of silence as the boy registered her words.

'Huh? How did she..?.. Wait, don't tell me that...' Naruto, who was currently placing down the last of the scrolls on the neat pile, froze up instantly, before glancing into the nearest glass casing. Much to confirm his fears, he found his own reflection staring right back at him. 'My Henge!' The boy began to panic, now that his cover was blown. Finding no excuse, Naruto only nodded numbly, before holding his hands up placatingly in front of him in a feeble attempt to defend himself. It was almost as if he were expecting to be hit or something.

"L-Look, I can exp–" the whiskered boy began a little frantically, but he found himself losing confidence after seeing the shocked look spreading across the girl's face. For a moment, Naruto looked half-ready to bolt at the first sign of hostility, totally thinking that he was screwed, but…

"So it's really you! You're the boy who saved the Hyuga heiress?"

" –lain, I was just..? Eh?" Naruto blinked. He blinked again, stupefied by the sudden loss of tension in the air. That was pretty… anticlimactic for the lack of a better word, but the suddenness of the question being asked had caught him off guard. Naturally, Naruto expected to get yelled out by now, but by some stroke of luck, he was not. This was a good sign, and that thought alone had calmed him down somewhat. Now lowering his hands and looking blankly at the girl, Naruto noticed she had an eager and expectant look on her face that unnerved him somewhat.

"I.. that… not really.. I'm not the one who saved Hinata, her Tou-chan did," Naruto corrected her claim as politely as he could, recalling the event two weeks ago. "And all I did was, umm," he had the tendency to look embarrassed, as he scratched his cheeks out of habit. "I practically just got my butt kicked all over the place. Really!"

"Oh. But still, that was very brave of you, so don't sell yourself too short," the girl chuckled good-naturedly at Naruto's choice of words. The boy in question was not sure whether she had said all that just to make him feel better, but he appreciated the thought nevertheless. With a friendly smile across her lips, the white clad girl held out her right hand while gesturing to herself with her other one to properly introduce herself.

"I'm Shiho, by the way. It's a pleasure knowing you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto was slightly tentative at first, but he eventually found himself grinning and returning the handshake with a firm grip. "Same here, Shiho-neechan."

Naruto took this time to wonder a little bit at himself. It just so happened that he seemed to have a knack for making friends under the weirdest of situations. Though, when he noticed the teenage girl stiffened at the way he called her, Naruto grew nervous. "Sorry, I just kinda–"

"Hehe… Shiho-neechan sounds just about right, I kinda like it," Shiho giggled again at the younger boy's response. It was… strange if she seriously think about it; she had started talking with him just about less than five minutes ago, but right now, she felt as if they had become something akin to good friends, just like that. There was just something inside him that made Shiho wanted to know him better. "So, what brings you here today? Anything I can help with?"

Truthfully, Naruto was somewhat glad that he had bumped into this person earlier. Shiho was not hurrying him off or even glaring at him, but instead she had offered to befriend him willingly. In short, he had found what he needed, and made a new friend as an added bonus; it was like killing two birds with one stone.

"Oh… I was searching for something to help me with basic Bunshin," Naruto picked up the old-looking scroll that had dropped onto him earlier, and flashed another grin, "But I guess I've found what I was looking for." He paused and looked sheepish for a moment. "Or rather it has found me."

Seeing a somewhat disappointed look dawned on his new friend's face, Naruto quickly added, "On second thought, I think I'll need some books on chakra control."

Shiho smiled enthusiastically. "And I know just the thing you'll need. Come with me, please."

Naruto followed suit, and recalling the one of their earlier conversations, the blond decided to add in as he grinned nervously and pointed at the distinctive thin lines on his cheeks. "And, uh.. these aren't whiskers, by the way. Sandaime-jiji told me they're called birthmarks."

"Ah, that so? And has any girls in your class told you that you look kinda cute with those?" Shiho asked a little too teasingly out of mischief, and she giggled in amusement as Naruto nearly walked headfirst into the nearest book case and sputtered wordlessly for a reply a second later, his face flushing a deep shade of scarlet that he did not think was even possible. 'I-I'm not CUTE!'

As he let Shiho lead him around the library, Naruto had not only ended up with a hardcover book on Basic Chakra Control for Dummies, but Shiho had suggested that he should give himself a head start to get Kawarimi no Jutsu down so he would have more time to work on other things during his final year in the academy.

"A good shinobi is one who always plans ahead, or at least that's what I've heard from my friends," the library assistant shared the advice along the way, her fingers trailing along the spines of the books to find what she was looking for. Adjusting her glasses, the teen looked thoughtful for a moment, before she dropped another hardcover entitled Shinobi Taijutsu Basics onto the growing stack Naruto was currently carrying, and the boy found himself agreeing to that statement whole-heartedly. It would never hurt to prepare early.

Watching her handiwork on Naruto's outstretched hands, she nodded, "I think these will be enough to get you started. I really hope the books will help you."

"Thanks a bunch, Shiho-neechan. You've been a really big help!" Naruto expressed his gratitude, and although he was straining slightly under the thick load on his hands, he looked really happy for her help. Also, he noticed that the female civilian librarian that used to be here was missing, so Naruto thought she must have been replaced by Shiho not too long ago. Well, that was good, now that he did not have to disguise himself every time he wanted to borrow something from the library. "I'll make good use of these."

"It's always my pleasure to help those who need it, no problem," Shiho smiled in a sisterly manner, ruffling Naruto's hair and earning her another embarrassed look from the boy. She added, "And feel free to drop by anytime if you need help with something, or even if it's for a chat. You see, it can get quite dull around here."

"Sure thing, I can do that," Naruto managed a bright grin in understanding, trying to picture himself in her situation, surrounded by nothing but books, scrolls, and more books for the entire day. Yeah, it really did seem a little boring. "You can count on me!"

"Then I wish you the best of luck in whatever you're doing. Work hard, all right?"

"Yep, I will! And thanks again!"

After bidding Shiho goodbye, Naruto wasted no time leaving the library with his stack of reading materials. He returned the polite waves of a few Hyuga members he met along the way, and made a beeline back to his apartment, eager to finally bring the Bunshin no Jutsu trouble to an end.

Yeah, he was sure of it.

Later that night…

Back in his apartment room and after a quick shower, Naruto fully, but carefully unfurled the weathered scroll and lay it flat onto the floor. Presently, the blond was clad in only a clean spare of the drawstring shorts he got used to wearing, his hair still slightly wet and towel hanging loosely around his neck. If anything, this just showed how eager he was to get started.

The paper was pretty brown with age, Naruto noticed, and it looked as if the slightest pull could tear it apart if he were careless, not to mention that its edges were littered with countless tiny rips. But he was not complaining; at least he now had something which could possibly provide him more information on Bunshin no Jutsu, and without wasting any more time, he got himself in a comfortable sitting position and began reading.

As Naruto's eyes skimmed further and further across the text, the boy's expression changed from eagerness to excitement, then to curiosity, before finally ended in utter puzzlement. Tilting his head to the side, he arched a blond eyebrow to further display his current state of confusion; if anything, whatever written on the scroll was totally different from what he had learned from the academy class.

"… requires large amount of chakra and... huh? Only a single handseal?... clones can be dispelled upon impacts…. also a reminder to not dispel too many of them at one time…hmm..." Naruto tapped his chin with a finger, his expressive blue eyes squinting in thought at the new information. He remembered in one particular lecture that the main purpose of handseals being invented was to guide the chakra properly from the chakra coils so that it would be easier to perform a specific jutsu. 'Maybe because it needs less handseal, the chakra needed has to be more instead?'

Naruto gave the thought some thinking, outwardly looking as if he trying to digest something particularly difficult. After one contemplative minute, he decided it was probably some sort of shortcut to the clone ninjutsu. That… probably made more sense, somehow. He wanted to read on, but was forced to stop after a few more lines about how this jutsu was created by some guy named Senju Hashirama; the text after that was too blurry and faded for Naruto to make any heads or tails out of it. And although the name had sounded oddly familiar, Naruto did not put much thinking on it for the time being. 'Senju… where have I seen that word again? I'll probably figure it out later..'

Naruto sighed at the lack of any more information which was in readable quality, but if what he went through earlier could be an alternative way that might work for him, he was not going to just toss it aside without having a crack at it. Especially not after all his efforts to finally find something concerning the clone technique in the library. The boy shrugged, punching a fist into his open palm and cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

'Not sure if it's gonna work at all, but let's have a go at it!'

His course of action set, Naruto stood right up, before carefully centering his middle and index fingers together in a cross seal mentioned in the text which he had never heard before. The boy made doubly sure that he made no mistake and closed his eyes, before he began searching for the warm feeling inside himself and slowly reaching and gathering a sizable amount of it.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Nothing seemed to happen for a second, but a few 'poofs' exploding around him eventually caught his attention. Naruto took a deep breath to steel his nerves, before daring himself to take a look; he had been disappointed too many times in his attempts prior to this, so this was understandable. However, the results greeting his vision quickly caused his cerulean eyes to widen the moment he cracked them open, and a growing big grin crept across his lips.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable was the only word that could describe it.

Standing before him were two perfect, life-sized copies of himself grinning back at him and waiting eagerly for a response, completed with the exact articles of clothing he was presently wearing. They even had the slightly wet-looking hair he was sporting right now. Slapping his own cheeks a few times to convince himself that this was really happening, Naruto could not keep the impossibly huge grin from overtaking his face, and soon he found himself laughing joyously. It was a big success! And all it took was a simple handseal! This was only his first try, too!

'I.. I don't really understand, but.. it worked! I did it! I really did it!' Naruto cheered inwardly, punching a fist into the air triumphantly before taking a step towards the closest one, walking around him excitedly and checking him over for any mistakes. There was none that he could find so far, and the clone had looked so unbelievably real! Though, Naruto decided to try dispelling the clone in question, so he tentatively poked at the copy's bare stomach with a finger.

Nothing happened. The clone was still standing there, looking weirdly at him. Frowning slightly, Naruto prodded again, a little harder this time for good measure. Whatever he touched felt adequately squishy… and not to mention familiarly warm. For a split second, Naruto almost thought he was touching his own flesh. Though, the blond had missed the look of discomfort on his clone's face, and did not suspect anything strange…. well, at least not yet.

Much to Naruto's clueless confusion, the blond look-alike still did not cease to exist, and this time, he actually did something beyond Naruto's wildest imagination.

"Uhm.. Can you stop doing that?" the copy scratched his cheeks nervously, imitating what the original always did when he found himself in these sorts of situations. "It kinda tickles, ya' know."

If a pin were to drop right now, it could be heard miles away. Naruto could only stare, and promptly froze like a deer in the headlights in response to the totally unexpected turn of events. 'Huh. Did my Bunshin just..?' He blinked owlishly, but inside he was shaking his head vehemently. 'No, no, no, no! I must be imagining stuff. That had to be it... right? Right?'

Complete silence reigned in the apartment room for a good five seconds. The other clone took note of his befuddled expression, and decided to snap him out of it. Naruto was vaguely aware when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and began shaking them lightly, making him turn and look numbly at the clone responsible.

"Uh.. you okay?" said clone looked at the original with his big blue eyes in concern, and when he still did not receive any sort of verbal response from Naruto whose mouth was gaping right now, he reached forward and gave one of his cheeks a quick tug. "Please say something? Anything? Hey!"

That successfully snapped Naruto out of his stupor, and he did the only one thing that was perfectly natural for a ten-year-old boy for the moment.

"Y-You talked! You really talked!" Naruto yelped, and he did not even realize it when he fell onto the spot where he had been standing. His sudden actions had apparently taken his clones by surprise – as one, they had yelped too. After the initial shock had worn off, or at least most of it had, an awkward silence ensued. The three blonds looked at one another oddly, before the original finally found his voice to speak. Touching his left cheek where it was pinched earlier, Naruto went on, his mind working furiously for an explanation, "No way.. You guys are real, solid clones?"

His clones stared blankly at him for a second, unsure with the idea and they tried moving around the room, touching various objects as they went and then feeling themselves over. As this happened, Naruto noticed something else which was strange about his duplicates.

Shadow. They had shadows beneath their feet. Then it hit him. 'This… isn't Bunshin no Jutsu..'

"…Um… yeah, I think you're right, boss," one of Naruto's clones who was currently thumping himself experimentally on the chest chose this moment to answer the original's question from earlier.

"Boss?" Naruto wondered aloud, but a second later realized that it was probably his copies' way to address him, the original. Though it did sound a little strange, Naruto did not mind; he had a more pressing matter to find out at the moment.

A mere minute later, all three identical blonds found themselves sitting in a circle around the scroll, their blue eyes squinting in concentration to check whether they had missed any important details. It was only now that one of Naruto's clones spotted something that needed the others' attention. Pointing to the seemingly blank space before the words Bunshin no Jutsu, he said, "Look, I think there's something here. It looks like there's another word in front."

"Hey! You're right!" his other copy interjected, agreeing at the observation, and soon Naruto found himself nodding as well as he peered closer to the place where the others were pointing at. It was faint, almost completely faded, so it was no wonder the blond did not manage to catch the word in at his first glance when he was in the library earlier. And not to mention he was dazed after the scroll had landed on him, too, but that was beside the point now.

The trio squinted closer to try figuring out what it was, and eventually the original Naruto managed to make out the word in question after straining his eyes for a few seconds. And the word was...

"Kage…" Naruto murmured, getting his doppelgangers' attentions as they turned towards him. The original blond looked thoughtful for a moment before the realization hit him. "So which means… this is Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"

~End Chapter 4~

That's all about Chapter 4. My main purpose of writing this chapter was for Naruto to learn the Kage Bunshin, of course, besides introducing bits of little plots here and there and some details about Sasuke. Frankly speaking, to me, Naruto just isn't Naruto without his shadow clones. And have any of you seen the new Naruto movie by the way? I have a feeling it'll be really epic!

Glossary:

Hi no Kuni - Country of Fire

Hope you enjoyed reading, stay tuned for the next one!

BlackSpike91 out~