Chapter 10: The ants go marching one by one

"Woah… Seals are cool." Naruto mumbled to himself as he read through the book. For some reason, it wasn't as boring as reading had been back at the academy. He was still having a hard time wrapping his mind around morphemes and logography, but compared to the homework he'd done back in Konoha this was downright fun… It was still homework so he had a grudge against it, but it was definitely less evil than the stuff he had been given by Iruka.

Naruto's attention was torn away from his book by a clone jumping down into the library… vault… thing… he'd have to think of a name for this place.

"'Ey boss." The clone said as he waved to Naruto.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, standing up.

"We found a lot of stuff from the wreck." The clone said. "Some of the others thought you'd want to look at it."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, walking towards the exit of the vault.

"I mean, like, chunks of the boat and cargo have washed ashore and some of it looks useful."

Naruto hummed to himself as he walked. As soon as he walked far enough away from the vault, the stone slab walls moved back in again, sealing it off behind him. Naruto paused and looked behind him at the seal-covered wall again.

"I… really hope I don't need to get mind-fucked every time I go in there." He mumbled before jumping up to the surface, quickly followed by his clone. "So what kind of stuff did you find?" Naruto asked as he walked towards the beach.

"Well, we found a few dead bodies for one. Don't worry we already buried them."

Naruto stumbled mid-step. He hadn't even considered that there would be wreckage from the ship, let alone people.

"Right well… thanks." He mumbled, rather glad that he was spared from having to look at the bodies of his former crewmates. Even if it had been for only a day or two.

"No worries boss, we also found a lot of wood and stuff, some of the other clones have been sorting through everything while I came to get you."

"Alright, and what about the city itself? Anything interesting?"

The clone shrugged his shoulders as he helped Naruto move over a particularly large chunk of debris in their way. "Not sure, I came to get you as soon as we finished burying the bodies."

Naruto started to pick up speed once they got out of Uzu's streets, jumping up into the canopy of bamboo. He wasn't used to jumping on things other than trees but considering this was his new home he figured it was best to try and start getting used to it. Jumping from bamboo shaft to bamboo shaft like a monkey he made his way towards the shoreline.

"Ok… I guess I'll just… stay here… or something." The clone yelled after him as he was left behind.

UN:PoA

"Hokage-sama?" A voice called out. Tsunade lifted her head from her desk, she had been drinking all day.

"Yesh?" She said in her best attempt at non-slurred speech. "What is it?"

"Hyuuga-sama- umm… Hyuuga Hiashi has requested an audience. Should I tell him you're busy?" Her secretary asked softly.

"Hiashi… what the hell does he want? No, send him in." Tsunade straightened her back and took some deep breaths to try and sober herself. A few moments later the previous head of the Hyuuga clan walked in, taking a seat. It was clear from the look on his face that he could smell the booze in the air.

"Hyuuga-san, this is a surprise. Is there something I can help you with? As I'm sure you know almost all Village business is being run through Shikaku." Tsunade said, only slightly slurring now. Where was Shizune with her acupressure when you needed her?

"Lady Hokage, it is a pleasure to see you. I did indeed have something to speak with you about, although I believe you would prefer it if it was a bit more private." Hiashi said with the soft smile and tone of a career politician.

Tsunade squinted her eyes slightly but nodded, with a flick of her wrist there was a blurring of motion as her ANBU protection team vacated the area. "What is it you have to say Hiashi." She asked, dropping the formalities for the moment.

Hiashi nodded. "I will be blunt as I'm sure you're very… busy." He said, barely holding back a scowl as he eyed the empty bottles surrounding her. "I am fully aware of your desire to retire as Hokage after the death of Naruto the Hero. I would like to offer you my services in the venture."

Tsunade felt a chill run down her spine. "How do you know that?" She asked, narrowing her eyes even more.

"In a hidden village, secrets do not stay secret for long my lady; particularly ones of this importance," Hiashi replied with a non-answer. "Now this may be an assumption on my part, but I believe the reason you have not already asked me to become Hokage is because of my prior commitment as head of the Hyuuga household. As I'm sure you're aware this issue has been recently remedied."

Tsunade took a deep breath and rested her chin on her hands. She was definitely sober now. She couldn't risk offending Hiashi, the relationship between Konoha and the Hyuuga clan had been tenuous for years and although he was no longer clan head he was still regent, holding effectively all the power until Hinata turned 16. While she knew he wouldn't risk the safety of Konoha as a whole, she also knew that he could make life for Konoha ninjas a lot harder. Hyuuga scouts were some of the best in the business, all he would have to do is declare a clan-wide period of celebration over Hinata's ascension to Matriarch, and Konoha's recon division would be cut in half. Making everyone else take double shifts. Not to mention the countless other options for political maneuvering he had.

Hiashi maintained the small smile from before. Had he been crafting this situation since Naruto's death, or was he merely taking advantage of all the cards in his hand? Regardless she wasn't comfortable with giving Hiashi the position of Hokage. His cold calculating efficiency was invaluable as an advisor on the council, but not something that would be good for the village if he were put into a leadership position. She needed to find a way to refuse him the position without harming his ego.

Tsunade had an idea…

"You are right that I had considered you highly for the position of Hokage Hiashi-san," she smiled, again donning the formal prose of politics. "However your position as the Hyuuga clan's head did prevent me from choosing you. Unfortunately, I have already made a choice as to who will be the next Hokage."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow at that, nothing in his network had told him about this. The only person that had been approached was Kakashi, and he'd turned it down.

"Oh really… and who is that?" Hiashi asked, again with the soft smile.

"The individual in question has asked me to refrain from divulging that information until such a time as they are coronated." Tsunade smiled in return. From the outside, this conversation would appear to be a simple discussion between friends, but inside Tsunade's heart raced. This type of political bullshit was exactly why she wanted out of Konoha.

"And when will that be? Surely you don't expect me to believe that you plan on maintaining the position of Hokage indefinitely after having already picked a successor?"

"Unfortunately my choice has some… prior obligations that will not be resolved until…" Tsunade paused to think. She had to get Kakashi to wear the hat, there were no other options, that much had been made clear over the last month of searching. He wouldn't commit to becoming Hokage because of his previous commitment to training Sakura, but if that commitment was over… "After the next Chuunin exams. They will become available after the next Chuunin exams. You see now why I chose this individual instead of yourself. I knew they would become available within the next 5 months, but I had no way of knowing that you planned on giving control of your clan to your daughter before she reached the age of consent. Waiting 6 months is much more reasonable than potentially waiting 36, if you had informed me of your decision sooner you would have been more highly considered for the position. Unfortunately, I had already approached this individual before I was made aware of Hinata's ascension to matriarch."

Tsunade's smile was much more genuine now, with her one convenient little half-lie she had successfully navigated the ball into Hiashi's court. Now there would be no reason for him to be offended, instead, he stood the risk of greatly offending both her and her mysteriously chosen successor. She had been making sure to avoid gendered speech, not wanting to offer any hint to Hiashi as to who she'd chosen.

Hiashi had to make a concerted effort to not appear ruffled, he hadn't heard anything about a second candidate being called in, were his sources lacking?

"I see… well that is most unfortunate; it appears I will have to enjoy my retirement in peace then. I suppose there are worse fates for an old ninja." Hiashi's smile never faltered for a moment, a testament to his political skills.

"We are always ready to welcome you back into the ninja corps Hiashi-san. If you ever grow stir crazy let me know and I'll find a way to help." Tsunade gave a slight nod of her head and stood, indicating that the conversation was over.

Hiashi stood and bowed respectably. "Of course Tsunade-sama, thank you. If you'll excuse me I'll be going now."

Tsunade waved softly as he left, the subtle whooshing of wind indicating that the ANBU protection unit had returned. "One of you go and get Shizune…" she said as she let out a pained groan, sitting back down and pulling a fresh bottle of sake out of her desk. "I'm getting another headache."

UN:PoA

Kakashi rubbed his temples as he sat across from Kurenai at the Jounin lounge.

"Well, all things considered, I don't think it's the worst idea I've ever heard." Kurenai sighed as she was picking at her food. She wasn't particularly hungry, even after training with Sakura all day. "But I'm not sure how I feel about sending Hinata out on a mission so soon after… y'know."

"I had the same reservations at first, but I think it may be good for her. She's going crazy with nothing to do all day but train and mope around. Sometimes the best form of rest is to stop resting." Kakashi replied, taking a quick sip of his tea.

Kurenai leaned forward and pinched between her eyes softly. "I don't know what you would want me to do with Sakura while you were gone. She's gonna burn out on nothing but genjutsu, and I'm nowhere near your level when it comes to ninjutsu or taijutsu so I would probably end up doing more harm than good."

"Honestly Kurenai you could do nothing but run her through the basics and I'd be thrilled. For Sakura, it's more about making progress at all than progressing in any particular direction. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I let her fall behind Naruto and Sasuke significantly. All aspects of her training need work, and you don't need to be an expert to help her. The only thing I would say to steer clear of is helping her on her medical work, I've learned enough first-aid that I can patch myself up if she stumbles, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you putting your body on the line like I do. We're starting to get to the point where even I don't know how much more I can teach her."

Kurenai nodded and leaned back in her chair. "Fine… you have my approval to take my team on a mission, but nothing above C-class. I understand Kiba and Shino are getting antsy but they're still not ready for B-class missions."

Kakashi nodded in understanding.

"Oh and Kakashi?" Kurenai added

"Hmm?"

"If things turn south and the mission becomes filled with jounin level threats like your mission in wave did… don't hesitate to tell the client to fuck himself and come home, ok?"

Kakashi smiled under his mask and chuckled. "Are you implying that I have a history of endangering my students? Why Kurenai-chan I am offended. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go prepare to teach Sakura about how to play with fire… I mean cauterize a wound."

Kakashi stood up and walked out of the jounin lounge with a smile on his face; making a point to ignore the mumbling rumors of him suddenly leaving 'mid-date' with Kurenai. The rumors about him and Kurenai becoming an item had indeed hit the Konoha rumor mill like a spark in a hayloft, but he was never one to care for other's opinions of him. The sun had set and he could make preparations for tomorrow's lesson with Sakura at home. He made his way to his apartment, jumping from roof to roof lazily. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an eerily familiar genin running away from his apartment complex before landing in front of his door. Walking inside he saw a letter had been slipped through the mail slot. Leaning down he picked it up and opened it before reading the simple note.

Hatake Kakashi, the Hokage has requested your presence in her office tomorrow at 8 AM.

There was no signature but the official seal had been placed and everything appeared to be in order. Kakashi's smile dropped. Things had calmed down significantly over the last month, he was rarely called to intervene between arguing groups anymore and he had a feeling he wasn't going to like whatever had prompted Tsunade to summon him specifically. With a sigh he grabbed his copy of the medical book he and Sakura had been working through and laid down, reading himself to sleep.

UN:PoA

Naruto ran around the beach with a plethora of his clones, helping to stack up fractured wood and other useless items into piles while saving things like clothes, rope, or tools in other piles. Judging from the gaping holes and bloodstains in some of these clothes the clones had stripped the bodies of his old crewmates before burying them… that was kinda fucked up, and he wasn't entirely sure what that said about him considering they were clones and all.

Regardless, many hands made for light work, and soon they had collected everything of value that had washed ashore. Naruto looked out over the horizon, the sun had set over an hour ago and it was only with the help of a full moon that he or his clones were able to see anything. Naruto grabbed one of his clones as it walked by.

"Hey, go look for someplace to sleep ok?" Naruto ordered, "It's getting late and I don't like the idea of sleeping next to the giant seal wall of ouchies."

The clone just sighed sadly and started making its way into Uzu to try and find someplace to squat. Naruto took the time to search through the piles for anything that appeared to be of particular value. A flash of orange in the corner of his eye caught his attention, looking over he saw the bundled-up jacket-turned-backpack that he'd lost in the wreck. With a smile, he jogged over to it and picked it up. Sure it was soggy and battered, but it was still his jacket. Naruto untied everything and searched through it, finding only a single kunai inside.

"Well… at least I'm not completely without weapons now." Naruto took the kunai and placed it in his waistband before putting the jacket on. He wasn't planning on wearing it everywhere he went anymore, but he still wanted to hold on to it for setametal value… sedimental? Sentimental!

Naruto watched over his clones piling debris up until he was tapped on the shoulder.

"I found a place that still has a roof and a bed that isn't covered in mouse poop." The clone said with a salute.

"Congratulations soldier, if you ever choose to retire from the Naruto Corp you can always go into real estate.

The clone blinked and cocked his head. "… thank you?" He mumbled as Naruto turned away.

"Alright boys, I think we should call it for the night, it's starting to get cold!" Naruto yelled to his clones. "Everyone grab something that looks important or cool and let's get some sleep!"

Naruto's announcement was met with a combination of groans and sighs as the remaining clones started gathering valuables from the ship. With a smile, Naruto turned to his real estate clone. "Lead the way." He said.

And lead the clone did, within a few minutes Naruto and a host of clones were packing things away and tidying up the house they'd chosen to invade. Once they were finished Naruto looked at his clones and smiled.

"Well, that's one successful day behind us boys! This is the start of a new life for us, and we're gonna make the best of it. Can I get a yahoo!?"

A few of the clones responded with lackluster energy but the rest appeared to be far too tired to do anything more than mumble. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Oh all right, the day's over. Let's get some rest." He said as he made a hand sign to dismiss all his clones. Naruto took about 3 steps towards the bed before the flood of memories hit him; his smile fading immediately.

The crew, they hadn't just died, they'd been torn apart. There wasn't so much bodies as there were pieces of bodies, some even had bite marks taken out of them from fish or sharks. The row master, the man with the beautiful voice that had helped him keep pace with the others, they'd found his head. They'd seen his cold dead eyes staring back at them.

Naruto stumbled forward, clutching his stomach as the memories forced their way into his mind. Why was he remembering this? The clones had taken specific care to not come to get him until after the beach was cleaned up. Naruto stumbled onto the bed and took deep slow breaths as he tried to consciously slow the heartbeat he could feel behind his eyes and inside his ears.

"Sleep… I need to get some sleep… I can worry about this tomorrow," he mumbled to himself as he took his jacket and shirt off, using them as a blanket. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that his dreams would take him someplace where friends never died; regardless of how new they were.

UN:PoA

Sasuke's eye twitched slightly, it had been nearly 24 hours and he'd followed his end the bargain to the letter. He'd listened as Karin told him about how breakfast was the most important meal of the day. He'd sat outside as she forced him to have a picnic for lunch. He'd barely resisted the urge to tear his hair out while she sat and watched TV with him. He even ate a freaking slice of pie as a dessert after dinner; he didn't know what the opposite of a sweet tooth was but that's certainly what he had. To top it all off though, Karin had to push him so close to breaking his word just near the end with the most disgusting and obscene things he could imagine.

She had hugged him.

Sasuke skillfully extracted himself from her hug as she said something about touch therapy or some type of nonsense.

"Where… is… the... light-bulb." He growled through his teeth. He'd never wanted to fail a test before, but at this exact moment, he was tempted to say that he wanted to fail more than he wanted to kill Itachi.

"Hmm? Oh, here you go." Karin smiled, grabbing a bulb from the box and holding it out for him.

Sasuke grabbed the bulb and pulled the goggles over his eyes as he started to 'pour' his nature chakra into the bulb. The light flickered just as it normally did before it broke; rather than breaking though, the bulb softly hummed as it started to glow.

Karin let out an excited gasp and clapped. "Sasuke-kun you did it!" She smiled up at him.

"Bullshit…" He mumbled, tossing the bulb aside and letting it break. "That's a fluke, there's something wrong with the bulb." He murmured as he grabbed another bulb from the box.

"Umm… aren't you supposed to be happy?" Karin asked with a smirk as she cocked her head to the side.

"Shuddup," Sasuke said, pushing his chakra into the new bulb, this time pushing as hard as he could. After a second of glowing the bulb finally popped.

"Hmm, well you're still pushing too hard, but you're doing better." Karin smiled as she grabbed him another bulb. "Try again, remember, don't push, pour."

"Shut up," Sasuke growled again as he pushed his chakra into the new bulb. Again it took him actively concentrating on breaking the bulb for it to burst.

"What did you do?" Sasuke's finally asked, scowling at her.

Karin sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, mister big and brooding can't handle the fact that he was wrong for once hmm? Means I must have cheated huh?" She pouted, crossing her arms. "I'll tell you what I did, I helped you de-stress and act like a normal person for once. You're welcome by the way." She huffed.

Sasuke looked to the box of bulbs, going through bulb after bulb to ensure that they hadn't been tampered with, they all looked perfectly normal.

Karin let out a sigh. "Well, if you're gonna go ahead and have a nervous breakdown and reverse all the work I've just done help yourself. It's late and I'm going to bed. Goodnight Sasuke-kun~"

"Goodnight." He mumbled as he continued to test the bulbs, sure that it must have been some sort of trick.

UN:PoA

Kakashi suddenly popped into view inside Tsunade's window frame.

"Good morning Hokage-sama." He said with a smile, stepping inside and sitting down in one of the chairs in her office.

"Good morning Kakashi-san, how did you sleep?" Tsunade smiled in return. "I'd hate for you to fall asleep in the middle of our conversation again."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and laughed in embarrassment. "I slept great, don't worry, no narcolepsy from me today."

Tsunade stood up and walked to the front of her desk before sitting on it. "So, pleasantries aside… do you know why I called you here today?"

"Honestly? No, Hokage-sama." Kakashi answered with dread.

Tsunade reached over to grab the Hokage hat from off of her desk, holding it in front of him. Kakashi let out a sigh.

"Hokage-sama I-"

"Drop the formalities, you're not gonna get in trouble." Tsunade interrupted.

"Tsunade… I already told you, I have to continue training with Sakura-chan. I owe her."

"Yes, that's right, the pink-haired girl. But do you plan to continue training her every day even once she's made Chuunin?" Tsunade asked.

"Well… no," Kakashi started speaking, a bit confused as to where Tsunade was taking this, "but she's still a long ways off from being eligible for the chuunin exam. I haven't put any effort into finding replacement teammates for her yet."

Tsunade nodded. "Then we'll have to work on that too."

"'We?' Tsunade?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, 'we,' getting Sakura up to chuunin level in the next 5 months is going to be one hell of a feat. I expect you'll be needing some help. Rumor has it you've been teaching her medical techniques, I could most certainly aid in that endeavor."

"5 Months!?" Kakashi asked aghast "Hokage-sama there's no way that she'll be ready for the next chuunin exam!"

"Not with that attitude; but it's not like we have much of a choice." Tsunade pouted "I've looked over all possible options and you're quite simply the best one I've got. You're also the only option I've got. If you refuse the position until your student has graduated from your care then by the gods I'm just gonna have to help you get that done as quickly as possible."

Kakashi took a deep breath and let out a sigh. Slouching in his chair he asked, "you're serious aren't you?"

"As I'll ever be," Tsunade replied, putting the hat back down.

"Can I ask why? You were content to keep looking a few weeks ago."

Tsunade stiffened only slightly. "You can ask, but unfortunately I can't answer. I can inform you after you become Hokage if you're still curious after the fact."

Kakashi nodded. "Fine, I guess I have some work to do. Now would probably be a bad time to ask you if I can get a C-rank mission to take Kurenai's team on right?"

Tsunade thought and hummed to herself for a moment. "You can take Kurenai's team on a mission, but while you're gone I get full reign over Sakura." Tsunade offered as her smile took on a slightly more evil presentation.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Really? Ok… but remember she needs to be alive and healthy if she's gonna make it to the exams."

"Ha! Oh Kakashi," Tsunade laughed and reached into her desk, grabbing one of the many missions dossiers that had been piling up and handing the folder to Kakashi. "You underestimate how much the human body can withstand, particularly a child's."

Tsunade pat Kakashi on the head and started walking out of her office. "Training ground 3, right?"

"Um… yes Hokage-sama…" Kakashi answered as he looked through the dossier. He had the sinking feeling in his stomach that he had just consigned Sakura to a fate worse than death.

UN:PoA

Naruto woke up slowly, his head hurt slightly and he was more tired than he usually was when he woke up. Of course, that could be because of the nightmares. Dreams about Hige-san and Rower-san, of all the other crew on the boat. They may have been strangers, but he was a ninja, it was his job to be a hero. Why hadn't he done something? There didn't seem to be any problem that 100 shadow clones couldn't fix.

Whatever, it was in the past. He wasn't the type to mope about his dead parents, so he shouldn't be the type to mope about his dead co-workers…

Was his bed this wet when he'd laid in it?

Naruto sat up and opened his eyes before letting out a disgruntled sigh. He was in his mindscape… again. He stood up and stretched out, the tugging in his navel drawing him down the hallways where he would find the Kyuubi. He started walking down the hallways to see why he was here this time-

Actually… fuck it. He didn't want to talk to the Kyuubi right now, and he was the one in charge around here dammit! Naruto turned around and walked in the polar opposite direction that his navel was taking him, fighting up the flow of water.

He didn't know how long he had been walking through the mucky sewer that was his mind, time tended to get all distorted and weird when he was in here. He kept trekking on and on down the featureless hallways of his mind, following the path of most resistance. He found a small door that appeared to only be about as tall as he was after a few hours… or had it only been minutes?

Reaching out Naruto grabbed the handle on twisted it, immediately the door flung open, a torrent of water rushing out. Naruto held onto the handle for dear life, holding his breath as the water flooded past him and into the empty halls. Just as quickly as the water had come it stopped, supernaturally so. He had been holding onto the handle about to drown when abruptly he opened his eyes and looked around, there wasn't a sign of the rush of water from a mere second ago. His clothes weren't even wet.

"Man… the inside of my brain is weird," Naruto mumbled before walking into the mystery room. Inside was something that appeared to be out of a train's boiler room. Furnaces and boilers and steam vents filled the air with a scent he'd never particularly encountered before, and in the corner were two gigantic sets of bellows that appeared to be keeping the fires burning so hot. How had those fired burned if the room had been filled with water?

Naruto walked deeper into the room, it didn't appear to have any sort of end in sight. Walking deeper and deeper until he forgot about the tug from his navel entirely. Eventually, he came across a large pile of wooden crates filled with bits and bobs of every kind. Children's toys and pictures to swords and armor. On top of one of the crates was a single sheet of paper with something hastily scrawled onto it.

Look through this stuff later.

-Naruto

Naruto looked at the paper, front and back. He didn't remember writing this. Crumpling the paper up and tossing it aside he started to go through the boxes. These were… memories? No, that can't be right, he barely remembered most of this stuff. This was…

Was this the room where he put stuff he would worry about later!? He had always joked about having that room in the back of his mind but he didn't mean it! At least not literally that is. Naruto scrambling through the boxes, finding everything from toys he had wanted to pieces of paper with things like "milk goes bad tomorrow" written on them. Most of them he tossed aside before stumbling upon one that made him pause.

Why did Pervy Sage say he owes me a favor? Why teach me the fourth's technique?

Wait a minute, that's right! That had bugged him while he was learning how to do the Rasengan on their way to get Tsunade! Naruto grit his teeth and tossed the paper aside. That jerk had known who his parents were, in fact, Tsunade probably did too! He wasn't super pissed but he thought he had the right to be a little pissed! He went to work searching through the crates again; the vast majority of the things were irrelevant now that he was a ninja, even less so one that didn't live in Konoha- Wait, the Third Hokage had probably known who his parents were too! Oh, when he finally died permanently he was so gonna give the old man some grief in the after-life. Naruto finally got through most of the stuff that wasn't important, stopping at a notebook filled with one line over and over.

Why do I remember things that my clones do?

Naruto blinked. That… huh. Why did he remember things that his clones do? Whatever, it wasn't important, he would figure that out later- no… no he would figure it out now. Naruto stuck the paper in his pocket and made the hand sign for Kage Bunshin, only bringing 2 clones into existence.

"Woah, this is weird."

"Yeah, if we're in your mind, but we're not you, then what does that make us? Are we thoughts? Are we alive? Do we have souls? Are we going to permanently vanish once we're dispelled? Or will an essence live on? Will we be aware of what's going on? If not can you even call that 'us?' Or is it a castaway remnant like a toenail that you clipped off and threw out? Drifting off into a meaningless void. And if not then where do we go? Do we serve a god? Or is there no god who will take us mere clones into their domain? Can a being that doesn't know god truly know peace? Can a being without a god even have a purpose?"

Naruto and the first clone looked to the second clone for a moment.

"I uh… I was talking about the machines and stuff." Clone 1 said.

"Oh. Umm… me too… I was too, yeah." Clone 2 replied.

"What was all that stuff you said about god?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing." Clone 2 mumbled

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Clone 1 asked

"No."

The three Naruto's stood in awkward silence for a few seconds before Naruto finally broke the calm.

"So anyway… I want you two to go outside, Clone 1 say something into Clones 2's ear, like a random number, then both of you dispel, ok?"

Both clones saluted immediately.

"You got it, boss!" They shouted in unison.

Naruto waited for the two to walk out and then suddenly had the memory pop into his mind.

After walking outside Clone 1 had turned to Clone 2 and whispered "Sixty-nine" into his ear. "That's stupid, pick a different number," Clone two had said. "Fuck you, it is so cool. It's the sex number!" Clone 1 growled before dispelling himself. Clone 2 with nothing left to do had dispelled himself as well.

Naruto was simultaneously disappointing in Clone 1 for thinking of such a stupid number, and disappointed in Clone 2 for not understanding how awesome picking 69 for a number had been. He had received both memories of the reaction. That meant-

"I learn everything my clones learn," Naruto mumbled to himself, staring at his hands silently. That would explain what happened yesterday with the memories of the bodies. That would explain why he started to learn Rasengan faster as soon he started using clones to help. That explained- well that explained a whole bunch of shit.

The tugging at Naruto's navel began growing harder and harder, he had been so preoccupied that he hadn't been paying attention to it. Damn it kind of hurt now. Suddenly with one final tug, Naruto was physically pulled towards the sensation as if he had a literal chain tied to his belly button. Naruto screamed in equal parts fear and pain as he flew down the hallways of his mind.

Naruto shot up in bed, hand to his stomach, gasping for air. He looked around, he was back in Uzushiogakure. He was back in the real world.

"H-holy shit." Naruto gasp, fighting the urge to vomit what little food remained in his stomach. Getting out of bed he drew his hands together and summoned two more clones.

"Wassup boss."

"Boss-sama! I live to serve!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You two, go outside and Clone 1 whisper a number into Clone 2's ear and dispel. Any number- Any number except sixty-nine." Naruto ordered. The two ran outside just as ordered; Naruto blinked as the memory flooded his mind.

"seventy-two," Clone 1 had whispered. "I'm gonna tell him you said sixty-nine," Clone 2 smiled. "Dude, no! You'll get me in trouble!" Clone 1 pleaded before Clone 2 dispelled, leaving Clone 1 with no choice but to dispel as well.

Naruto rubbed his temples, his head didn't hurt but the fact that learning what his clones knew was making his head spin. Naruto stood up and made his way to the underneath Uzukage Tower. Reaching the seal-covered wall Naruto reached out and placed his hand on it. Suddenly he had a flash-back to the time he had run away from Konoha to become a farmer, only to die when the Akatsuki came for him.

Receiving that little memory hadn't been what Naruto would call a 'fun' experience, but it was loads better than last time… last time with all the clones… all the clones whose memories he gained when they burst. Naruto sighed, there was still the mystery as to why he was having these visions when he touched the wall, but that was one aspect solved for now. The wall must have been reading all of his clones and fried his brain from all the memories.

Naruto stepped into the vault, summoning over twenty clones. "Alright guys, I want you to start reading everything!" He ordered.

"Boss, when you say everything-"

"Everything!" Naruto yelled before going back to his copy of 'Seals, what are they and how do they work!?' from last night.

The clones hustled to start reading anything they could get their hands on.

UN:PoA

Sasuke sat down next to Karin in the cafeteria. Usually, he waited for her to bring him food in the training room, but felt the need to put in a slight bit of effort to show he was genuine in what he was about to say.

"Sasuke, is something wrong? Or did you decide to change what you usually get?" Karin asked, genuinely confused as to why he was there.

"No, but…" Sasuke let out a sigh, "I felt the need to apologize for yesterday."

Karin raised a single eyebrow at that. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Sasuke said. "I'm sorry I accused you of tricking me."

Karin relaxed a bit, partially at seeing Sasuke so tense. If he was trying to trick her he would have done a better job at coming off as speaking naturally. "So what finally convinced you hmm?" She joked.

"I took the bulb out of the light in my room and used that," Sasuke explained. "You don't have access to my room so there's no way you could have changed the bulb in there. Your little stunt yesterday actually worked."

Karin blinked a little at that, she hadn't expected an answer to her question. At least not that answer.

"Well… I know you hate crowds so let's continue breakfast in training room delta like always." She smiled, handing one tray to him. Sasuke took it and the two started walking out of the cafeteria. Karin placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder as they walked and he stiffened.

"Touch therapy~" She reminded him.

"Baby steps, Karin," He grumbled, although not angry he still wasn't pleased. The results spoke for themselves however, whatever she was doing was helping him channel his chakra more efficiently.

Author's note

I've noticed a couple of comments about Naruto's summoning fiasco last chapter. It's true that in the anime attempting a summons without a contract results in being teleported to the summons that best fits you, but in the manga, it just results in failure and that's what I'm going with in this case.