This one-shot is based on a random thought I had. We know that when Naruto uses the Kage Bunshin, he duplicates whatever items he's carrying. I thought, what would happen if he's carrying some-one...

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Memories Of Others

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Naruto woke up with a huge smile on his face. At last, he was a true ninja, having helped to capture the traitor Mizuki and received his Hitai-Ate from Iruka.

And in one week, he would be assigned a team, letting him prove just how totally awesome he was!

Bouncing out of bed, Naruto scampered into the bathroom to shower, then paused and created a clone.

"Head to the kitchen and make me some breakfast." He commanded and the clone nodded.

"Okay, but hurry up."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the clone, then turned the tap to switch on the shower. Shedding his pajamas, he jumped into the shower cubicle…

"COOOOOLD!"

The clone snickered as it switched the kettle on.

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Naruto finished tossing on his orange jacket.

"Mmmm, Chicken Ramen." He smiled, then he paused. "Hey, how did I know that?"

For a moment, Naruto frowned, then he shrugged. "Meh, maybe I smelled it. Ah, whatever. Time to eat!"

Pausing to adjust the small sigil on his shoulder, Naruto bounced into the kitchen to devour the rameny goodness awaiting him.

"Itadakimasu! Mmmmmm!"

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"Naruto?"

Naruto looked round to see who had called him, his gaze coming to rest on a familiar dark-haired girl who was staring at him from beside a taller, red-eyed woman with longer midnight-black curly hair.

"Heya, Hinata!" Naruto called as he jogged over, grinning hugely as he pointed at his Hitai-ate. "I made it! I'm a ninja too!"

"I heard about that." The taller woman said and Naruto gave her a curious look. "I'm Jonin Yuhi Kurenai."

"Pleasedtameetcha." Naruto replied. "Genin Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage!"

Hinata giggled, then gave a small bow. "Probationary Genin Hyuuga Hinata, Honored to meet you."

"Wait." Naruto said, "Probar… probee…probabanana… whatsit genin? I thought you passed?"

"The others who passed are all probationary genin, they will become full genin when they are taken as students by a Jonin-sensei." Kurenai explained. "You were granted a field promotion, so even if you don't get a Jonin-Sensei, you'll still be an official genin and able to take missions."

Hinata gave Naruto an awed look and his grin grew wider.

"Yep, I'm awesome. So, whatcha doing? We don't get teams 'till next week, right?"

"We are going to be working on my chakra control." Hinata said quietly. "I need to build up my reserves."

"Chakra control." Naruto groaned. "That's my weak point, I blew up the leaf last time I tried!"

"It sounds like you may have too much chakra." Kurenai mused. "If you wish, I can teach you a new exercise that should be fairly easy for you, then you can work your way to leaf floating."

"So, training?" Naruto exclaimed. "Count me in! Umm, if that's okay with you, Hinata. I mean, she is your teacher, right?"

"It's fine!" Hinata squeaked, turning red and Naruto grabbed her shoulders.

"Hinata, you're turning red! Are you getting a fever? Let me check your temperat… ARGH! Kurenai! Hinata's collapsed!"

"She'll be fine." Kurenai smiled. "However, if I can ask a favor…"

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"…and this is where we are going to practice." Hinata heard as she regained consciousness to find herself being carried on someone's back. For a moment, she thought that she was being carried by Kurenai, but the hair against the side of her face was all wrong for that.

"Wow, cool place." Naruto's voice said and Hinata frowned mentally. It wasn't Kurenai who was carrying her and Naruto was nearb…

Hinata's thoughts hiccupped to a stop as she realized that it was Naruto who was carrying her, but before she could do anything, Naruto was speaking again.

"Let me put Hinata down… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A wave of chakra seemed to flow through Hinata, engulfing her in a feeling of protectiveness, then she heard Kurenai gasp.

"Oh, how did that happen?" Naruto asked and Hinata opened her eyes, glancing round…

To see herself staring back at her from the back of another Naruto.

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Kurenai shook her head in bemused amusement as she looked at her audience. After explaining to Naruto the memory-transfer function of the Kage Bunshin and how it could be used to help training in ninjutsu and in recon, she had demonstrated the water-walking technique and Naruto had sent a dozen clones to practice. Her next demonstration, tree-walking, had left Naruto gobsmacked for a moment before he had generated another dozen clones and sent them to practice, joined by the accidently-created clone of Hinata.

"So, now I've explained the difference between shinobi ranks and ratings, do you have any questions?"

"Iruka-sensei is really an A-ranked Shinobi?" Naruto burst out and Kurenai nodded.

"Yes, he is. If he wanted to put the effort in, he could be S-ranked, but he is perfectly happy teaching future generations of Shinobi."

"And most ANBU are B or sometimes C-ranked…" Naruto mused. "No wonder Iruka-sensei was always able to catch me after my pranks… I thought I was getting rusty or something."

"Being able to hide from ANBU while wearing bright orange is quite impressive." Kurenai allowed. "If you ever went for darker colors, you'd be almost impossible to track for anyone without a Byakugan. In fact…"

Kurenai rose from her kneeling position and cast a quick genjutsu that projected a compulsion to gather round. The two-dozen clones flooded out of the trees and lake, forming up around her.

"Now, real Naruto, with me. All Naruto clones, head into the trees, no more than two-hundred meters distance. I want Hinata and… Hinata to take the role of hunter-nins, find and dispel the clones. This way, both of you get training. Naruto, you get training in escape, evasion and survival while Hinata gets training in tracking and attacking. Hinatas, a light Jyuuken strike will dispel a Kage Bunshin. Narutos, try not to make it easy. Begin!"

The clones scattered, the two Hinatas in hot pursuit and Kurenai looked at Naruto.

"While we're waiting for the exercise to finish, do you remember how to dispel genjutsu?"

Naruto stared at her blankly.

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Hinata was impressed. She had thought that Naruto's bright orange trousers and jacket would be easy to spot, but his natural stealth skills countered the obvious color to an incredible degree. In addition, Naruto acted in ways that she had never encountered in her tracking exercises before. He wouldn't balance on branches, he would hang underneath or cling to the trunk. He could squirm through low bushes without disturbing a single leaf or dart across open spaces fast enough that if she blinked at the wrong time, she would never know he was there.

"Byakugan!"

Hinata blinked as she heard her clone activate their dojutsu, then she nodded in understanding.

She was barely a D-ranked shinobi. If she was to catch the elusive clones, she needed to use every single advantage that she had.

Horse, Tiger, Boar, Hare, Rat, Dog, Horse, Dog, Hare, Rat, Boar, Snake, "Byakugan!"

The world shifted around her and her eyes widened as she saw one clone crouched in the bush just behind her, a bush that she could have sworn was empty.

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"She got another." Naruto reported and Kurenai cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at him. "Kick to the shoulder. Felt odd, though, more like that hand-strike of hers."

"I didn't know that she could use Jyuuken through her feet." Kurenai mused.

"And I think that was the last one." Naruto added. "I didn't even see her. Just a poke in the back of the neck. She's good."

"Th…thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she emerged from the undergrowth.

"I'm glad you think so." The second Hinata said and Naruto smiled.

"You did amazing, both of you! I can see I'm going to need to practice my stealth more. Can we do this again tomorrow?"

Kurenai glanced up at the darkening sky and nodded.

"I have to get Hinata back to her home now, but… here again tomorrow at… half past one?"

"Sure thing." Naruto said, giving her a quick bow, then pulling both Hinatas into a hug.

"See you tomorrow!" he chirped, then he bounced off, leaving Hinata and her clone both blushing so hard that Kurenai was amazed that the air wasn't glowing red around them.

"I think you shouldn't dispel the clone yet." Kurenai said with a wicked smile. "Let's tell your father that it was the unexpected result of a jutsu."

The two Hinatas looked at each other and started to giggle.

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Naruto dropped the empty pot of ramen into the trash can and flopped onto the sofa.

"What a day." He sighed in satisfaction. "I can water and tree-walk. Take that teme!"

The familiar surge of clone-memories flowed through him and he winced.

"Ouch, I didn't realize that my orange was painful to Hinata… maybe I should ask her to help me get a different orange, a darker one… wow, the world through the byakugan looks weird… wait, was that Sakura… oh, that was mean, I don't think Hinata-chan deserved that… wait…wait!"

Naruto's eyes slammed open.

"Those were Hinata's memories! Aaaaargh!"

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Hinata wavered as her clones memories integrated with her own.

"That's the problem with Kage Bunshin." Kurenai noted. "If you're not prepared, the memory inflow can be rather disorientating."

"I was unaware that my daughter knew that particular jutsu." Hiashi noted from one side and Kurenai shrugged.

"She doesn't."

"…what?"

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"There he is!" Hinata said and Kurenai blinked.

"He seems… nervous."

The subject of their conversation turned as they approached and Kurenai's eyes widened slightly as she realized what was different about him. Naruto wasn't wearing his normal orange jacket while his trousers were dark blue civilian-wear, totally unsuited to combat training.

"Kurenai-san, Hinata…" Naruto said in greeting, one hand rubbing the back of his head. "Ummm, hi?"

"Naruto." Kurenai said in return. "You seem… less relaxed than yesterday."

"Yeah, I… kinda found out something…" Naruto admitted, "But I'm not a perv or anything like that! I just didn't know it would happen and…"

"NARUTO!"

Naruto stiffened to attention at Kurenai's shout. "…hai?"

"Just… tell us."

"I kinda got Hinata-chan's clone's memories when she dismissed it yesterday…" Naruto half-whispered. "And I didn't realize Sakura could be that mean. You totally aren't weak. Heck, you're awesome at…"

"Wait a minute." Kurenai said slowly. "You're saying you got the memories too?"

"Too?" Hinata and Naruto chorused.

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"…so don't try it with anyone unless they know about this and give permission. Alright?" Kurenai sighed and Naruto nodded. "Okay. Now… those clothes won't hold up to any real training, so…"

"I was hoping Hinata could help me pick out new ones." Naruto interrupted, pulling out a frog-shaped wallet stuffed full of ryo. "I mean, I don't want to hurt her eyes every time I make loads of clones and Hinata sees colors way better than me, I didn't even realize that my trousers and jacket were different shades until I got her memories of it. I spent an hour yesterday trying to see for myself, but I couldn't."

"Women can see more shades of color than males." Kurenai agreed. "Hinata, do you want to…?"

Hinata nodded. "I'll be happy to help, Naruto-kun."

Naruto promptly engulfed Hinata in a hug. "Thanks, Hinata-chan… hinata? Ack! Kurenai-san! Hinata's collapsed again!"

Kurenai managed not to giggle at Naruto's panic.

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The noise level of the classroom dropped significantly as Hinata and Naruto entered. Hinata stood taller than normal while Naruto had exchanged his normal bright-orange trousers and jacket for black trousers with a thick leather belt and rusty-orange wraps on the lower legs, a black t-shirt with a mesh-armor layer and a knee-length sleeveless orange haori, the same rusty-orange as the leg-wraps. On his arms, fingerless gloves covered his arms almost up to the elbows with scale-armor plating on the outside. To finish off the unexpected change, the blue fabric of his hitai-ate had been exchanged for a long black one that trailed down to the middle of his back.

"Deeeyaaaamn." Ino breathed. "How did he hide that yumminess?"

Hinata promptly shifted to slightly in front of Naruto.

"Hey, why is the dead last here?" Kiba shouted. "He failed, remember?"

"Most of it's classified, but I helped plug a hole in the security and got promoted." Naruto shot back. "And no, Sasuke couldn't have done it because he passed the test. The mission needed someone who had failed."

Several of the girls in the room froze, their instant declarations that Sasuke should have had the chance to do the mission slamming into the realization that in order to have got the mission, he would have had to have failed and Hinata capitalized on the pause. Grabbing Naruto's hand, she towed him to a pair of adjacent seats and settled down, smiling as Naruto let her rest her head on his shoulder.

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"…and one of you will return to the Academy!" Kakashi finished and Naruto glanced at his so-called team-mates, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, the latter of whom was still rather disconcerted by his sudden change from trying to pursue her at every opportunity to a cool disinterest.

"I understand perfectly." Naruto said, drawing on the many conversations he had had with Hinata, Kurenai and several members of Hinata's family. "This is primarily a taijutsu test and we all know that I suck at it. Therefore, this test is aimed at getting rid of me so you can train the Last Uchiha and his fangirl without the baggage of the Dead Last."

Sakura winced at the venom with which Naruto injected into his description of her.

"You two win." Naruto said to Sasuke and Sakura. "I'll see you around."

Smirking at the shocked silence, Naruto turned and walked out of the training field.

If he hurried, he could join Team 8 and take up Kurenai-sensei's request to provide them with an op-force to practice against.

And Hinata was helping him to relearn how to read which was very nice of her. And she was so clever, she had worked out that by using his cloning ability on her, he could both get the experience of learning how to read and the experience of knowing how to read.

His vocabulary was expanding faster than he had ever dreamed possible.

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"From what I can tell, it was a perfectly logical conclusion that he drew." Hiruzen said, hiding his amusement at Kakashi's exasperation. "And since he got his promotion in the field rather than via the academy, he can continue as a ninja and take missions."

"But… but…" Kakashi stuttered, only for Kurenai, who was amongst the assembled Jonin watching with amusement, to interrupt.

"Naruto provided my team with an opposing force to train against today. With the number of clones he can create, he really gave them a workout."

"Yosh!" Gai shouted. "I shall have to ask him to do the same for my youthful genin!"

"His taijutsu was sabotaged in the Academy." Kurenai warned the exuberant Jonin. "You may need to train him in a new style first."

"But he was meant to be on my team!" Kakashi protested. "I asked for him!"

"He obviously disagrees." Hiruzen shrugged. "But since we need the Uchiha on a team due to political reasons, I can find another genin for your team from the general pool. If you don't think you can take a team without Naruto, I'll appoint another Jonin-sensei for the Uchiha's team."

Kakashi seemed to wilt. "…I'll take the third genin."

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Edit for clarity - It is canon that Naruto has true shape-shifting abilities (Windmill-shuriken?), so if he gets enough body-memories of a specific Kekkei-genkei such as the Byakugan or possibly the Sharingan, he might be able to subconsciously modify himself over several years to materialize it, leading to something like...

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"Now, what were the seals Hinata-chan used? Ah yes."

Horse, Tiger, Boar, Hare, Rat, Dog, Horse, Dog, Hare, Rat, Boar, Snake, "Byakugan!"

Natuto blinked as the world shifted in the same way as he had seen in Hinata's memories from when she had used the Byakugan. Running into the bathroom, he stared in shock at his reflection, specifically the bulging veins around his now-pupilless eyes.

"What the hell?"

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Edit - Omake by Lord Circe (thanks LC!)

Orochimaru grinned in relish as he stared across the roof at his old Sensei. Sarutobi was frowning, the transformed form of the Monkey King held in his grip, and Orochimaru grinned his hands ran through a long set of seals, ending with him slamming his palms into the ground. A trio of boxes lifted up, though Sarutobi managed to disrupt him from actually summoning the third. Still, the look on his face as the First and Second Hokages stepped out to face the Third was pure ecstasy for the rogue Sannin.

"Kukukukuku. Are you prepared to face your predecessors, old monkey?"

Sarutobi's glare shifted into a smirk. "Well, if that is your trump card, then I suppose I should play mine. Naruto!"

Orochimaru jumped in shock as a blur burst out from the tiles next to Sarutobi, resolving into the form of the Kyuubi's container. He landed next to Sarutobi, who place one hand on his shoulder and rested his staff on the other, then formed a single seal.

"KAGE BUNSHIN!"

Smoke engulfed the rooftop, before disappating to reveal a sight that had Orochimaru's stomach dropping. Well over a hundred Naruto's were scattered across the rooftop, all facing towards him, and behind each and every one... was a clone of Sarutobi, each holding a copy of the Diamond Staff.

The original Naruto nodded, then ducked and raced off to the edge of the barrier, while the many copies of both Naruto and Sarutobi began to stretch, all grinning. The original Hokage simply stepped forward, sinking into a stance while aiming his staff towards Orochimaru and the two revived Hokage, who Orochimaru noticed were discretely edging away from the mass of clones.

"Well, are you prepared to face your teachers, young snake?"