Chapter 11

Secrets Run the World

Despite the advice to get a good night's rest, Team 7 found themselves up at the ass crack of dawn and standing by the shore. Naruto, despite his boundless energy, can only manage to stare into empty space and grumble incoherently. He remains hunched with hanging arms, barely raising one to rub his right eye. Sasuke remains upright with his arms crossed, but the bags under his eyes are notable. Sakura stands between the two with her left eye twitching and her hair a frizzy mess.

Yoko is just curled into a tight orange ball and napping on the dock.

Why did Kakashi have to be on time for once when it came to training this early in the morning?

"Alright, kiddies." Kakashi grins almost sadistically, forming a notable crease in his mask where the corners of his mouth rise. "Today, seeing as you've gotten so good at tree climbing already, I'm going to be teaching you all to walk on water. I know you've seen this demonstrated already, so you must have some vague idea what to do." He waves to his most composed student. "So, Sasuke, what can you tell us about this exercise?"

Sasuke huffs and closes his eyes, gathering his thoughts. "Well… much like tree climbing, you have to find a balance to adhere yourself to it enough to stay and not so much to break the bark. With water, if you use too much, you drag yourself under. But it's repelling instead of attaching in this case. Too much, and you blast the water away and lose your footing. Too little, and you fall through. But how much you put out, and in what pattern, must shift with the water. You need to train it until reacting to the flow of the water is instinctive."

"Very good." Kakashi snaps his book shut and looks his students over. "We'll spend the first chunk of the day on training up this skill. I expect you to all be able to walk on water with ease by the end of our first three days of training. We'll have another three at least before Zabuza and his cohort return for Tazuna's head. Afterwards, Iruka and I will be splitting up and using clones to teach each of you privately and personally." He tucks his book into his back pocket and waves to the water off the docks. "Best get to it, kids."

Sakura whines as she approaches the edge of the dock, staring into the murky water. "I'm gonna get soaked doing this, aren't I?"

"So?" She peeks up to find Naruto approaching while in the process of removing his hoodie and shirt. "We're ninja, and water's a lot better than blood."

"N-N-Naruto, w-what are you doing?!"

He stares at her as blankly as he can manage. "I have seals and paper and shit in my pockets, and I don't want my clothes to be completely soaked." He pulls off his weapon and scroll pouches, adds the contents of his cargo pockets, and balls it all together in his hoodie before pelting Yoko awake with it. "You need to learn this too, lazy-ass!"

Yoko whines, grunts, and chatters at him as she crawls out from under his jacket.

"Hey, it's not my fault you stayed up half the night talking to Pakkun and asking about this fox Uru's trying to set you up with…"

Sasuke pauses at the edge of the dock. "That's what all the yapping last night was about?" He sighs and cracks his neck. "Whatever, let's get this training over with." He's the first to leap off, landing on the water with a smack akin to a belly-flop, standing for about half a second, then sinking as the water ripples and throws off his balance. He sinks in and manages to pulse chakra through his arms quickly enough to balance himself and not go under. "… You chose the beach instead of a still pond for this just because it's harder, didn't you?"

"Hm?" Kakashi peeks up from his book and speaks in a deadpan drone. "What makes you say that?"

Sasuke narrows his sharingan at Kakashi before swimming back to the dock to try again.

Naruto snorts as he finishes his stretching and steps off the pier. "This'll be easy." He lands on his left foot first, sinks halfway up his shin, then pulses chakra in a manner that blasts the water away and himself from it. He falls back and onto his ass, staring wide-eyed at the wave he just made. "O-Ok, that was way too much chakra. Got it."

"Um… N-Naruto?"

"Hm?" He peeks up to Sakura as he lays back on the dock. "What's up?"

"W..." She points to his stomach. "W-What with that seal on you? I-it's a l-lot more complex than a-anything I've ever seen you m-make..."

Naruto's blood runs cold as he peeks down to himself. He should be familiar with this seal by now, but having it pointed out by someone uninformed is simply chilling. It's a struggle to keep all the muscles in his stomach from visibly tensing in fear at that moment.

Thankfully, bluffs come easily to a trap master.

"O-oh, um... it's e-experimental. Not really complete yet, but um, i-it's meant to be a sort of long-term chakra seal to give me a full restock and then some in e-emergencies."

Kakashi can't help but be a bit proud of that. Most of that was true, and sprinkling truth into a lie is the best way to make it feel real, even to a trained shinobi. Lies of omission are indeed an important skill in the shinobi field Naruto's chosen to specialize in. it's at this moment that he decides what the next step in his student's training is going to be today.

Sasuke kneels to get a better look at it. "Really? That's a cool concept… but wouldn't that also be really dangerous to use? I've OD'd on chakra pills before, and this seal must be that times a dozen."

Sakura scoffs. "If it were that times a dozen, he'd be out cold minutes after using it."

".. W-Well…" Naruto chuckles nervously. "Probably, yeah… like I said, l-last resort."

Kakashi waves the ordeal off and turns his back. "Try to avoid using it, then. For now, get back to training, and try not to worry about the seal. Besides, I see a few flaws in it that need to be worked on before it'll even work anyway."

Naruto side-eyes his sensei incredulously, but translates him quite quickly. He doesn't see any flaws, he's not good enough with seals to know if there are any, but there's no reason for the other two not to believe him. "R-Right… though getting it off may require a removal seal by the old man." He pushes himself back to his feet and approaches the water again. "O-Ok, let's try this again."

The next five hours was an obnoxious wet shitshow, leaving team seven sunken into the water dozens of times each. Naruto was certain he'd reached a hundred dips at one point.

After his fiftieth, he kept a clone underwater and had them write a seal on the underside of the pier to blast Kakashi off and into the water. It failed, and Naruto was told if he's going to use clones, he'll be using them to speed up his training.

Eventually, they all manage to maintain themselves on the water for ten minutes at a time without any issues, and smoothly drifting over small waves. That done, Kakashi creates two clones and breaks the party up to train each of his students separately in their own specialties, as best he can.

In a small clearing half a kilometer west-southwest of the docks, Kakashi stands before Naruto in silence as he weighs his options and lets his student stew in anticipation. Naruto is… actually not having any of that, and currently chattering away with Yoko about what the two of them think they might be learning.

"… At attention, Naruto." He bolts upright and shoves his hands in his pockets. Shinobi have no salute, but it's clear Naruto's at least trying to be more formal and attentive. "You impressed me back there. You clearly have a grasp on how to twist the truth into a convincing lie. For your specialty, that's a crucial talent… but you could be better." Kakashi pulls out a small notebook and sifts through it. "Anyone with real experience in deception could have read through you easily enough. The only way to improve is through acting practice. So, we'll hit three birds with one stone." He tosses the notebook to Naruto. He fumbles for a moment, but catches it and starts to read through a list of physical, psychological, and historical traits. "Your transformation also needs some work. You're meticulous and quick with it, but only with either your Orioke no Jutsu or people you know personally. If you're going to get any good at infiltrating, you need to be able to mimic people you've only just met, and likely killed, and replace them. But even then, you still run the risk of encountering someone who knows who you've become better than you do." He crosses his arms and tilts his head back, grinning down to his befuddled student. "So you're going to take features in this book to make ten different clones of non-existent people, then send them into town to investigate Gato's hold on Nami no Kuni, and anything else you can dig up on him."

Naruto studies the contents of the notebook for a few minutes, biting his lips as he divvies up qualities, backgrounds, skills, making varied and convincing people to the best of his ability. Soon enough, he's producing clones of men and women of various ages and professions. An old, tired, fisherman, a wandering widow, a homeless blind man, a thieving orphan boy, an obnoxious drunk- and Kakashi paused as he realized Naruto was starting to make multiple, and send out more than he'd demanded. After twenty clones all in personalized disguises, the original stands and stretches. "Well, that should do. While they're working, I should probably do some physical training, right?"

Kakashi stares for a moment, but eventually grins through his mask and nods. "A wonderful idea. Well then, how about we work on your speed? Try to apply the same chakra expulsion used for water walking to your feet, but in much higher quantities, and see how fast it makes you."

"Oh hell yeah!" Naruto lowers himself into a sprinting stance and pulses chakra odd his forward foot just as it slips behind him in his first stride-

And lands face-first into a tree ahead of him. "…. Uuuuuugggghhh-"

Several clearings to the north, one of Kakashi's clones stands with Sasuke, watching him going through a few katas while maintaining his Mahiken. His style, as quick, reactive, and direct as it is, meshes with this jutsu all too well. He could compare it to the Hyuga's Jyuuken easily enough, but not quite as low, rotating, or focused. There's extra focus on hitting limbs compared to the body, for the sake of disabling, but it doesn't require the same amount of precision. The extra room for error and flexibility makes it a great style for a reactionary close-combatant. This jutsu alone has already exposed Sasuke's greatest traits, and made training him easier than Kakashi could have hoped. "Well, Sasuke… With Naruto focused on traps, and Sakura focused on support with genjutsu and iryojutsu, I believe it's best that you learn to focus on pure assault. Your style works wonderfully in close combat, but it's flexible enough to retreat to mid range and focus your efforts there as well. As such, we'll need to focus on improving your strength, speed, and chakra capacity." He cracks his knuckles and starts shifting through handsigns. "But to augment that, why not learn a fire version of your Mahiken as well? You may need a different combat style to go with it to make proper use, but there's no reason not to get the jutsu working ahead of time. Especially if it can improve your resistance to your secondary element for greater fire jutsu later."

Sasuke kneels and raises his barely closed hand to his face, index knuckle tucked between his pursed lips. After a few moments, he starts shifting through handsigns. Normally, the original D rank jutsu he modified was Mi-Ushi. His Mahiken was Mi-I-Saru. This time, he attempts Tora-I-Saru and channels fire chakra, all too familiar thanks to his Gokyakyu no jutsu. Soon enough, flames begin to spark around his hands, but snuff out quickly. He scowls, but attempts this again, and again. Kakashi's clone leans against a nearby tree and watches Sasuke's progress with a smile. Just a little push, and his own drive builds his momentum. To top it off, trying to learn this jutsu will also improve both his control and chakra capacity by repeatedly attempting it until perfection, then maintaining it long-term. Sasuke's training was in his own hands now, and they'd probably hurt like hell by the end of the day, but it'd be more than worth it.

Lastly was Kakashi's second clone, seated on a stump as he goes over a medical textbook with Sakura. Her memory still shocks him, and her work ethic has become something to rival her teammates. The reading alone is high level, but she picks it up as easily as second nature. The most impressive part is that she's also managing to flow water chakra through a senbon on each of her fingertips to keep them balanced upright. Her control is ludicrous, but learning to do this with water chakra so quickly shows control and potential that hasn't been seen in this element in Konoha since the Nidaime. Her chakra capacity is far from enough to take advantage of it to the extent he did, but it's enough to make pure chakra control tricks a tide turner.

But the real shocker was when she then reached down with the senbon, dragged them across her own thigh, didn't flinch, and proceeded to heal her own wound. Her memory isn't her only mental trick. She has hyperfocus. With all her social and mental quirks, this ability makes it possible for her to dedicate herself to a target and completely ignore outside influence. It's a double-edged sword, but that's something most shinobi have in some form. In this case, the benefit of being able to ignore pain completely is a huge advantage. Her focus, instead, is on then applying her latest lessons to healing the fresh cut she'd just given herself. Her iryojutsu is still a fresh and weak talent, but by the end of the week, she should be able to heal any non-critical bleeding wound easily.

Back with the original Kakashi, the real Naruto is now turning off his gravity seals and stretching in preparation of stealth training for further surveillance of the town. Knowing Kakashi will follow to ensure his safety, he prepares to sprint without a word- but freezes as Kakashi grabs his shoulder "Naruto... before we go, there's something I should clarify."

"Hm?.." Naruto stands and drops his grin, knowing it must be serious if Kakashi insists on saying it here rather than on the move. "W-Well, I'm all-ears." To emphasize this, Yoko's ears perk up behind Naruto, as she's tucked herself back into his hood.

Kakashi peers around as if to double check their privacy. He's already certain of it, but he knows this will get the point of how important this is across to his student. "I know I commended you earlier for the efficacy of that lie, but it doesn't mean that was the right thing to do."

His student's sapphire eyes widen as the implications sink in. "B-But… that's supposed to be an S-rank secret!" He stumbles back and bumps into a tree. "N-Nobody's supposed to f-find out!"

"False." Naruto freezes in his tracks. "A few select people have permission to speak of it freely. This list includes myself, the Hokage, his surviving former teammate, Elders Homura and Koharu, elite strategist Nara Shikaku, the two loyal members of the Sanin, and you. And your father recently of course. You and the Hokage also have exclusive rights to doll out permission to speak of it to others." He steps up and leans down to look his student in the eyes. "This of course means you have permission to tell anyone you trust enough with this knowledge, including your teammates."

Naruto finds himself frozen under his sensei's gaze. The intensity of his stare, the weight of the decision thrust upon him, and the impact he feels ahead of him combine into a stunning force that Sasuke's Mahiken can't match.

How could he possibly tell his teammates about the Kyuubi? He'd barely gotten Sakura to trust him, and stop hitting him so much. If she found out, she'd probably avoid him completely, for a while at least. Maybe try to be transferred to another team. Sasuke, he couldn't be too sure still. They'd grown closer, he felt like a true friend now, if a bit distant still. This reveal could completely break that.

But he could be underestimating them. They could understand. Sasuke's not the type to make a big deal of just about anything, and Sakura's the smartest girl he knows, so she'd be able to look at the whole seal situation objectively, right?

"… I'll… I'll think about it. It won't be easy, but… m-maybe." He closes his eyes and shakes his head clear. "I-I should get to work on my stealth training. I'll think about this later…" he turns and bolts off towards the town, disappearing into the woods in silence, with Kakashi's clone in tow.

The real Kakashi, who Naruto hadn't been speaking to or known of, steps out of hiding and watches as he goes. "… He took that well."

"Hmph." A short distance away, the great toad sage fades into view leaning against a tree, arms crossed and head down. "Not bad, gaki. He's learning well, and his specialties are something rare and versatile. He'll be a trip to train, and his potential is stunning. It's amazing, how much he took after both his parents. So much of his mother's personality, but his father's looks and intellect? Now I know it's not conventional intelligence, but nothing about the Uzumaki is ever conventional." He looks over to Kakashi with a grin. "You set up his training for today to show him off to me, didn't you?"

"Am I that transparent?" Kakashi rolls his eyes. "It's his specialties, you said it yourself. It was the right choice today for a lot of reasons, and you're probably the smallest one, to be honest."

Jiraiya grins and marches up to his student's student. "Just what I wanted to hear. I'll be keeping an eye on him too then." His smile fades a bit, but doesn't disappear. "As for that last bomb you dropped on him… I'll let how he handles that determine if he's ready to meet me, and how much he's ready to hear."

Kakashi freezes and peers over at the sage from the corner of his eye. "… You're thinking of telling him everything?"

"Potentially." The sage passes Kakashi and heads off towards the town. "If he handles this well enough, he'll deserve it. if he can prove he can be trusted with that knowledge, and won't let it get to his head, then I'll tell him." He lowers his head and shakes it. "I wish I could have told him years ago..." He pauses for a moment to gather himself. Kakashi can't blame him. As stoic as a shinobi of his caliber is meant to be, pain this deep cannot be completely ignored.