I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise.

Chapter 68

Karin Uzumaki, a former Genin of Kusagakure watched Naruto Uzumaki perform push-ups in the grassy terrain they had stopped at for rest. The redhead sat under the shade of a tree with Jiraiya of the three Sanins on her left, at a distance with a group of the blonde's clones.

Karin scanned her surrounding again and spotted many more blondes with thick manes of blond hair. A headcount through the use of her sensory ability told her there were sixty clones. This method of training is supposed to be the ultimate cheat code, a cheat code an Uchiha would ultimately admit trumped their own Sharingan, quoted the blonde.

The clones organized themselves into 6 groups of ten members. The first group sat next to a small pond and practiced splitting it down in the middle. The second group practiced the Shuushine, trying to combine it with the shadow clone jutsu so that when a clone appeared it appeared with maximum velocity. The third group at the distance performed the 'The Clone Great Explosion technique.' The jutsu Naruto's sensei handed him.

"A clone fast enough to reach you in seconds and blow up in your face, a willing suicide bomber." Karin shivered at the thought. She would have never thought of such a strategy. It gave her a different opinion of the person in front of her who was supposed to be a cousin or something of the sort.

"He does not seem like it, but he is a ninja through and through." Karin mumbled now looking to the section of clones close to Jiraiya. She wondered what the Rasengan was, the boy was adamant about learning it saying the bastard who created the jutsu owed him one for all his years of mistreatment, he couldn't even remember one misdeed. Karin was shocked to find out who the blonde meant by the bastard.

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"I don't think you should be performing all the stages of the jutsu at the same time gaki." Jiraiya said with a sweat drop while he watched ten clones perform the first stage of the Rasengan which was rotation with the help of a water balloon. The other ten trained power output by using a rubber ball and the final ten practiced containment which they practiced barehanded, there were no physical results.

"That is why we are the ones thinking, perverted guy." All the clones grumbled while concentrating on performing their tasks. The aged Sanin made a sound and looked at the results the blonde was making with a week's worth of training. The blonde would not say where he came upon the idea to train with clones but Jiraiya would honestly say it was troublesome, at this rate Naruto would be a master of everything in less than a decade.

The group dedicated to the rotation was already popping water balloons left and right, repeating the exercise to better the blonde's chakra control so rotating his Chakra comes more naturally.

The group dedicated to power was progressing smoothly, some got the rubber balls to burst while others failed but all that experience would only benefit Minato's son.

The final group saw no results in containing the chakra released inside the shape of a sphere. Jiraiya watched as ten clones wasted chakra for more than 20 minutes looking unwinded. Jiraiya knew in the history of the elemental nations Naruto has already left a mark as a kid with above-Kage-level chakra reserves and he was still growing.

'The child of prophecy.' Jiraiya thought with mixed emotions on the matter, The boy he met in Amegakure was soft-spoken and gentle, and Minato was soft-spoken and gentle. Naruto was loud and unapologetic, he seemed to speak his mind every other minute and was conceited in himself. Those did not sound like the qualities of someone looking for peace in the world, but rather a man looking to rule said world.

'Could bring about peace in the elemental nations or be its destruction.' Jiraiya recited a section of the prophecy and he was honestly scared and unwilling to guess what path his new apprentice would choose. Hiruzen was more worried about the village, as long as Naruto was on the leaf's side both paths would not hurt the village.

"Alright!" A clone in the third group exclaimed when he was able to shape his chakra into a sphere for a second before it began rising again like smoke towards the sky. The rest of the clones punched said clone who succeeded and dispelled him to gain his knowledge before creating another clone. All the clones were now a step closer to success.

'Troublesome.' Jiraiya thought watching all ten blondes grin as they performed the third step once more with each able to form a rough sphere for a second before it lost form.

"Hey Perverted guy." Jiraiya sighed and looked left and down at the short blonde who came up to him. Jiraiya looked to where the original was and found him missing so he would assumed the one in front of him was the original, some times it got confusing.

"How Long until we reach Uzukagure?" Naruto asked eager to visit the land of his ancestry. Jiraiya grinned deciding to forget about his emo thoughts and tease the boy.

"Why, you want to return quickly to see your girlfriend." Jiraiya said with dancing eyebrows making Naruto frown at the white-haired man.

"Uzu-ga-kure, LAND OF WHIRL-POOLé." Naruto repeated slowly, speaking exaggeratedly to the Sanin like he was speaking to an old man with hearing problems. Jiraiya got a tick mark under his forehead protector and wrapped Naruto in a lock-hold before placing his big fist on the boy's crown and twisting.

"Aghhh let me go, you old perverted idiot!" Naruto said making it worse as Jiraiya quickened his pace and applied more force. "Okay okay, I give." Naruto complained raising a metaphorical white flag. Jiraiya let the boy go with a smirk while the blonde rubbed his warm head.

"Child abuser." Naruto mumbled and quickly apologized. "Not you! I was thinking of my neighbor." Naruto lied in a panic throwing his hands between him and Jiraiya to stop the approaching Sanin. Jiraiya grumbled something about disrespectful gakis before getting serious.

"We should be arriving in Whirlpool in 2 days if they don't delay the ship again, and with my calculations, we should be back in the leaf by the day before the exams." Jiraiya replied to the earlier question Naruto asked. The blonde let out a little smile at the thought of visiting his mother's home.

Jiraiya sighed discreetly feeling again conflicted, he felt horrible about keeping the boy's heritage from him. It would be better if he were to learn the truth from him, or the third Hokage. If Naruto finds out on his own the repercussions could be detrimental.

How Naruto figured out his status as a jinchuriki was already confusing to Jiraiya of the Sanin, one side says he learned the truth after a failed attempt to capture a criminal but Naruto's words say he figured it out on his own, and from his tone a long time ago.

"Alright look I got it!!…. Dammit!" Jiraiya let the clone's celebration become background noise while he thought. The Toad Sage spied the red-haired girl accompanying them reading his book and thought back to what the third said her assignment was.

'Get close to Naruto and create a familial bond with him.' Jiraiya sometimes wondered if maybe Orochimaru was the one who took to Hiruzen's teachings the most from all of them. 'In a twisted way, they think alike.' Jiraiya frowned at the thought crossing his mind.

Hiruzen wanted to tie Naruto down to the village by any means necessary. Jiraiya too concluded that Naruto might not hold any loyalty to them all. He would find it more boggling if the blonde loved the leaf village unconditionally.

"It's splitting!" A clone in the group working on Nature transformation exclaimed and got expelled a second later before getting replaced by another clone. It has been like this for the last 9 days and gaki hasn't wanted to hear a word about the fox, just the workings of the seal on his abdomen. In other words, Jiraiya after explaining the Rasengan became a glorified Fuinjutsu archive for the blonde to do as he pleased.

"Tstststs I am going to be so badass." Naruto said with excitement and mischievous eyes that spoke of grand plans or schemes. The toad Sanin did not like that those eyes held a curiosity to it that knew no boundaries. Jiraiya could only blame himself for that, the boy had no parental figures in his life, and Hiruzen fucked up.

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Two days later the toad Sage of perverseness followed by Naruto Uzumaki and Karin Uzumaki reached what Naruto thought was a very familiar location. The blonde brightened up like a lamp to Karin's senses and she rubbed her legs together feeling bothered.

"The Great Naruto Bridge." Karin read out loud and let her eyes widen in shock. She looked to her cousin who stood there looking proud with his fists on his waists and legs wide, poised like a boss as he smirked at her his eyes telling her, yes. It is real.

"H-how -h-how b-but w-what w-when…. I mean but that is the y-your name." Karin spoke a kind of none sense that caused people to fight in clubs trying to make sense of what she hoped was a coincidence.

"Ah cousin, come come." Naruto said approaching Karin and wrapping a hand around her shoulder. The short blond had to get on his tiptoes to achieve this. Jiraiya only rolled his eyes at the blonde menace.

"I know just the person who can explain it all to you." Naruto replied beginning his trek across the bridge named after him. "But I guess I can start and I will let them continue." Naruto said giving his older cousin the kind of look an older sibling would give their little sibling when doing them a favor, the blonde is too conceited.

"It was a day like any other day……." Naruto began explaining of course what was a biased retelling on his part. Jiraiya couldn't help but grunt in amusement at the exaggeration from the blonde gaki but he was not far from the truth.

'I never thought it would be like this.' Jiraiya thought with some reverence, this was the difference between a prodigy and a prophesied savior. Jiraiya as he walked behind the two Uzumaki already feared Naruto's fuinjutsu. The blonde has no formal teaching in the art.

'I just get it, you know.' Jiraiya remembered Naruto's answer to his inquiry on who thought him fuinjutsu. 'No, no I don't know.' Jiraiya thought before he whistled in appreciation when they reached the other side of the bridge and entered Wave Country.

Wave country in the short amount of time it has been free managed to push forward with vigor. It looked like everybody in the village broke down their houses and now lived in tents but in random places, the Sanin spotted houses in construction.

"It looks like they are rebuilding the village, was the damage that widespread?." Karin asked her blonde cousin with great hair and the blonde shook his head no.

"The fights were controlled, we kept our opponents concentrated on us." Naruto said offhandedly before spotting a familiar face.

"Hey old drunk!" Naruto called out to an old man with a hat. Jiraiya bristles at the thought that he was not special, seeing as the blonde called the man who turned around with a flask in hand a degrading name too.

"Just the man you can ask all your questions." Naruto changed his arm's position around Karin's shoulders and instead grabbed the taller girl's hand running off with her to meet the man waving back at them with a big belly laugh.

"Your kid is something else Minato." Jiraiya said in a whisper. Naruto did not want to hear anything about the fox's chakra, saying he would rather focus on fuinjutsu and his other jutsus for the first two weeks. Jiraiya decided to teach the blonde the art of summoning at least.

"Naruto, you little twerp. How have you been?" Tazuna the bridge builder of love greeted followed by a group of other construction workers. A second later they bombarded Naruto with praises and questions. The story of how Wave was saved sounded so exaggerated now that it could be called a lie mixed with the truth.

Karin soaked it all up with awe in her eyes, she could not believe her 12-year-old cousin had this much clout in another country. Tazuna began explaining to those who didn't know the story seeing as Wave was getting new faces and old ones alike returning.

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"Haha…." Naruto chuckled in embarrassment when he found himself in a hug, getting buried in Tsunami's bosom. Jiraiya grumbled about the benefits of being an innocent gaki when he saw the scene.

"You look taller and much stronger too." Tsunami said while breaking the hug and giving the blonde a little space, smiling down at the shorter boy.

"You really think so?" Naruto asked in embarrassment, he was still weirded out by having a woman treat him like her own son. Tsunami nodded with a sweet smile and ruffled the blonde's hair.

"Who is your friend." Naruto gulped and looked back up to Tsunami who eyed him and Karin with eyes that said he should explain himself and be aware.

"This-this is Karin Uzumaki, my cousin." Naruto replied quickly, doing well to hide his rising fear. Tsunami's mood did a complete 180 and she smiled in Karin's direction offering the girl a handshake in greeting.

"Nice to meet you too… miss Tsunami-San." Karin said awkwardly and a bit nervous because of the earlier look she received.

"So what are you doing back here Naruto-Kun, where are Sasuke-Kun, Hinata-Chan, and Itachi-Sensei?" Tsunami inquired while scanning her front yard to see if she could find them.

"Hinata-Hime is back in the village with Itachi-Sensei getting training." He began with a soft smile at the thought of his Hime. "Sasuke is on a training trip outside the village." He finished with his expression becoming neutral.

"And you?" Tsunami asked.

"We are here to catch a ship to an island close by." Naruto explained vaguely and Tsunami nodded before looking toward her father who spoke with Jiraiya of the Sanin as the man introduced himself earlier. She believes the white-haired grizzly of a is was over eccentric.

"Let's head inside and I can make you guys something to eat." Tsunami offered and Naruto's eyes sparkled, free food. Karin only squeezed her thighs together and rubbed them feeling bothered by the amount of warm chakra next to her.

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It was an hour later that Naruto found himself in Tsunami's room with the woman sitting on the bed waiting for him to say what he wanted to say. Naruto had time to think about his plans for wave country and had come up with an idea he thought would work in both his and the country's favor.

Gatō had informed him of his roadblock in Suna, Naruto would not say he did not see something like that coming. The Kages of the hidden villages seem to stand on common ground when it came to their stupidity.

Wave Country though is a different ball game, for one all its docks and harbors are privately owned by your truly, same with the four big ships docked there with 5 medium-sized ships and 24 small boats. Naruto wanted someone he could trust to handle how Wave developed from now on and the woman in front of him was perfect for the responsibility.

"I have a business proposal for you." Naruto said seriously and Tsunami cooed finding the boy cute. Naruto fought back a blush of embarrassment and cleared his throat.

"I am serious." Naruto said with so much charisma and seriousness in his voice Tsunami paused and looked him over again.

"What is going on Naruto-Kun?" Tsunami asked a bit taken by the boy's sudden change.

"Nothing bad I promise, it is just that." Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously before telling Tsunami that Gatō is still alive.

"What!" Tsunami cried abruptly standing up.

"Calm down I will explain." Naruto said placating the older woman who sat back down and waited for his explanation.

"I took over Gatō's businesses and dealings as well as his properties and belongings, in other words…..." Naruto paused and let the revelation sink in on its own.

"You own Wave Country." Tsunami finished for the blonde and she frowned at Naruto, disappointed that he would be just like Gatō. "What do you plan on doing?" Tsunami asked feeling lost on how to react.

"I want you in charge of handling Wave Country's development and growth." Naruto replied with a smile that had Tsunami blinking, she did not expect that request.

"How am I supposed to do that Naruto-Kun? I cannot just start giving people orders." Tsunami explained with a frown on her beautiful face and Naruto stepped closer to her sitting form.

"I own Gatō's shipping company but I cannot do anything in the open due to my age. It would be suspicious, especially for an orphan to all of a sudden be a billionaire." Naruto explained easily which had Tsunami slowly start to see the picture her eyes did widen when she heard Naruto was a billionaire.

"You want me to be your frontman?" She asked and Naruto shook his head no.

"I want you to be my voice, I want you to be Wave Country's voice." Naruto outstretched his hand toward Tsunami. "I want a strong, caring, and beautiful woman leading wave country into a brighter future." Naruto said with a smile and waited patiently for the woman to think her decision through.

The fact Tsunami took a full 2 minutes to think about it only gave Naruto more reason to think he chose the right person to run his businesses in Wave country. If she accepts he would tell her about his plans of action, the blonde was not against constructive criticism and bouncing ideas around.

"You really are an unpredictable boy." Tsunami said with a small laugh that had Naruto smiling too.

"Oh, what the hell, why not?" Tsunami finally decided to accept, taking Naruto's hand in her softer one and giving him a handshake to seal the deal.

"Welcome to Uzumaki's creed Tsunami-San, where we find innovative ways to solve all problems." Naruto said with an exaggerated business-like voice and a shit-eating grin on his face. Tsunami only giggled and went to pull the blonde's cheeks like Hinata usually did when he was being bratty or silly.

"Ouch ouch ouch….. what did you do that for Hime…………oops hahaha sorry." Naruto realized his mistake and laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his head and Tsunami gave a sincere laugh of amusement.

"How are you and Hinata-Chan doing?" Tsunami asked softly and Naruto smiled softly taking a sit on the bed Hinata once spent a week on. The room they sat in held a place in his heart because it is where he realized his feelings for his best friend. The Jinchuriki of the nine tails began retelling Tsunami of their adventures after wave country while keeping it civilian-friendly.

Authors notes:

Naruto's training has begun, the blonde has the tools to become powerful and he is willing to abuse it. He does not want to rely on the fox's power because if he did. One day when he didn't expect it the fox could decide to double cross him and end up hurting somebody close to him.

Jiraiya does not know how to feel about the blonde, Jiraiya would like to think of himself as a good judge of character and the one he finds in his godson is troubling to think about.

Next chapter back to the leaf and Shisui meets Danzo.