Naruto didn't sleep much that night. His thoughts hunted him. When the sun was up, he decided to go out for training. He went to a training ground outside the base to vent up some energy. He brought his swords and started going through his Katas.
When he was sure he was warmed up, he let his mind and body wonder. He started going through his battles. One by one, he remembered all his foes and all their skills. He began to go through fights with them.
One by one, he imagined each foe, their strengths, and weaknesses. He even went through the fights he didn't actively participate in but only witnessed. He let his muscles ache, and his body glide through positions.
He knew he was getting tired, but he pushed himself further. His muscles ached, and his breathing was ragged. He had no idea how long he was fighting. He was unaware of everything around him. he suddenly stopped.
He opened his eyes slowly and took his surrounding in. It was raining quite heavily, and he was soaked to the bones. He suddenly heard crying and turned to see Gai shouting something about youth.
Naruto sheathed his weapons and got closer to him. he gave a short bow and said. "Hello. My name is Naruto. Who are you, sir?"
"I'M MAITO GAI, ALSO KNOWN AS THE BLUE BEAST. I SAW YOUR YOUTHFUL TRAINING, AND I'M IMPRESSED. IT WAS A YOUTHFUL DISPLAY TO SEE SOMEONE SO YOUNG, SO SKILLFUL." Gai shouted as he cried.
"I'm honored, Maito-san. I'm just a new genin, and there is so much more to learn. My skills aren't that impressive." Naruto said, suddenly shivering from standing too long in the heavy rain.
"WHERE IS MY YOUTH. SOMEONE SO YOUNG SHOULDN'T STAND SO LONG IN THE RAIN IN THIS WEATHER. COME, WE SHALL GET YOU SOMEWHERE TO DRY. IF…" he continued to inflict his self-punishment for keeping Naruto in the rain.
Before Naruto could open his mouth to refuse his offer and tell him he could make his way back, he realized he was already over Gai's shoulder and was running towards the village. Naruto knew that his protests would fall on deaf ears, so he just accepted his fate.
That is how Naruto found himself in the Jonin lounge with a blanket wrapped around him and a cup of hot chocolate. When they first arrived, everyone looked at him skeptically, but then Gai kept praising him, and everyone gave in.
He was sitting on a couch next to Gai and Genma while they were conversing with Hayate and Yugao. Naruto didn't pay much attention to their conversation as he watched the Jonin commander play shogi against one of the Jonin.
Naruto believed the Jonin to be new because when Shikaku came to the lounge and offered to give time off to whoever could beat him in shogi, the Jonin volunteered while everyone else just looked away.
It didn't take Shikaku much time to win. The Jonin was obviously inexperienced and made many mistakes. Naruto wanted to test himself against Shikaku but knew that it wasn't a wise move. So he just kept watching the games.
When the rain finally stopped, Naruto excused himself and went to get his weekly mission. Tora wasn't out in this weather, so he took some cleaning missions in the orphanage. Naruto had no good memories from that place but still liked to help.
The orphanage was highly understaffed for the number of children. Often the older ones would take care of the younger ones. They could hardly manage to get the everyday work done, let alone play with the kids or care for their emotional needs.
There was always a D-rank mission available to help out in the orphanage, but it was a charity service and never paid. Jonin sensies would often threaten and take the mission when their genin were difficult, and it would be done with disdain.
Naruto believed that those children deserved better. He would often insist on taking the mission even though his teammates would throw a fit. He believed that at some point, Kakashi sensei realized why Naruto took the mission, and he talked with the other two because they stopped complaining.
The matron hated Naruto, but he didn't care. He would make as many clones as possible, doing all sorts of tasks around the orphanage. He would take care of repairs, clean, cook and even spend time with the children. Naruto believed the matron warned some kids away from him, but the younger ones didn't care.
When Naruto got to the orphanage, he made two clones and started. There were many things to do, but the state of the building was the first. Naruto made a list of all the things he could fix and the materials he could find and started.
There were broken windows, doors, roofs, floors, and many other things. He would need to buy material for some, but others were easy fixes. One of the clones went to the forest nearby to cut down a tree and make wooden planks, while the other one went to fix some of the things that could be done in the meanwhile.
Naruto himself busied himself with cleaning the building. There was dust and garbage everywhere. He knew it was not a job for one person, but he did his best. By the end of the day, he only managed to fix a few things.
After going to the mission desk, he returned to the library and helped the chunin finish up. He slept a lot better that night.
The next few months were uneventful. Naruto's training got more advanced, and he was deemed ready to take missions after his birthday, which was today. Naruto also made more friends and got closer to the other ones.
He met Ino inside the flower shop and made regular visits with the context of learning about flowers. Naruto always had a green thumb, and now with the help of Ino, he had a little garden in the ROOT base. He convinced Danzo with the pretext that Ino might ask about the plants, and he was already buying them, so he might as well care for them.
He met Shino inside the forest, and they often went exploring together. They would look for insects compatible with kikaichu to improve them and have had exciting results. They even managed to find a unique insect that helped increase the kikaichus' resistance to water. They weren't entirely immune to water but could last longer in harsh weather.
Naruto also met Hinata one night. She was hiding in the forest crying because everyone believed she was useless. Naruto told her about the importance of not holding back. He explained that if she held back in her fights, she would only give the other person a false sense of security.
This sense of security can cause their death in missions because real enemies won't hold back. Instead, if she gave it her all, she might give the other person a few injuries, but they would learn and improve.
It was hard for Hinata to change at first, but she came out of her shell little by little. She was now the best Taijutsu user of her clan in their age groups, and she would often spar with Naruto to get stronger. They were even working on modifying her kata so that she could lean more on her flexibility and water nature chakra. Everything was going great.
Naruto made a point to visit Shikamaru and Choji often. He usually played a game with Shikamaru and then spar a little with Choji. It was hard for Choji at first because he wanted to hold back, but after seeing Naruto's skill, he gave it his all and started to enjoy their spars.
Overall all his friends were a lot stronger this time, and he was so proud. He even became close with some of the Chunin and Jonin. He met Asuma, Kurenai, Anko, Ibiki, Izumo, Kotetsu, Genma, Raidou and Aoba. These were the people he was close to in his previous life, and he also managed to get close to new people.
He was mostly seen as a polite and well-mannered errand boy. They would often give him jobs like delivering documents to different people or giving them a message. In return, they would teach him other things.
He got some lessons in his ninja skills, books, and materials. They would sometimes give him things like senbon, shuriken, kunai, or in rare cases sealing paper and ink since Naruto made it known that he was interested in sealing. Naruto made it known that he wasn't expecting payment, but they always insisted.
Naruto would sometimes meet Gai as well. They would spar, and Naruto would try and work on his senses. It helped him improve a lot. He never got to see Kakashi around. Naruto knew that he was in ANBU and often on missions.
He would often sense for his chakra just to make sure he was ok. All this brought him to his dilemma, which was that he never got to see the Uchiha heir. Itachi was also in ANBU. Whenever he wasn't on a mission, he would spend his time training in the Uchiha district or spending time with Sasuke.
Another thing that happened in the last few months was the kick-in of his Uzumaki genes. Turns out unlocking his chains activated his dormant genes. He no longer had blond hair but red. It started at his roots, and he was shocked at first but also happy.
He had to dye his hair red in the past to go outside the base. He was an Uzumaki, and Danzo didn't want anyone to relate his hair color to his father. But now, he no longer needed the dye. His eyes also had a purple hue due to the more potent Kyubi chakra this time around.
Another improvement was that his clones managed to finish a few of his seals. They made the selective memory transfer seal, where they would use chakra to create a clone that only had certain memories.
When the clone popped, it would transfer its memories to Naruto. He also managed to use blood shadow clones which were his new inventions. These clones wouldn't pop unless there was a critical hit and didn't need to be replaced since they could eat food and generate chakra naturally.
Naruto now had around 100 clones in the outside world. Ten of them were in Konoha and different departments. Forty were posing as civilians all around the nations, and 20 were tasked to be spies.
The spy clones would pop as soon as they were caught and had a burning seal to destroy all that was left of them. Twenty were tasked with knowledge gathering and working on seals, and 30 helped Orochimaru with the things he needed.
Overall all his plans were in motion, and he only needed time. Today he would finally turn seven, and Danzo has promised him a special gift. Naruto knew he was up to something but had no means to find out what it was.
He recently got around to making daily clones again to spy around Konoha, but nothing was going on. His training has also taken a new direction. Since there was not much room for him to improve physically, his physical lessons have lessened.
He was primarily working on perfecting his skills instead of learning new things. There were also a lot of new lessons about politics and battle strategy. Danzo was looking for war, but Naruto wasn't sure against whom.
They were also working on his poison tolerance and fighting with disabilities. They would injure him in different ways and give him scenarios he had to complete. The goal was to succeed and also get through alive.
He also underwent torture training to ensure he wouldn't sell out information. He also had lessons on seduction and acting. He was too young for honeypot missions and wouldn't be much use in sending the Jinchuriki on these kinds of missions.
He thought about them mostly for political context. He was also getting a more active role in ROOT by completing tasks around the base and learning about the management and infrastructure of ROOT.
