It was two weeks later when Naruto hit a roadblock. A Roadblock named Bunshin no Jutsu.
No matter what he tried, he could just not get it done. His clones, if he managed to produce them, looked flimsy and ill and lasted no longer than a second.
Tobirama was at a loss, as well. He knew Naruto was making the correct signs and he had walked him through that jutsu step-by-step several times now.
It was a very simple technique, so simple it barely required any chakra at all - but perhaps, Tobirama mused as he watched his frustrated student, this was the problem. Naruto's chakra reserves were massive. Naruto's chakra reserves were enormous and his control still too weak.
Making a snap decision, Tobirama told Naruto to stop. "You need to talk to Hiruzen."
"Talk to jiji?" Naruto asked, coming to a stand next to the man. "Why?"
"As it stands, you are incapable of using the regular clone technique. Which, in the long run, is inconsequential since you are already able to produce a shadow clone. This is, however, a technique you cannot learn without guidance. "
Naruto nodded slowly. It made sense. Even if his explanation had been slightly complicated. But Naruto was getting better in deciphering and matching his sensei's way of speaking.
"So I need him to provide me an excuse for learning it," he concluded, rather proud of being able to correctly use a grown-up word like provide.
"Indeed," Tobirama agreed. "And even if he does not hand you the shadow technique, he might come up with a different solution. Whatever it may be, take it and do not push it."
"Understood," Naruto answered, doing his best to look as solemn as his teacher.
"Good. Now, what was the sign for danger?"
Seeing the Hokage was normally not an easy feat. Unless you were a shinobi urgently reporting in, you had to fill in lots of forms and apply for an audience. Luckily, Naruto was an exception to this rule. He had been in and out of the Hokages office so often, that nobody really cared anymore about his presence - unless serious matters were being discussed.
But today was a slow day and Hiruzen was rather happy about getting a valid excuse to take a break from his paperwork.
"Naruto," he took out his pipe and smiled at the young child. "How are you?"
"I am good, jiji," the boy answered cheerfully. "And you?"
"Same old, same old," the Hokage replied, sounding rather amused. "Now what brings you here? It has been quite a while."
"Ah," Naruto smiled sheepishly and hopped on the chair. "I need your advice, jiji."
"Oh?" the Hokage looked interested. "On what? Are you having problems?"
"Kind of," Naruto answered and shrugged his shoulders. "It's the clone technique. I just can't get it to work. My clones always look sick."
The man hummed thoughtfully. "Can you show me?"
Naruto jumped up and formed the handseals. Three rather sickly-looking clones appeared next to him. They looked like death warmed over.
"I see," the old man murmured thoughtfully. "The handsigns are correct and I cannot detect any flaws in your execution. How much chakra are you using?"
"Not much," Naruto answered honestly and tilted his head.
"Less than I use for tree-walking," he clarified once he understood why the Nidaime was making the sign for tree behind the Hokage's head.
The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "You already know how to walk up trees?"
"Yup," Naruto answered cheerfully. "It's not that hard," he added with a careless shrug. He was not lying. After the pendant exercise, he had gotten it down rather quickly.
A second eyebrow joined the first. "Well done."
Naruto would have beamed at the praise, but since he wanted to be more like his sensei, who – in his unbiased opinion- was super-awesome, he settled for a smile. "Thank you."
The Third nearly dropped his pipe in surprise at the almost modest reaction. Naruto was really turning out in surprising ways.
He coughed to cover his slight break of composure. "The clone technique doesn't require much chakra. This is one of the reasons why it is taught at the academy. The less chakra you have, the easier it is to control. The greater your reserves, the greater your control over it must be in order to perform chakra-weak techniques. Since you are able to walk up a tree, your control is already at an adequate level. However, your reserves are too great for adequate to be sufficient enough to perform the technique. You would need a mastery roughly equivalent to that of a jounin to succeed."
Naruto nodded. That was about the same thing his sensei had concluded. "Um, does that mean I need to improve my control before I can pass the test?"
That was the question he was here for.
The third Third him an amused look. "No, certainly not. It would be completely disproportionate to require a genin aspirant to have the control of a jounin to perform an academy technique." He tapped his finger against his pipe.
"There is one technique that might be of help to you," the Hokage answered thoughtfully. "It was passed down by one of the former Hokages, the Nidaime himself. It is called the shadow clone technique. The chakra requirement is extremely high. Because of this, it is named as a forbidden technique."
The Hokage rose from his seat. "But I believe, it might just be the right thing for you."
Tobirama smirked.
Naruto cheered silently.
Mission accomplished.
Konoha had always been a village of many secrets. Secrets, the general population was not privy to. Some of them were restricted to shinobi, others to the village's elite, and the most important of them were only known by the Hokage himself.
One of these Hokage-only secrets was the knowledge of the archive below the Hokage monument. It did not contain things like citizen records or mission reports, but rather more sensitive information crucial to the village's security. Like the seals used to form the village's protective barrier. Or records of incidents that, by official statement, had not happened at all.
Tobirama floated through the hidden entrance into the vast stone room. His eyes flickered to the torches lining the walls. They were still lit.
He smiled sadly as he remembered the day Mito-san had crafted them.
"These torches are called Everlights," she had told him. "We use them everywhere in Uzu."
"Everlights?" he had asked, and Mito-san had smiled her soft, gentle smile.
"Once lit they will never extinguish. They will keep on burning - even if we are no more. "
"Of course, they will," his brother had added." The Will of Fire is not easily extinguished."
Tobirama shook his head to get rid of this strange melancholic feeling that had suddenly overcome him. This was not the right time to lose his focus.
He walked past four doors, each inscribed with the name of one Hokage, and stopped in front of the pedestal at the end of the room. There were three labeled pictures on it.
The first belonged to Mito-san. The second to a red-haired woman named Uzumaki Kushina and the third to a young boy he was most familiar with. Uzumaki Naruto.
He had been correct. The child he was teaching really jailed the Kyuubi – and he had no idea about it. Tobirama's lips thinned. Just what had Hiruzen been thinking?!
Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting on a brick wall, legs dangling down and cheerfully munching on a dango stick as he observed the people passing by. His sensei had floated off somewhere else this morning to check on something and left him with the instructions to find a civilian to secretly trail.
While he was walking through the overfilled streets looking for a suitable target, he had encountered a dango stall and managed to snatch the last box.
Swinging his legs, he watched curiously as a black-haired boy approached the dango stall. There was something metallic glittering on his head. A headband!
That boy was a shinobi!
Instantly interested, Naruto inched slightly forward to listen in.
"Good afternoon. I would like to order one box, please. "
The owner gave him an apologetic look. "I am sorry, Uchiha-san, I am all out today. "
"Oh," the boy answered slowly, his shoulders dropping slightly. "Well, it cannot be helped, Thank you anyway. "
"If you come back tomorrow, I'll have new ones, " the man assured him.
The boy nodded once and politely excused himself.
Naruto looked from the half-eaten stick in his hand to the still-full box next to him. Somehow, he felt bad. Making a spontaneous decision, Naruto turned until he was laying on his stomach and called for the elder boy.
"Psst. Hey, you. That Uchiha down there."
The boy stopped and slowly looked up. "Are you talking to me?"
"Yup." Naruto grinned at him, waving his dango stick invitingly. "I have a full box of dango here. Want to share? "
Black eyes widened. "Really? " he asked sounding both reserved and hopeful at the same time.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed cheerfully. "Come up? Or should I come down?"
The boy answered by flickering out of sight and appearing right next to him.
"That was cool," Naruto complimented him sincerely and maneuvered himself back into a seating position. He grabbed the box and offered it to his new dango partner.
The older boy smiled slightly and sat down, gratefully reaching for one of the sticks. "Thank you."
"No problem," Naruto replied and grabbed his second one. "I am Naruto Uzumaki by the way and you?"
"Uchiha Itachi. Nice to meet you, Naruto-san."
"Same, Itachi-san."
There was a moment of comfortable silence as both children enjoyed their treats.
"If you don't mind me asking," Itachi began finally, throwing a curious look at the younger child. "What are you doing up here?"
Naruto shrugged around his rice ball and slowly chewed, before answering. "Relaxing."
Itachi stared at him "This is a ten-foot wall," he stated flatly, lowering his dango stick.
"Yep," Naruto gently shoved the box in Itachi's direction. "Good place to watch people."
It was a good place, Itachi agreed. Even if somewhat obvious. But then nobody expected someone as young as Naruto to watch them. "That's what you have been doing?"
"Yup." Naruto replied easily. "I am looking for a civilian to trail."
"You are doing stealth training?" the older boy paused in his acquisition of a second treat in favor of throwing Naruto an interested look.
Naruto hummed lightly. "Yup. But I didn't find an interesting target. They all look boring."
"Most of the time shadowing someone is an uninteresting duty," Itachi replied slowly, finally picking up the second dango stick. "It requires quite a lot of patience." He bit into his rice ball and chewed slowly.
Naruto sighed. "I am not a very patient person. I guess that's why I have been told to do this."
Itachi threw him a thoughtful look. "Then you should start with trailing after someone you already know. Keeping things more personal in the beginning might help you focus. People tend to be more invested in acquaintances than in strangers."
"Someone I know…," Naruto repeated.
There was another silence as he mused over Itachi's words. Who did he know that was not a ninja and someone he cared about? Of course! Teuchi-san! Maybe he could even watch him make ramen!
He grinned brightly. "That's brilliant! Thanks, Itachi-san!" He shoved the box with the three remaining sticks into the boy's hands. "Here take that."
Itachi stared at his unexpected cargo. "You are welcome Naruto-san, but that is not necessary."
"Just take it. I had enough anyway," Naruto answered cheerfully. "I'll go train now. It was nice meeting you. Itachi-san."
"Goodbye!" He waved at the older boy and effortlessly walked down the high wall. "I've got ramen to spy on!"
"Goodbye," Itachi answered automatically, staring after the confusing young child.
That was how Shisui found him five minutes later. "Yo, Itachi. What's up with you? What are you doing up there?"
Itachi slowly turned his head towards his best friend. "Apparently I am advising children to spy on edible nutrients."
"What?"
It was almost evening when Naruto arrived at the ledge. His sensei was already there, standing next to the tree and staring into space. His posture was tense, and Naruto immediately felt a strong sense of foreboding. That feeling only increased when the Nidaime turned and fixed him with a very serious gaze.
"Naruto. Sit down. We need to talk."
The child swallowed and nervously settled himself next to the Shodai's tree. "What about, sensei?"
"About what happened the day you were born."
Tobirama was not very good at conveying emotions. He was not an expressive person and preferred calm and cleanly given messages. He was definitely not the right person to tell Naruto about his burden. He had no idea how to ease him into the truth. He was not his brother. He did not have Hashirama's empathy.
But the child had to know. So Tobirama did what he could do best. He steeled himself and told the plain, cold facts – and then he watched.
He watched as Naruto's anger turned into sadness. He listened as the child screamed and cried – and when the tiny frame finally broke down, sobbing and overwhelmed by his emotions, he put a hand on the child's shoulder and pushed him gently, but firmly against the Shodai's tree.
Trapped between the strong residing presences of the first and second Hokage, Naruto slowly relaxed. He could not move, but he did not want to. He wanted to stay right between them, borrowing their strength, and be held together just for a bit longer.
Tobirama's hand stayed where it was long after the child had fallen into an uneasy sleep.
A/N
So Tobirama finally confirmed his suspicions...Poor Naruto I want to hug him, too.
Thank you for your lovely comments! :D
Blu3b3rryT3a I am curious to see it as well. *g* And no, Tobirama will really not help him with it. And about his team placement...well I've got a rather unusual idea - I hope you like it. I decided on it, so Tobirama has more time to teach Naruto. :-) (Yes, Fuinjutsu will be there too. I have subtly used it one or two times already *xD* I am rather fascinated with that kind of art, too. So much to explore there.)
PawgLover Glad you like it. =) And no, I have no intention to make Tobirama visible to others. He may play a main part and be a constant in this story, but I want to explore the relationship between Naruto and him. There is no place for other visible people. That tangible thing I am hinting at is more so that he can give Naruto some of the affection he desperately needs - and maybe one or two other reasons. *xD*