Chapter 30 Clone Days
Naruto's clone panted for breath as he rested behind a chimney on a random roof. It was night time and Jiraiya had for some reason begun stalking the clone. The clone had been fruitlessly trying to shake the man off his trail for several hours now. Jiraiya had somehow found a way into his house and now nowhere in Konoha was safe. He tensed slightly was he felt Jiraiya's signature pass him.
Suddenly the clone felt a distant clash of chakras across the village. He started and shot off in the direction of the distressed chakra signature. Who was fighting for their life at this time of the night and why?
The clone arrived at a blood soaked scene. Hayate, the proctor of the preliminary matches, was lying in a pool of his own blood slowly bleeding out from a large slash across his chest. The clone hurried over and lifted the man to take him to the hospital. He was relieved to feel a faint heartbeat. There was a chance to save the man!
Hayate weakly gripped his shirt, "Tell… The Hokage…." he gasped out weakly, "Sound… and Sand…. Are plotting to destroy Konoha!" The clone stared at Hayate with a shocked expression. What had Hayate stumbled on?
The clone then activated a Hiraishin seal at the hospital, landing in the lobby. "Quick I need help here! Shinobi in critical condition!" He yelled at the shocked nurses and doctors. After a moment of hesitation they hurried over. Bringing a stretcher and applying basic healing jutsus to the grave wound on Hayate's Naruto clone stared after the quickly departing crew of doctors and looked down at its hands stained in blood. The clone stretched its senses out to find the Hokage. Then it disappeared in another quick Hiraishin to the Hokage's office.
A moment after he materialized in the office he was surrounded by ANBU with blades drawn pointed at his throat.
"Hokage-sama" He called ignoring the ANBU. "I bring grave news!"
The Hokage glanced up with weary eyes and waved the ANBU off of Naruto he sat back down in his chair with a thump. "What is it Naruto? It's late and I want to leave soon."
"I just found Hayate in critical condition, it seems that he was attacked while in the middle of trying to deliver a message. He is currently in the hospital with doctors trying to save his life. He told me that Sand and Sound are plotting to destroy Konoha."
The Hokage huffed out a breath and leaned back in his chair heavily. He placed a hand over his eyes. "Well… It seems I won't be going home anytime soon… Did Hayate tell you anything else Naruto?"
"No, that was all he managed before he fainted from blood loss."
"I see. It was suspicious that Suna would send their Jinchuuriki to the exams after all. Unfortunately, we may not be able to act until Haytae recovers and can tell us more. ANBU! Set two squads to guard Hayate! He cannot be allowed to die at this point!" The Hokage barked. "Good work Naruto, we have been suspecting Sound due to its connections with Orochimaru for quite a while, so this is not entirely unexpected."
"What will happen to the exams? Are we canceling?" Naruto asked.
"We cannot cancel at this point. There is no proof that Sound and Sand will invade and the Daimyos are coming. We can't afford to lose face by canceling the tournament."
"But we would lose even more face by being attacked during the tournament!"
"If we were to be attacked during the tournament we would be able to show off the full strength of the village by handling things efficiently. I believe in the strength of Konoha. We will face our enemies as they come."
"Then why not launch a preemptive attack if we know we will be attacked?"
"There is no proof Naruto. It would be an unprovoked attack that could lead to war. We don't want to be the ones breaking the alliance between Suna and Konoha."
"No I meant on Sound. Orochimaru has already infiltrated the village and killed our shinobi and there may be traitors in our ranks helping him."
"Hmm… yes the traitor problem… I have my ANBU conducting interrogations on our own shinobi right now. There is not much more that can be done." The Hokage puffed on his pipe. "As for Sound… We can't afford to attack without cause once again. It's possible that since Hayate has survived they may cancel their invasion."
"But that-!"
"Enough, Naruto. I am still Hokage and this is what I have decided. I understand your worries and concerns. Konoha is strong. We will be able to repel any attack easily. I believe in the Will of Fire. Our shinobi will rise up to defend the village with all their might."
The Naruto clone sighed and deflated. It nodded forlornly in agreement.
Then a figure jumped onto the window sill of the office window. "I found you brat!" Jiraiya delacred, pointing dramatically at Naruto.
"Jiraiya. Don't bother the boy if he doesn't want to see your face." The Sandaime scolded. Jiraiya slumped over on the window sadly.
"But I can train him for the Chuunin exams!"
"There is nothing you can teach me you old pervert." The clone said harshly.
"What do you mean? I'm one of the three great Sannin! I'm sure there's things I know that would blow your mind! I still need to offer you the toad contract from your dad too!
"No need. I can't sign it now anyways. I'm a clone."
"C'mon kid. I'm really trying to make it up to you here!"
Naruto's eyes flashed in fury. "There is no need. I know who you really are. You're doing this for the sake of your own self satisfaction. You don't want to deal with the guilt of having left me for thirteen years properly. It will be a while before I even consider forgiving you."
Jiraiya had a pained expression on his face after Naruto's harsh words while the Sandaime just sat there silently.
"Maybe start by staying to help with the Orochimaru situation instead of running from your problems like a coward." Naruto spat. Spinning around and leaving the office in a storm of emotions.
"He's right you know… Konoha needs your power Jiraiya. I am too old to be able to deal with Orochimaru on my own" Said the Sandaime lowering his hat.
Jiraiya sighed and took a seat in front of the Sandaime's desk. "I don't know about that… But I also don't know how to approach the kid. I want to make up for it but he makes it so hard. He's just like Minato you know? I've seen him train. Its like watching Minato all over again."
"I am well aware. He has the same drive and passion. Quite frankly, sometimes I forget who I'm talking to when I'm with him."
Jiraiya threw an arm over his eyes, "Yeah. He's scary when he's mad, just like Minato."
A clone watched idly as Naruto sparred furiously with one of his new Kitsune summons. Naruto had summoned a taijutsu specialized fox to teach him the Kitsune claw fighting style while remastering sage mode. It was a ferocious and wild style similar to the Inuzuka jujin taijutsu. It relied on fast darting movements to vital points and slashes. For Naruto who often fought dual wielding kunai it was a perfect match. He had picked it up quickly and was now fighting Tsutsuji, his summon, with his resistance seals set to level thirteen.
Tsutsuji was an older kitsune with a dappled grey coat and black muzzle. The kitsune was strict and no nonsense and drilled Naruto relentlessly until he could perform his katas with his eyes closed. The fox would nip at Naruto's legs every time he messed up leading to bloodied pants and ruined sandals.
Tsutsuji ducked underneath a slash and lashed out at Naruto's eyes. Naruto quickly dodged saving his eyesight and aimed for the kitsune's kidneys with another slash. Tsutsuji nimbly twisted out of the way and flipped backwards landing atop a piece of rubble.
"Good, good. You have indeed mastered the aspects of this style quite well. Let's kick it up a notch shall we?" The kitsune asked.
Naruto grinned back and released his resistance seals. "Sure, if you can keep up that is!"
"Hmph. Don't get cocky kit! You still have a long way to go!"
The clone yawned widely and went back to reading scrolls as the sparring began sending pieces of rubble flying everywhere. The clone absently conjured a seal with his hand and burned it into the ground. Bits of rock bounced off the blue barrier that popped up.
The new sage mode afforded for enhanced senses even more so compared to when he had mastered sage mode with the toads. It was almost overwhelming, he had also gained a more feral quality with the new Kitsune sage mode. His hair turned red at the tips, his eyes had become slitted, he gained black markings around his eyes, his nails sharpened, and his incisors grew sharper. He was even faster than when he had mastered sage mode with the toads and somehow he felt more attuned to nature than before. When he asked about it Kurama had snorted and said that the kitsune were a much better fit for him compared to the toads. Mianto didn't really know how to feel about that. The toads had been long time friends and he felt as if he were betraying them. Kurama laughed at him and said he wasn't though, that he had simply moved on. So maybe it was fine?
At least Kurama seemed happier than ever. Using a combination of Kurama's chakra and his own chakra he had managed to summon Kurama outside of the seal for a brief few moments. They would need more practice and stabilization of the eight pronged seal combined with the six pronged seal in order to increase the time Kurama could spend outside.
The first thing the fox had done when released from the seal was to take a deep breath and laugh wildly. Kurama's joy had been infectious and spread to Minato as well. Both had laughed together and then run wild in the ruins of Uzushio. They played the world's most high speed and dangerous game of tag. Kurama playfully threatened to kill minato for sealing him away and Minato had dared him to do something about it.
They shot off after a moment of silence and staring with Minato cackling as he Hiraishined in all directions and used shadow clones to dance around the fox. The fox himself had playfully batted at the clones and romped shamelessly. The chase lasted an entire day and Minato had been chakra exhausted by the end of it. Kurama took pity on him though, and had lent and bit of chakra to him as a reward for such a good chase. Kurama had returned to his seal quietly and with little complaint after the chase, simply content with how life was at the moment.
The clone poked at the newly formed barrier seal he had just conjured. The Uzumaki were true geniuses. There was so much to fuinjutsu Minato had never even considered before coming to Uzushio. They treated it like an art instead of a tool in Uzu.
He also had discovered several time and space bending seals in the kage tower that he used to improve his Hiraishin even further. He was greatly inspired by the Uzumaki seals he had discovered so far. Ideas popped into his head left and right. Minato even had a clone solely dedicated to writing down new ideas to explore later.
The clones had all been hard at work studying all that they could get their hands on. For the past fifteen days Mianto had been cycling clones in and out of the archive researching. He was slowly approaching his limits but he pushed himself further each time. He was determined to be able to carry on the legacy of the Uzumaki by learning all he could before it was all lost to time.
Tsutsuji kicked Minato back, sending him crashing into the barrier that his clone had erected. Mianto slid down the barrier with a groan and then hopped to his feet ready to start charging again when Tsutsuji held up a paw.
"That's enough for today. Naruto. You have been doing extremely well. I am proud to call you the summoner of the kitsune."
Minato straightened up and bowed at the old fox. "Thank you Tsutsuji-san. I appreciate your teachings."
The fox nodded at him and then poofed away.
Minato collapsed to his knees as his body gave out on him. The spar had lasted three days and he was beat. One of his clones wandered over to him and poked him in the head with a stick. He sure was a cheeky bastard huh? "Do you want us to start tackling the private clan compound libraries?" It asked.
"Yeah please do. Dispel if you can't get in, I'll take care of it."
"Mm… Understood. Are you passing out now?"
"...Yeah…" Minato said weakly.
And thus Minato went out like a light. When he woke up his head was pounding, as was usual with using shadow clones to keep learning while asleep. Minato stayed lying down on his sleeping mat cradling his head. It would all be worth it in the end, he told himself. The constant migraines were being dealt with rather quickly from Kurama's influence but it didn't mean that they stopped hurting when they first started.
He had made leaps and bounds with his fuinjutsu mastery in Uzushio. Minato was truly in heaven with all this information at his fingertips. He assumed he could call himself a true Uzumaki seal master soon. By the end of the month he would be able to master true Uzumaki seal techniques to use in battle. He couldn't wait.
He had also been hoarding various high quality sealing supplies from the ruins in various storage seals. He had found a recipe for high quality ink that he had drooled over. He had found high quality paper the likes of which he had never seen before. He had found exotic brushes made with the finest of animal hair. All of this he took while paying the utmost respect to the Uzumaki. They would be put to good use instead of gathering dust in the ruins he mentally promised.
Truly, he would not be regretting his time spent in Uzushio anytime soon.
A/N: double update because i felt like it and this chapter is short. Thank you for 200 reviews!