Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the intellectual property associated with Naruto

Hi all,

Here's the next chapter. We get a glimpse into Kumogakure, and Naruto visits Kurama in his mindscape.

Chapter 12

The man threw a powerful punch into the boxing bag. The impact generated so much momentum that it broke the chain holding the bag and sent it crashing to the floor. Frustrated, he stomped over to his desk and smashed his hand into the table, causing it to collapse beneath him.

"Mabui!" A shouted. "I need a new desk and my boxing bag needs to be repaired."

His assistant, Mabui, entered the room and saw the devastation in front of her. Mabui was a young woman with dark skin and vivid green eyes. Her light grey hair was neatly pulled back into a bun, and two fringes flanked her face on either side. She had no expression on her face, but A could sense her frustration.

"Raikage-sama, please refrain from destroying the desks," Mabui asked. "This is the fourth one in the past week. If you need to vent your frustrations, please direct them towards Killer B."

"Is he annoying you again?"

"If he dares to rap another song in my presence, I will not hesitate to throw him out the window."

"Only B can get on your nerves," A remarked, smirking. "Has there been any news about Darui?"

Mabui shook her head, finally letting her face show some emotion. "I sent your most recent orders to him at the designated location, but I have not received a response from him. I am afraid the worst has happened to him."

A leaned forward to rest his elbow on the desk, only to remember it was no longer there. "Darui did send some intelligence before becoming silent. The actions of the new Hokage are extremely concerning. We need more information, but it appears that Darui came too close and was captured or killed."

"Darui would kill himself before allowing himself to be caught," Mabui said. "Being captured in Konoha increases the likelihood of disclosing your secrets because it has the Yamanaka clan."

The Raikage growled, reluctantly accepting the harsh reality that Darui was probably already dead. Darui was his trusted right hand and an exceptionally skilled Shinobi. The decision to send him to Konoha immediately following the appointment of a new Hokage now appeared as a mistake. However, there was little choice but to respond quickly to the unexpected news of Danzo's rise to power.

He was well aware of Danzo's ambitions, and it was imperative to counter him before he moved against the other hidden villages. Despite the recent invasion, he had no illusions about Konoha's true strength. Even if they had two jinchuuriki, they couldn't match Konoha's military power.

His thoughts were interrupted by a messenger bird that flew through the window and landed on the perch beside it. Mabui retrieved the paper attached to its leg and handed it over to A.

The message was encrypted with Darui's secret code, which reassured him that it was authentic. A's eyebrows rose in surprise as she read the letter. "Darui sent a message stating that he is in immediate danger of being apprehended by Itachi Uchiha. However, he expresses hope that the valuable information he has gathered will reach me."

"Itachi Uchiha?" Mabui asked. "Isn't he a rogue-nin working for the Akatsuki? Why would he be in Konoha?

"There is always the possibility that his status as a rogue ninja was a cover," he murmured, continuing to read the letter. He let out a bark of laughter as he read the vital information Darui had gathered.

"What is it?"

"It appears that many prominent Shinobi have abandoned Konoha," A said. "They have been severely weakened in terms of military power. This is an incredible opportunity."

"Will you launch an attack on Konoha?" Mabui asked, not looking thrilled with the idea.

"No way!" A exclaimed, stabbing the paper with his hand to emphasise his point. "I plan to track down the deserters and integrate them into Kumo. Kyuubi's jinchuuriki has also abandoned the village. Just think of the immense military strength we would have if they joined us. We could claim the title of the number one Hidden Village without going to war."

"It would not be as simple as that," Mabui said, reading the letter herself. "The deserters constitute a significant threat in their own right. They have several S-rank shinobi amongst their ranks, so it would require a substantial force to capture them. We also need to locate them first."

"We will try diplomacy first," Raikage stated. "If that doesn't work, then we will use everything we have to subdue them. With Konoha distracted by Suna, it should be simple to accomplish without drawing their attention."

Mabui remained silent.

"Get me, Team Samui," Raikage commanded.

"Hai," Mabui said, walking towards the exit.

Killer B jumped through the window in an incredible display of poor timing. "Yo! Killer B has arrived! So you will no longer feel deprived!"

Mabui grabbed a vase and threw it at Killer B, who managed to dodge it while still rapping. To escape from the man, she departed swiftly.

A massaged his forehead, wondering why he had to deal with such annoyances so early in the morning. He desperately needed a way to relieve stress. "B, how about we have a spar?"

A few days later, Naruto sat outside his tent, holding a rubber ball. His wrist ached from too much practice, but he couldn't bring himself to give up when he was so close to achieving his goal. With intense concentration, he channelled his chakra and rapidly rotated it, causing the ball in his hand to shake violently. With a loud pop, the rubber ball burst apart in his hands.

"I did it!" Naruto exclaimed. "Only one more step and I will have mastered it."

He was so frustrated with this step that he considered using a shadow clone to help him concentrate his chakra and gain the necessary power. However, after careful consideration, he rejected the idea, recognising it as a crutch that would reduce the move's combat effectiveness.

Naruto got up and brushed himself off before entering his tent. He looked over to see Kushina sleeping peacefully in her bed. She was adamant about not being separated from him, so he set up a bed for her inside his tent. The girl had become completely reliant on him, and it was difficult for him to adjust to caring for someone after barely caring for himself for so long.

Fortunately, his friends had volunteered to help with all of the various responsibilities that come with caring for a little girl. The fact that she was a clone was difficult for him to understand. Kushina had been cultivated in the tank with his mother's DNA and had never left the lab.

She was like a blank slate, free of the typical interactions that children have during their formative years. Surprisingly, her lack of these experiences did not appear to hinder her too much, as she demonstrated an impressive level of knowledge despite her limitations. Tsunade believed the girl had learned something during her time in the tank, but she wasn't sure how.

Kushina had undergone numerous tests, all of which revealed no signs of cellular degradation. This gave him hope that the girl would live a long and healthy life.

Naruto settled into his bed, but he had no intention of sleeping. Before retiring for the night, he planned to enter his mindscape and confront Kurama. He had been putting it off for a long time, but there were a few pressing reasons why he couldn't wait any longer.

First, he promised Kurama that he would set him free someday. However, his lack of communication may be causing the fox concern. He may try to cause trouble to get Naruto's attention. Another reason was his desire to take advantage of the unique characteristics of his mindscapes to accelerate his calligraphy practice. Mastering the skill was taking longer than he expected. He intended to use his shadow clones for practice, but the memory feedback effect was only effective within his mind.

Naruto shut his eyes and entered his mindscape. Since he first gained access to it, the space had grown in size, expanding outward to include his Chakra Core. His core was represented by three pools of liquid, one for each of the three types of chakra he was currently capable of using.

The largest pool contained a vibrant orange liquid, which represented Kurama's chakra. This chakra served as a reserve for his tailed beast form. Currently, its capacity was limited as he struggled to handle more of Kurama's chakra. However, as time passed, his ability to manage it improved, and the pool grew accordingly.

The second largest pool in Naruto's core was his regular chakra, represented by blue liquid. Jiraiya compared his chakra capacity to that of an elite jonin. With his Uzumaki heritage and the additional reserves provided by Kurama's chakra, he was a chakra powerhouse with plenty of room for further development.

The third pool held his gold chakra, which was significantly smaller than the other two. Although he didn't know if it could grow much beyond its current capacity, it was still enough that he could use his Adamantine Sensing Chains for long periods of time.

Naruto approached the cage, where Kurama lay motionless and appeared to be sleeping. However, Naruto saw through the ruse, noticing that Kurama's ears were perked up rather than lying flat.

"Hello, Kurama. Long time no see," Naruto said. "I would like to discuss something important with you."

"The brat finally deems me worthy of a visit," Kuruma said, opening his eyes and glaring at him menacingly. "Should I feel honoured?"

"You're lucky that I came as soon as I did," Naruto growled, folding his arms. "It's funny that I had to learn about my heritage from my godfather when I could have heard it from you first."

Kurama rose and sat on his hind legs, looking down at him. "Why should I have shared this information with you? It wasn't part of our deal."

"Ha! If I had known you had information about my parents, I would have made that a condition of our agreement. However, trust is ultimately what matters in this situation. You are relying on me to keep my word and find a way to release you, but your behaviour makes me wonder if I can trust you."

"Brat! There is no need for any further trust! We made a deal, and as long as you keep your end of the bargain, we don't have to interact with each other."

Naruto smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I never mentioned when I would find a way to set you free. Perhaps I will wait until I am in my twilight years to start looking. Given that I am a Uzumaki, you may have to wait quite some time."

"Treacherous human! None of you can be trusted!"

"You are the one who killed my parents!" Naruto screamed. "Forgive me if I don't give a damn about your feelings."

Kurama growled as he lowered himself to the ground, pressing his head against the bars. "Was it my fault that I was trapped inside your mother? Or Mito Uzumaki. Was it my fault that Madara Uchiha manipulated me using those damned cursed eyes? Was it my fault that I was captured by Hashirama Senju, along with the other tailed beasts? Who then decided to distribute us among the hidden villages in a naive attempt to bring about peace. No, the entire responsibility lies with you, humans!"

Naruto stared at the growling Kurama, taken aback by the fox's display of emotions. It was clear that there was a deeper story to it all, one Naruto had never considered from Kurama's point of view before.

"I've never heard your story before," Naruto said. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

Kurama turned his back on Naruto and lay down. "Not interested. I am going back to sleep so don't disturb me."

Naruto shrugged. It appeared that breaking down Kurama's barriers would take time. He moved away from the cage and summoned five shadow clones.

"What can we do for you, boss?"

"I need your help to speed up my training," Naruto said, smiling.

"Do you want to spar?" One of the clones asked.

"I had something else in mind."

He settled down on the ground. If he wanted his clones to assist him with his calligraphy, he needed to be able to create materials for them to use from his imagination. This was a simple task given how much work he had to do to refurbish his mindscape. He summoned paper, ink, and brushes and distributed them to his clones.

"I need your help to master calligraphy," Naruto explained. "I need not only to write flawless kanji but also to write it quickly. This will be your task for the foreseeable future."

"Boss!" The clones groaned in disappointment.

"I know," Naruto replied sympathetically. "But it needs to be done if I am going to learn fuinjutsu."

"What are you going to be doing?"

"Er…I will be experimenting. So, get to work!"

Naruto watched them for a few minutes to ensure they were doing the task correctly. Rather than starting from scratch, they began with his current level of proficiency. He thought the shadow clone jutsu was incredible.

When a shadow clone appeared, it turned out to be an exact copy of his essence. This encompassed his thoughts, memories, life experiences, and skills. If it weren't for the fact that they still relied on him to exist, they could pretty much live their own lives. It took a lot of chakra to summon a shadow clone, but they could exist indefinitely as long as they did not deplete all of the chakra that kept them alive. Additionally, if Naruto was ever incapacitated, or killed, it would cause the clones to disappear.

Naruto wasn't lying when he said he wanted to experiment. His goal was to see if his clones would continue to exist when he wasn't in his mindscape. He didn't think it was possible, given the unique characteristics of his mindscape. Nonetheless, he was curious and decided to give it a try. He emerged from his mindscape and returned to the real world, where he lay on his bed. He immediately returned to his mindscape and discovered his clones still there, working on their calligraphy.

Naruto grinned. The first part of his experiment was complete, but he wanted to try something else

"Hey, guys, I need one of you to pop when I leave my mindscape again. I want to find out if I receive your memories when we are separated by the different…er…dimensions?"

"Got it, boss!"

"Wait ten seconds after I leave before doing it."

Naruto exited his mindscape and waited. Unfortunately, he didn't receive any memories, even after waiting a full minute. It wasn't the end of the world; it just meant he would have to be in his mindscape to receive his clone's memories.

He considered using the skill to learn new jutsu but decided it would be impractical. Each clone possessed a finite amount of chakra, and as soon as they depleted it, they would disperse and would need to be replaced. If he wasn't there to receive the memories, then he would have spent the chakra for nothing.

Naruto decided to let the clones practise in their mindscape while he slept. He will find out the results of their efforts tomorrow. If everything went as planned, he would soon master calligraphy and begin learning fuinjutsu.

Naruto grunted when he felt a poke on his cheek. He blinked his eyes open to find Kushina standing by his bedside, staring down at him.

"I am hungry," Kushina said, rubbing her stomach.

She had already finished getting dressed, but her hair was tangled and sticking up in every direction.

"Okay," Naruto said, rubbing his face. "Just give me a moment and we will go get some breakfast."

Kushina smiled and ran off to put on her shoes. Naruto wasted no time and entered his mindscape. He expected the clones to be diligently practising calligraphy, but he was surprised to find them sprawled on the ground, peacefully napping.

Naruto's eyebrows twitched. "Wake up, lazy bones. I am not paying you to sleep the day away."

"You don't pay us anything," one of the clones responded.

"I don't want any lip from you. Why aren't you still practising?"

"It's boring!" The clones yelled in unison.

Naruto facepalmed. He should not have been surprised. After all, he had said before that these were intricate copies of himself, which meant they also inherited his behavioural traits. He had made substantial progress in other aspects of his training, but sitting down for long periods of time still proved to be a challenge. It's why he came up with this idea in the first place.

"Okay," Naruto said. "Let us expel one of you and see what happens after a night's work."

He was hesitant to expel all of the shadow clones at once because they had been active for about nine hours. The longer shadow clones remained, the more memories they accumulated, increasing the strain on his mind as he processed the information. Dismissing them all at once might be too much.

Naruto used a hand seal to dispel a clone. At that point, he was hit by a flood of memories, the majority of which involved practising kanji. Amidst these recollections, he absorbed fragments of memories in which the clones took great pleasure in mocking him. Could he scold them for simply being themselves, as they had learned from him?

He dispelled the remaining clones one by one. After only one night, he had learned a lot about how to write perfect kanji. However, relying solely on his clone's memories was insufficient; he needed to physically write the kanji himself. Nonetheless, the muscle memory he developed would allow him to reduce the amount of work he had to do on his own.

Before leaving his mindscape, he summoned another five shadow clones and instructed them to keep practising. Opening his eyes, he climbed out of bed and quickly dressed in his uniform. When he was ready, he joined Kushina outside the tent, and they proceeded to the communal area, where many shinobi were already eating breakfast.

"Naruto! Over here!" Ino called from where she was seated alongside the rest of the group. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro were seated there as well.

Naruto grabbed Kushina's hand and led her to the table, where she sat beside Hinata. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Miso ramen," Kushina said, her eyes lighting up.

"You have impeccable taste," Naruto said, grinning.

"Naruto, you can not keep feeding her ramen," Sakura said, exasperated. "She will end up a short little runt, just like yourself, with such an unhealthy diet."

"I have grown an inch since I left Konoha," Naruto proudly announced. "I am just a late bloomer."

"A very late bloomer," Ino mumbled.

Naruto ignored her comment. He entered the restaurant and ordered miso ramen for himself and Kushina. Unlike the food served outside, he had to pay for such a luxury, but he had more than enough Ryo after completing a few missions in the previous few days.

Returning to the table, he placed the bowl in front of Kushina and handed her a pair of chopsticks. She eagerly dug into her meal, slurping up the noodles, copying Naruto.

Shikamaru leaned over and whispered to him. "I still cannot believe you have a clone of your mother sitting at the table. Aren't you freaked out?"

"Shhhh," Naruto hissed quietly. "I don't want her to know."

"If you don't want her to know, then why don't you explain to me why Gaara has been glaring at me for the past couple of days?"

"Perhaps you are imagining it?"

Shikamaru turned to look at Gaara, who was seated further down the table and received a glare in response. He then returned his gaze to Naruto with a pointed expression.

Naruto nodded. "Okay, I see Gaara has some issues with you, but why do you think I have anything to do with that?"

"I know how troublesome you are, Naruto."

"Maybe it has something to do with the amount of time you are spending with his sister?"

"What?" Shikamaru looked terrified. "I am only twelve years old! I'm not thinking about getting a girlfriend."

"Yeah, you probably do not have anything to worry about," Naruto replied. "At least Gaara doesn't have any more homicidal tendencies anymore. Mother has been laid to rest."

"Troublesome."

"How is Lee doing, Neji?" Naruto asked, noticing the teen who had just arrived.

"It will take some time before we know if the surgery was successful," Neji informed him.

"At least he didn't die on the operating table," Tenten sighed.

Naruto had a feeling Lee would recover quickly and get back on his feet. He looked around at the other shinobi in the area and saw Anto sitting with the other Jonin. Anko's presence served as a reminder for him to speak with Sai to determine whether it was safe to keep him in the village.

"Can you stay with Hinata? I need to speak to Anko," Naruto asked.

Kushina nodded, and Naruto stood up from his seat and approached Anko's table. She looked up from the dango she was eating when she noticed the shadow cast over her.

"What do you want, Gaki?"

"Good to see you, too," Naruto said. "How is the interrogation going with Sai? Are you making any progress?"

"How am I supposed to progress if I'm not allowed to use any of my more interesting torture techniques? Jiraiya has a soft spot for the boy."

"Maybe Sai reminds Jiraiya of a younger Orochimaru when he wasn't so deranged."

Anko was so disgusted that she spat out her dango. "Why did you have to go and make that comparison?"

"I want to see him. I believe I might be able to get something out of him."

"You believe you can do something that I cannot?" Anko asked. "Care to put a wager on that?"

"The loser has to buy the winner ten servings of their favourite food."

"Deal!" Anko said quickly, thinking that she was about to get some free dango.

"Hello, Sai. That is a creepy expression on your face." Naruto joined Sai at the table and noticed that his arms were chained to it.

Sai remained silent, his face devoid of emotion. Naruto summoned his chains and fastened them around Sai's arm. Naruto could immediately sense that Sai had undergone the same training as the other members of Root, as his emotions were muted. However, the training hadn't fully taken effect in Sai's case.

They weren't as extreme as the other root operatives he had examined. Despite Sai's best efforts to hide it, Naruto's presence seemed to annoy him.

"Anko informed me of your lack of cooperation," Naruto explained. "Is there something specific you want that would make you more reasonable?"

Naruto was startled when the image of a picture book flashed through his mind. He looked at Sai suspiciously, wondering if the image he saw was related to the question he had just posed. If it was, then it marked a new development. He had never been able to receive projected images from his target's mind before.

Naruto got up from the table and walked over to the entrance. He opened the tent flap to speak with the Shinobi standing guard outside. "Did Sai bring anything with him when we came here?"

The Shinobi gave a nod of confirmation. "He kept his equipment and supplies in storage scrolls. They were confiscated as soon as we arrived here."

"May I see them?"

The shinobi hesitated. "You need Anko-sama's permission."

"I will allow it," Anko said as she appeared in front of them. "This better be worth it, gaki."

The Shinobi left to get Sai's equipment. When he returned, he handed the storage scrolls to Naruto. Anko followed him into the tent.

"Let us see what we have here," Naruto said, laying the scrolls on the table as Sai watched him closely.

Naruto began by opening the first storage scroll, which contained a collection of ninja tools. Moving on to the second scroll, he discovered clothing and an additional uniform. It wasn't until he finally opened the third scroll that something truly interesting caught his attention. Within it, he discovered a massive blank scroll similar to the one Jiraiya carried on his back. This scroll also had a compartment that held brushes and ink.

"Are you a fuinjutsu user?" Naruto asked.

"That's one of his abilities," Anko said. "However, the scroll is primarily used for something else. He uses his artistic abilities to perform a technique known as Super Beast Imitating Drawing. He can draw beasts and imbue them with chakra to bring them to life."

"Interesting," Naruto remarked.

He set aside the scroll and reached for the next one. To his relief, it contained precisely what he was looking for. As he opened it, he couldn't help but notice Sai's reaction—the sudden tension in his body as he stared at the picture book.

Naruto was about to open the book when Sai slammed his hands on the table. "Don't you dare open it?"

Anko raised her eyebrows at Sai's reaction and reached out to take the book from Naruto. He dodged her attempt because he knew what she would do. Giving the book to Anko would have been a huge mistake, as it could have turned Sai completely against them.

"You may have been a root operative, but your training appears to have been inadequate," Naruto said, setting the book on the table. "I hope that we can work together to help you overcome the effects of your mental conditioning and accept you as a valued member of our village."

Sai extended his hands, and the chains were slack enough for him to grab the book. He grabbed the book and couldn't prevent a smile from slipping out.

Naruto was on patrol for the village. His shadow clones made him an effective patrolman because they allowed him to cover a large area on his own. The mission had been uneventful and painfully tedious. As he finished for the day, he began making his way back to the village.

A week had passed, and Naruto was kept busy with training, missions, and looking after Kushina. He had made incredible progress on the final step of learning the Rasengan, but it remained frustratingly out of reach.

The third step was known as containment. This involved combining the first two steps to form a sphere of chakra in his palm. Mastery of this step required the ability to create a sphere of rotating chakra inside the balloon without it popping. However, accomplishing this proved to be extremely difficult because it required precise chakra control.

To aid in the third step, he dedicated himself to improving his chakra control. It paid off, as by the end of the week, he had mastered water walking, which was extremely beneficial to him.

Naruto had almost mastered calligraphy thanks to the diligent work of his shadow clones. He had perfected the brush strokes and was now working on increasing his speed. When he reached a certain level, he intended to begin learning fuinjutsu. Given the solid foundation he had laid, he expected to make quick progress.

The village was steadily progressing, thanks to the extensive work being done at the encampment.

After clearing out a large amount of debris, the encampment's size had expanded significantly, and they were already planning to construct some new buildings.

Naruto returned to the encampment and heard a commotion. He hastened to the source of the sound, wanting to investigate. It led him to the stairs, which he had used to get to the encampment the first day. He noticed Yusuke, the captain of the boat they had taken to get here, talking to Jiraiya, Hiashi, and Inoichi.

"What is happening?" Naruto asked.

"Yusuke has spotted a ship headed for the island," Jiraiya said grimly. "It is hoisting the flag of Kirigakure, our neighbours to the east."

"The Land of Mist?" Naruto asked. "Why would they travel to a seemingly empty island?"

"That is yet to be determined," Jiraiya replied.

So, what do you think? In the next chapter, the village must deal with the ship's arrival. Who could it be?

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Thanks for reading.