A/N: I do not own the anime series Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto!

—4 Years Later. 10 Years Old Naruto.

POV: Naruto

Sometimes I wonder.

Was I always destined to be alone?

Hey, Naruto! Don't you dare forget about me!

Right. I'm not alone. I have a friend with me, inside me, and he'll always be by my side.

Just like how I'll always by his side.

Tsk! You got that right. Now, don't go being depressed on me, Minato told you that he'll always be with you, right?

Right.

Father said that he won't be with me physically, but he'll always be in my heart.

That's right. Now, get going or you'll be late for the academy!

Okay.

It's been a month since Minato said his goodbyes to Naruto and Kurama. Naruto hadn't cried that day, but he felt something was missing.

Something inside his heart was missing.

—Flashback

"Naruto, don't forget. I may not be with you anymore, but remember that I'll always be in your heart. So, cheer up! You don't want your mother beating me up in the afterlife when she sees how sad you are now do you?"

Minato managed a chuckle. If you look closely however, you could see the hurt inside his eyes. He didn't want to leave Naruto alone but he had no choice. He had done everything he could to extend his time, but it was still too early.

But I don't want you to leave. You'll be inside my heart? I don't understand.

"Dad! Are you leaving me?"

It pained Minato even more to see Naruto try and hide his pain. He knew that Naruto was feeling a world of pain right now but the boy couldn't let it out.

"Naruto! Yes, I'll be leaving. But, you have Kurama by your side so you won't be alone, don't worry."

Kurama is my friend…

"Yes boy, I am your friend. I'll always be your friend."

Minato sent Kurama a grateful look. Looking back at Naruto, he noticed that Naruto now sported a small smile.

—End of Flashback

Ah. Nothing is missing. Everything is inside my heart. Kurama is by my side, and father is in my heart. Father will always be in my heart.

Naruto didn't know it, but this was the workings of Minato's sealing jutsu.

Minato created one last seal for Naruto. The seal would remind Naruto that he was always be loved by his parents should Naruto ever feel lonely.

Minato thought that it was the best thing he could do in order for Naruto to avoid being depressed.

Kurama, do you know what that ANBU meant?

For 4 years straight, Naruto kept annoying Hiruzen by sending transformed shadow clones outside the village, and some pretended to be enemy ninja by sneaking inside the village.

Three years ago, when Naruto fully mastered the Transformation Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, and even the Clone Jutsu, Naruto upped his game by sending 20 transformed shadow clones at once to sneak inside the village.

If one were to judge Naruto's stealth, they would say that he was kage level as even the ANBU couldn't track him at times. Even when he was caught, his clones could still escape and try again later instead of dispelling.

Kid, that ANBU was not your regular ANBU. It's one of the ROOT shinobi Konoha had been trying to hide from the world. I'm pretty sure the leader of those ROOT ninja was Danzo Shimura, one of the old monkey's teammates.

ROOT?

Don't worry about them for now. Besides, I don't know much about them either. I just know them because they tried to recruit Kushina into their organization once.

Oh… okay.

Naruto strolled around the village for a while before heading to the academy building.

He wore a sky blue shirt and ash colored pants. He carried with him a short blade that he hung on his back. He could always draw it in less than a second should he ever need to.

At the academy, Naruto was hailed as a genius. A weird genius, yes, but a genius nonetheless. Why a weird genius? Well, it was because he always looked as if his mind was in the clouds. Much like a certain Nara academy student.

"Naruto."

Hearing a child's grumpy voice, Naruto's eyes opened and his head bobbed as he woke up from his nap.

Looking up, Naruto saw another academy student. This academy student was also praised as a genius. He wore a deep navy blue collared shirt, light grey shorts, and a pair of grey forearm warmers with the hem being blue colored to match his shirt. He had a fair complexion with black hair and matching eyes.

His name? Sasuke Uchiha.

Seeing that Sasuke had nothing to say, Naruto laid his head down to take another nap.

"Tsk."

Sasuke would never admit it, but he respected Naruto.

—After the academy.

The rasengan is now complete. I can use it on both hands much like dad.

Naruto stretched his arms forward and opened his palm, as if willing something to form.

Sure enough, two rotating balls of chakra formed. The size wasn't too big nor too small, only a little bigger than his hands.

The rotating balls of chakra were a deep blue because of its charka density.

Kurama, you said that the rasengan is supposed to be light blue in color?

Yes. Yours is a deep blue because of your mastery over the jutsu. It took Minato a whole year to reach that level after creating his rasengan. I believe Jiraiya never managed to reach that level. You on the other hand, only took a week to learn it, and a year to master it to that level. Congrats.

Thanks!

Kid, be careful when using that jutsu. I suggest using the first version of rasengan for normal attacks, and using the second version of rasengan for dealing a killing blow.

Okay Kurama. Thanks for the advice!

No problem kid.

The first version of rasengan Kurama was talking about was the light blue colored rasengan. Compared to the second version of rasengan, which is deep blue in color, the first version of rasengan is inferior because the second version is more than ten times denser than the first version of rasengan.

Now, the body flicker jutsu. I need a bit more time before I can master it, but it's already battle ready. I only need a tenth of a second to activate it, and my range is decent. After I master it, I should be able to use it instantaneously and consecutively.

What Naruto didn't know was that he had already mastered the body flicker jutsu. The way he wanted to master it was actually to perfect it, like how Shisui Uchiha perfected the jutsu.

Wind Clone, Water Clone, Earth Clone, and Dust Clone are already mastered and perfected. Even the basic Clone jutsu is perfected. The Shadow Clone needs a bit more improvement though.

Naruto could create a Shadow Clone without a poof of smoke, a testament to his perfect chakra control.The problem he was dealing with was the information overload. Sure, he could use a thousand shadow clones to train one thing, but if tries to train multiple things using the same thousand shadow clones, he would be overwhelmed with information.

Naruto wanted to train a thousand things using a thousand shadow clones at once. That was his goal anyway, and he wasn't going to give up until he could find a way around the problem.

Wind Shuriken, Water Shuriken, and Shuriken Shadow Clone are mastered and perfected. The Empty Cicada Shell Jutsu is useful too, I should perfect that this week.

"Yo, Naruto!"

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when someone called out to him. It was rare for anyone to call out to him, especially since he was always at the training grounds or deep inside the forest.

"Kakashi."

"Yes, it's me. I'm glad you remember me?"

How could I forget about you? I'm the one who always burned those perverted book you keep hidden. Reading it makes me sick. If you want to have those kinds of thoughts, keep it in your head, damned copy ninja.

Naruto was also a boy so he understood why other men liked to read those books. He just didn't like it because it was written by Jiraiya.

He felt disturbed knowing that his godfather would rather write those damned books than to visit him. He didn't care if it was a toad who visited him, or a shadow clone. He just wished his godfather visited him.

Alas, those feelings had long passed, and he didn't care about his godfather anymore.

"Of course I remember you."

"Right. Lord Hokage says he wants you to meet him at the Hokage Tower. Come, I'll lead you there."

Kakashi eye smiled. He wanted to bond with his sensei's son, but fate had other plans.

"No need."

The curt, short, and simple reply caught Kakashi off-guard, but he sighed and bid Naruto goodbye.

Looking at Kakashi's retreating back, Naruto remembered one conversation he had with his father.

—Flashback

"Naruto. Don't blame Kakashi if he doesn't visit you. He's a good guy at heart, but all the traumatic events twisted him. Besides, he's just my student, not a family relative so technically he doesn't have anything to do with us. That said, I'm a bit disappointed he didn't even visit you until a year ago… under Hiruzen's command no less."

—End of Flashback

Kakashi of the Sharingan. You're a strong opponent, a genius, and a veteran. I wish to fight you one day when I am strong enough.

Naruto was no fool. He knew his limits, and right now he was at best a chunin and at worst a genin.

Naruto shook his head before heading towards the Hokage Tower. He didn't like the man, but he wouldn't show it.

10 Minutes Later.

Knock knock…

A knock came from outside the Hokage's office. From Hiruzen's trained ears, he knew that the knock originated from the lower part of the door.

That isn't to say that he couldn't just sense who was knocking, but that ruined the fun.

"Come in."

The door opened and confirmed Hiruzen's guess.

A boy with bright red hair around 147 cm walked inside the office. The boy had gem-like lavender eyes and whiskers that rested lazily on his cheeks. If one didn't look closely, they would think that those whiskers were tattoos and not real.

Those whiskers were real alright!

"Lord Hokage, I heard you wanted to see me."

Naruto's voice were calm and respectful, but it made Hiruzen frown. A frown he quickly erased.

He didn't sense any loyalty from the boy and that made him uncomfortable.

"Yes, I called you because I wanted you to see someone. Someone renowned as the Toad Sage."

"So, this is the brat?"

A voice then came from the corner of the room.

Standing there was a middle-aged man with long spiky white hair. It was Jiraiya, one of the konoha's Three Legendary Sannin.

"This one greets lord Jiraiya."

Again, hearing Naruto talk made Hiruzen frown. Not only him but Jiraiya as well.

It didn't feel right to Jiraiya that there was a gap between him and his godson, but he knew what he did. He was a man enough to admit his wrongs.

"Now, we will perform a check up on your health, dear Naruto. Could you please wait at the room next door?"

Hiruzen spoke kindly to Naruto.

A simple nod was the reply he got from the red-haired Uzumaki.

—With Hiruzen and Jiraiya

"That's Naruto?"

"Who else could he be?"

Hiruzen frowned at Jiraiya's question. If the red hair wasn't enough to give Naruto Uzumaki away, then what would?

"Okay, okay. I just wanted to confirm it… Still, I didn't expect him to be calm of all things. I mean, he is an Uzumaki, right?"

"Yes, he is an Uzumaki. It's just that he seemed to have inherited his father's cool personality rather than the Uzuamki's hot temperedness. You should be grateful at that."

This time, it was Jiraiya who frowned. He didn't even register Hiruzen's jab as he remembered his student.

"Minato… ah, how he died too early. Now, why do you want me to check his seal again? Do you not have any faith in Minato? Or do you doubt my knowledge when I confirmed that the seal wouldn't break unless you had the key?"

Hiruzen sighed.

"No, I trust you and Minato. It's just that I can't rest well if you don't check the seal again. Around six years ago, the kyuubi's chakra leaked and caused panic. I got worried then. You know, as a hokage and all."

"The seal would let the kyuubi's chakra out if it feels that Naruto is in danger, nothing more. But sure, I'll check it again if you really want to."

—With Naruto

Kid, I think they want to check your seal.

I don't care.

But be careful, I won't talk with you for the time being. Go inside the mindscape if everything is settled down.

Got it. Don't worry, Kurama. I'll be fine.

Good luck kid.

Minato had already for this exact situation, but Kurama wanted to be sure just in case.

A/N: How's the new writing style? Was it refreshing? I certainly think its way better than before! I'm thinking of re-writing my previous chapters to be the same style, but that'll have to wait in the future~

Support me on my Patreo n! You will be able to gain access to chapters as soon as I am finished writing them, and you will even have the ability to influence the stories in various ways!

Search End Banner on Patreo n, or use patreo m/endbanner when typing the link to Patreo n!