Kage Bunshin for Win

by kur3n41.ch4n

Naruto is aware of the memory return of clones. During the Wave mission, Naruto weakened the Eight Symbol Seal, allowing Kurama to communicate with him. Kurama — a vixen.

8. Tsunade and the Truth

"Naruto." — Direct speech.

"Naruto." — Thoughts.

*Slurp* — Sounds.

Good Morning. Good Afternoon. Good Evening. And Good Night. - The Author's words.

I added the story on AO3.

---

The day after the invasion. The Hokage's office. A somber scene with a mix of black attire and heavy hearts.

Naruto, clad entirely in black, stood before the Hokage's desk, a stark contrast to Jiraiya's usual vibrant getup beside him.

The Hokage himself, without his iconic hat, sat puffing on a pipe, the smoke seeming to carry the weight of his thoughts. He looked up, eyes meeting theirs, "I'm sorry to call you so soon after bidding farewell to the dead, but I have a rather important mission for you two."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "A mission for the two of us? Are you sure it's okay to send me off with Ero-sennin here? What about Team 7?"

"Kakashi has his own mission, Sasuke and Sakura are assisting with the village's repairs," the Hokage explained.

"So, what's the mission?" Jiraiya chimed in, his tone breezy as if he were talking about choosing ramen toppings rather than a potentially perilous task.

The Hokage took a long, reflective pause, the silence only broken by the occasional puff of his pipe. Finally, he said, "During the battle with Orochimaru, it finally struck me – I'm not getting any younger. I had hoped to keep this chair warm for another decade, but with all the looming threats... from Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Amegakure, and bands of rogue ninjas, it's clear we need fresh and young heads."

Another dramatic pause had Naruto exchanging worried glances with Jiraiya, whose smirk had slipped slightly.

"Konoha needs a strong leader, not an old-timer who struggles to punish his own student. That's why I want you to find and bring back Tsunade, the Slug Sannin, as a candidate for the next Hokage."

Naruto's eyes bulged, he met Jiraiya's eyes again, who had the same wide eyes.

"If she declines, perhaps one of you – or Kakashi – could take up the hat."

Jiraiya straightened, his expression serious, "I'm about as fit to be Hokage as a frog is to be a snake charmer. But hey…" He grinned while looking at Naruto, "I can make one more for you. You've always wanted the job, right?"

Naruto's response was a nervous nod, his excitement barely contained, evident from his quivering hands.

The Hokage chuckled, "Hold your horses, young man. Tsunade and Kakashi might still say yes. And for now…" He leaned over, pulling a chūnin vest from a drawer.

"Though the chūnin exam was cut short before your battle was over, what you showed in your clash with Gaara and during the invasion spoke volumes. Courage, perception, effectiveness – these are the qualities that I strongly value in my chūnin. I saw all three at your performance yesterday," he paused briefly to smile at the happy expression on the former genin's face. "Uzumaki Naruto, I hereby promote you to chūnin. Take a vest."

"Hahaha, that's one step closer to Hokage, believe it!" Naruto beamed as he took the vest, inspecting it like it was a treasure map leading to his dreams. He then paused, his smile locked on whiskered face. The vest vanished from sight into the seal as he mused, "Guess I'll need new clothes to go with this vest…" He then turned back with a more serious expression, "What about those who missed their shot at the exam because of the invasion?"

"Unfortunately, even though they have fulfilled their part in protecting Konoha, I cannot promote them without the final stage of the exam," the Hokage explained. "I plan to hold the last stage of the exam again in a month." Naruto nodded, accepting the rationale as the Hokage continued, "You're dismissed. Prepare to leave in search of Tsunade tomorrow."

"Hai!"

Jiraiya and Naruto both exited the Hokage's office with their usual flair, leaping out the window. Jiraiya dashed off in his signature direction – presumably towards the nearest hot spring or bar, while Naruto made a beeline for the Hyūga estate. Despite his flourishing relationship with Hinata, this was uncharted territory for him; she had always requested him not to come. But today was different – today he had an appointment with her father, kind of.

As Naruto approached the entrance, he saw Hinata's unmistakable dark blue hair. She was accompanied by a taller boy and an even taller man. It was a family outing – Hinata with her father and cousin, and a little girl trailing behind, gripping her father's hand. All dressed in black, they seemed to be returning from a funeral.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out cheerfully.

Hinata, caught off guard, jumped comically, as if she'd been zapped by an electric jutsu, whirling around to face Naruto with a blush spreading across her face. She looked at her father, who was looking at Naruto with a serious look on his face, and swallowed a little bit.

With a grin plastered on his face, Naruto approached them and bowed slightly, "Uzumaki Naruto, I am proud to be the boyfriend of your daughter," he said.

Hinata seemed to shrink a bit, mentally preparing herself for the aftermath of Naruto's less-than-traditional introduction.

"I've heard a lot about you, Naruto-san," Hiashi politely replied, maintaining his composure.

Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head, "That's great to hear! Hinata doesn't mention you much, but when she does, it's always respectful and... very fatherly."

"And what brings you to our doorstep today?" Hiashi inquired with his eyebrow raised.

"Hehe, actually two things. One was a promise to Hinata-chan to meet you, and the other is that I'm off on a mission for an unknown length of time. I thought I'd pop by for a little goodbye and maybe sneak in one last date with her before I leave," Naruto explained with a hopeful smile.

Hiashi's expression tightened slightly, "I take it, you're not here to ask me if Hinata can join you on the date or not? I've noticed young men these days overlook a father's feelings about his daughter."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit and he quickly waved his hand in front of him, "It just took me a while to work up the courage to meet you!" He calmed down and scratched his nogging, "But here I am. And I'm asking you now, can Hinata-chan go on a date with me today?"

As Hiashi turned his gaze towards Hinata, her cheeks reddened further, but she held his gaze steadily.

After a brief moment, Hiashi looked over to Neji, who sported a knowing smile, and Hanabi, who seemed quite intrigued by Naruto, "It seems my children are all somewhat enchanted by Naruto." Turning back to Naruto, he smiled a little, "Alright, you may take her. Please ensure she's back before night."

Naruto's smile stretched even wider as he bowed again, "Of course! She'll be safer with me, than with Hokage-jiji himself! Believe it!"

With a swift gesture, Naruto took Hinata's hand, and they vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving Hiashi, Neji, and Hanabi watching the spot where they had stood.

Two streets away from the Hyūga district.

Hinata abruptly stopped their Shunshin, pinned Naruto against a wall, and kissed him fervently. Naruto felt a tongue on his lips and opened his mouth slightly to feel her tongue exploring his mouth. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her a little closer to him. After a minute of the most passionate kiss they had ever had, Hinata pulled away from Naruto with her eyes half closed.

Naruto chuckled a little, still holding her close to him, "I take it you're pleased with my performance earlier?"

Hinata let out a breath and rested her head on his shoulder, "I have been worried about your meeting for such a long time. I wanted to teach you how to address him, how to bow, what to say..." She took another deep breath, catching faint smell of ramen and foxes, and looked up into his blue eyes, "You said you were leaving Konoha tomorrow? Has Team 7 been assigned a mission already?"

"Nope, it's just me and Ero-sennin on this one."

"Who?" Hinata's eyes narrowed dangerously at the mention of 'Ero-sennin', as she tightened her grip around his neck.

"What a cute face... She looks even prettier when she's mad." Naruto blushed and pecked her on the lips,"Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin. Don't worry, he's mostly harmless, unless there's a hot spring nearby." Hinata's eyes widened and he smiled, "Let's go to Ichiraku and I'll tell you everything that has happened in the past month."

The next morning.

Naruto was strolling along the familiar streets, taking his time, looking at the houses and the people around him. Just two days after the invasion, the streets are buzzing again, full of life and activity.

When Naruto reached the main gate of Konoha, he spotted Jiraiya immediately. Sakura was standing next to him. She was smiling as she listened to some of Jiraiya's words. Sasuke was simply listening with a calm expression.

They noticed him when he came a little closer to them. Sakura turned to him with a worried face, "So, you are going on a mission already? Right after the invasion?"

"Don't you have any missions too?"

"Our missions are within the village, Naruto," Sasuke said, looking at Naruto with his usual coolness.

Naruto just smiled in response, "I've been promoted to Chūnin." Sakura and Sasuke were pretty struck by this news, "I guess I did pretty well on the exam. I'm not trying to brag though. We'll be working with different teams on different missions. We'll be working together, but not as often as usual, so this mission is just a starting point."

Sakura lowered her head to the ground and Naruto felt an uncontrollable urge to stroke her head, but held back.

"I'm going to miss you," Sakura said in a sad voice with a tone that made Naruto's insides twist and almost explode.

"Ah, I can't resist it…"

With a gentle hesitation, he raised his hand and softly placed it atop her head. Sakura stiffened momentarily, surprised by the gesture, yet she didn't shrug him off. Instead, she allowed him to run his fingers lightly through her hair, finding comfort in the simple act, "Hokage-jiji will definitely try to send us on missions together, but it will be easier for him if you are also chūnin. Also, he said that after a month or so, he can re-do the third stage of the exam, so you won't have to wait another year. Just do your best, okay?" Turning his gaze to Sasuke, he smirked, "That goes for you too."

Sasuke's face didn't change, as if thinking something over. Sakura raised her head and Naruto lowered his hand down. He noticed her slightly wet eyes, but didn't say anything else, just smiling widely. Seeing his infectious grin, Sakura couldn't help but return a gesture.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's time for us to go," Jiraiya interjected with his own small smile, seeming to remember something pleasant.

Naruto nodded and waved goodbye to Sakura and Sasuke before disappearing into a swirl of leaves.

A few hours later. Unknown trope.

"I really can't practice something on the go..?"

Jiraiya scratched his head, "The Rasengan would be perfect to train on the go, but you learned it in a day. You can't practice taijutsu on the go. Fuinjutsu... Well, we can discuss sealing arrays, but not for long, it makes me sleepy."

"What about ninjutsu?"

"And what about ninjutsu? What should I teach you? Water Dragon? You already have a great stock of techniques, develop them. Maybe try adding Nature Transformation into some kind of technique or something else."

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei already told me about it. Few of my jutsu use Nature and Form Transformation."

"And they can be considered an A-rank technique only because of this."

"Can you add wind chakra to the Rasengan? Or water?"

Jiraiya chuckled a bit, "The Fourth Hokage has been trying to do this for a long time. Didn't have enough."

"Enough of what?"

"Time." Jiraiya looked at Naruto as he continued, "You can try, with clones it might even work... But first let's examine your seals."

"Let's do both at the same time."

Next to Naruto appeared five clones that began to walk alongside them at a short distance and create Rasengans.

"Whatever. Show the seals."

Naruto held his hand up in front of him and his index finger began to shoot symbols straight into the air, "This is all I have. I copied quite a bit from Summoning jutsu, but the rest are completely Kyūbi's ideas and mine. Several different seals that need to be combined into one array, Kyūbi said when I succeed, I will be able to teleport."

"You know that Summoning jutsu is not a fuinjutsu, right?"

"…Really?"

"Yup. Actually, Flying Thunder God, which you are trying to recreate so much, is ninjutsu, too."

"They use seals though… Wait… I actually meant to ask - are hand seals some form of fuinjutsu?"

"You could say so…" Jiraiya smiled but not elaborated further, noticing thoughtful expression on his blond student.

"Elemental ninjutsu needs Nature Transformation to actually work, but I could use the Great Breakthrough before learning how to transform chakra into wind…"

Jiraiya watched Naruto with a light expression, but after few minutes of silence, noticed a seal, that was still floating in front of them and examined it further, "Hey, what does this part do?"

"What?" Naruto snapped from his thoughts and looked at the seal, "Oh, it's a synchronizing element. I already tested it, it works. If you give chakra to one, the other instantly reacts to it."

"Is there…"

"No, there is no delay."

"How?"

"Hmm... Kyūbi helped me with this. She used a lot of scientific words while explaining to me how physics and black holes work," at Jiraiya's dumbfounded look he chuckled, "Yeah, I still don't know what it is either."

"Because you are a stupid donut," Kurama voiced her honest opinion.

"Donut? Really?" Naruto sighed and continued, "But the fact remains - the signal is instantaneous. The transport element is right here," he pointed at the part of the seal on his right, "Copied from Summoning Jutsu. Simple but effective. And these are beacons. They also memorize my chakra so no one else can interact with them. How to distinguish between several seals..? Different chakra imprints in beacons. Yes, it is difficult to navigate, but it is possible. Hahaha, what, having a headache? I also felt pain when Kyūbi explained all this to me. And this is my seal for absorbing enemy jutsu. Hahaha, yes! Even if it's an S-class technique, the seal should absorb chakra and destroy its integrity. But I've messed with the array, so I can't demonstrate it yet. What to show you next..?"

Three weeks later. Tanzakugai.

Naruto was walking through a big beautiful city. Jiraiya once again left him alone. But he was not upset, it seems that some kind of festival was held in this city.

He looked around the counters and quickly felt hunger, so he decided to buy himself a small treat. Cinnamon rolls with some interesting pink and green coating.

"Hehe, Hinata-chan would love this city. So many different kinds of cinnamon rolls."

"In front of you is a shinobi. Pretty strong."

"Yeah, I know." Naruto threw down the stick with the rest of the cinnamon rolls in his mouth and looked ahead. He saw a woman with dark hair and a piggy in her arms, and a woman with blond hair, a large bust and a bottle of sake in her hand.

"Tsunade-sama, you shouldn't drink anymore..." Said the brunette with a piggy to the blonde.

"Well, she falls under Ero-sennin's description. Especially the chest size..." Naruto stood right in front of them, drawing their attention, "Yo! So… Are you a pedophile like Orochimaru, or a pervert like Jiraiya?"

Before he could process her actions, she kicked him in the stomach with such force that he thought cinnamon rolls that he just ate would spill out. Having flown several tens of feet to the wall of the house, he, miraculously, did not crash into a single person and slammed into the wall with a dull thud.

"Did you have to start the conversation like that?" Kurama's voice rang out, the note of entertainment was audible in it.

"Hehehe, it was worth it," Naruto got to his feet and saw the people running away from him in different directions.

"You little shit! Don't slander the great Sannin!" A woman next to Tsunade exclaimed.

"No, he's right about them. He got hit for comparing me to them," said Tsunade, tilting the sake bottle and realizing that it was empty, "Eh, why isn't there a bottle of infinite sake..?"

"Hahaha, you are the second person to ask me this! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you!" Naruto approached them, but Tsunade ignored him as she looked around the establishments.

Noticing the bar, she headed inside, the woman with the pig not far behind her.

Naruto sighed and also walked into the bar that was oozing with alcohol, "Hey, Tsunade-baachan."

"…Do you have a death wish?"

"I came here with Jiraiya."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes on him and sat down in the seat next to the woman with the pig, "I don't care."

"Huh? Aren't you glad to see your favorite teammate?" Suddenly, a voice came from behind Tsunade and she sighed, "Great job Naruto. Found them faster than me."

Jiraiya sat down across from Tsunade, pushing Naruto further down the bench.

"Why were you looking for me?" Tsunade's voice was laced with irritation.

"A mission from Sarutobi-sensei. We were tasked to bring you back to Konoha," Jiraiya turned to the waiter and ordered sake with a snack for himself and juice for Naruto.

Tsunade repeated his order for herself, and the juice for piggy girl, "…Why?"

"He offers you to become the Fifth Hokage. Not immediately, first he will finish his affairs... But in about a year..." Jiraiya's words were cut off with Tsunade's voice.

"No."

Jiraiya and Naruto watched as Tsunade took her sake from the waiter and drank it straight from the bottle. Neither of them said a word.

"Why would I want this stupid job? Being Hokage is a shit."

Everyone at the table noticed Naruto's eye twitching, but no one commented.

"You've changed Tsunade," Jiraiya took his own bottle of sake and poured some in his cup.

"Well, I'm already over fifty. People tend to change."

Naruto took in a chest full of air and let out a rather loud breath, "So none of the three sannin have even reached the level of their teacher."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him while Jiraiya silently drank his cup of sake.

"I hoped that at least the granddaughter of the First would be better than these two, but in vain. You're even worse than Jiraiya."

"Who could be worse than this pervert..."

"An old alcoholic who abandoned her village, spitting on the legacy of her predecessors." Naruto didn't raise his voice, but everyone could feel that he was barely holding back from shouting at the entire pub. "You're nothing but a coward."

Tsunade squeezed the bottle in her hand and drank some more sake, "A new student, but as annoying as the previous one. I'm beginning to think that's the only thing you're teaching them, Jiraiya."

"Hohoho, my training methods are the best in the world! Even though Naruto doesn't know the full story, he is right. You need to stop living with doubts and return to Konoha. The village is waiting for the return of its princess."

Shizune turned to Tsunade with a sad expression on her face. Said sannin just gulped another shot of sake and just stared at the bottle for a while.

"You don't have to become Hokage, Tsunade," Jiraiya tried to negotiate, drawing Tsunade's attention, "Sarutobi-sensei is still alive and quite energetic, but he worries about the future. At least come back as the head of the medical department." He sighed when Tsunade didn't answer him, and turned to Naruto, "Okay, enough about business. I am tired. How's your training going?"

Naruto took the salted fish that Jiraiya had ordered from the table and ate it, "Terrible. Worse than I expected. Although there is some progress, if I can create more clones, I think I can figure it out much faster."

Shizune looked at Naruto with great interest, "Clones?"

Naruto glanced at her and then at Tsunade, "If we can talk in private, I'll tell you, but the old lady can get lost." He lowered his right eyelid with his middle finger and stuck his tongue out as Tsunade narrowed her eyes again.

Jiraiya lightly smacked him on the back of the head, "Too much, kid. You can brag to them a little."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, and suddenly a clone appeared next to him. Shizune's eyes widened slightly; Naruto hadn't made any hand seals, and there was almost no smoke around the clone. Tsunade simply led the clone to the counter with her eyes, where he ordered something for himself and waited for it to be brought to him.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. You create several thousand of these and learn the taijutsu stances quite easily, or study fuinjutsu, or learn ninjutsu. For example, Rasengan. Or rather, transforming the nature of chakra for Rasengan."

Now even Tsunade's eyes widened, and she looked at Jiraiya, who simply shrugged and drank a glass of sake, "Several thousand clones? Is it his Uzumaki genes or Kyūbi? Maybe both…"

"Even the Fourth couldn't add Nature Transformation to Rasengan…" Tsunade said, now looking at Naruto.

Naruto took a plate with some more fish from his clone and dispelled him, "I was already able to add Nature Transformation to several of my techniques. I feel that I can do it with the Rasengan. I just need more time."

A droplet of sweat dripped from Shizune's temple, "Naruto-kun, how old are you?"

"Thirteen."

Tsunade smiled as she turned to Jiraiya, "Another monster, huh? Why don't you make him Hokage if he is so righteous? Or is he only so right in words, but in practice, he only pisses himself?"

Naruto twitched, "I will become Hokage. I'm not ready yet, but I will one day. You'll see, baachan."

Jiraiya smirked, "He's the next candidate after you and Kakashi."

"When are you going back to Konoha?" Asked Tsunade with a boring tone.

"We have no mission terms. If you categorically refuse to return to Konoha, then we can return even tomorrow. Today I want to… rest." Jiraiya drew out the word 'rest' as he looked at a nearby table where several young girls were giggling with each other.

Tsunade sighed, "Tomorrow we will meet near the west entrance of the city, and I will tell you my final answer. Give me the brat for the rest of the day."

Naruto shuddered, "She is a pedophile after all…" He heard loud laugh in his head and smiled in delight.

Jiraiya shrugged and got up from the table, "See you tomorrow, Naruto. If they lead you into the forest to get you lost or molest, don't forget to use the toads." Immediately after these words, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade looked into Naruto's eyes and continued to drink, while Naruto and Shizune waited for what the sannin wanted next.

"So, you're a ninjutsu expert?" She suddenly asked.

"Ninjutsu, taijutsu, fuinjutsu. And some genjutsu, too, for fun."

"Not interested in Iryō ninjutsu?" Shizune turned to Tsunade in surprise at her question, but remained silent.

"I wanted to learn some techniques. I even had my clones read a few books on human anatomy."

Silence fell over the table again, broken only by the sound of Naruto chewing on the salted fish.

"I can teach you the basics of the Mystical Palm technique. Do you know what it is?"

"Yes, but why would you do that?"

Tsunade poured the last drops from the sake bottle into Jiraiya's glass. "Why do you think you were sent on this mission with Jiraiya? You're a genin, aren't you?"

"Chūnin. I don't know, though."

"The Hokage and Jiraiya are quite manipulative people. They know how to influence me." She looked at Naruto, drank the rest of the sake, and got up from the table. "Shizune, please pay the bill and then find us at the nearest hotel. And you, brat," pointing her finger at Naruto she smirked seeing him twitch a little, "Follow me."

Tanzakugai Streets.

Naruto followed Tsunade through the crowded streets, even though the sun had already set. Festival seemingly intensified at night time.

They walked a few blocks and turned into an aquarium fish shop. Tsunade purchased two rather large live fish, an aquarium that Naruto carried, some fish food and minerals for the water.

At the hotel, Tsunade took a room with two beds. Naruto helped her set up the aquarium, pouring minerals into the water and releasing the fish.

"Mystical Palm is a technique that requires very high levels of chakra control," said Tsunade, sitting on the bed and gesturing for Naruto to sit on the bed across from her. "Its essence is to direct the flow of chakra into the wound and speed up the body's natural regeneration. If you direct too little, nothing will happen. Too much, and you can put the body into a comatose state or cause permanent damage. To demonstrate…"

Naruto's eyes widened as she reached for the fish tank. He jumped up, blocking her, "Noooo! Don't touch O-kun and A-kun!"

Tsunade deadpanned at this reaction, "When did you manage to name them? Anyway, I need a wound to demonstrate the effect of the technique."

That was the wrong thing to say in front of Naruto. He instantly summoned a kunai from the seal and struck his palm with it.

Tsunade's eyes widened when she saw the blood seeping from his wound. She clenched her fist and bonked him over the top of his head, "Idiot! Why are you injuring yourself?!"

Not even flinching in pain, Naruto looked her in the eyes, "Now you have a wound to demonstrate the technique."

Tsunade exhaled heavily and sat on the bed, trying to calm the shaking in her hands, "Give me your hand." Naruto sat down next to her and held out his actively bleeding hand.

Tsunade placed her hand over his palm, and a blue light appeared around it. Naruto watched with interest as his wound closed rapidly; within a few seconds, it was completely healed. Tsunade didn't seem to notice because her hands were still glowing with a faint blue light. Naruto felt a little worried about her potentially putting his body into a comatose state, but he was more concerned with Tsunade's shaking hands. Looking at her face, he noticed that she had closed her eyes.

"Hmm... Looks like she's afraid of blood," he heard a voice in his head.

"Afraid of blood? Are you serious?"

"Hemophobia. Wipe the blood off your hand with something so she can't see it, and she'll calm down."

"Medic, but afraid of blood... Weird." Naruto took out a clean rag from the seal on his arm and wiped his hand clean before sealing it back. "Hey, the wound is already healed, stop shining the blue light, you're going to put me into a comatose state."

Tsunade opened her eyes and saw that his hand was completely clean, as if there was no injury from the beginning. Stopping the flow of chakra, she sighed lightly, "The chakra you use to heal wounds must be converted into the Yang chakra. Have you ever dealt with the Yang element?"

"Can't say I had."

Tsunade hummed and nodded slightly, "If you can add to the techniques the Nature Transformation, your chakra control must be pretty high?"

Suddenly Naruto lifted his nose up with a cheeky grin, "It's my pride! I can already use Nature Transformation of Wind and Water in perfection. Since I have several Earth techniques, I thought about studying Earth Transformation as well, but I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"How much do you know about the Yang release?"

"Well… It's opposite to Yin, obviously. If Yin stands for the spiritual energy inside a person, then Yang stands for the physical. When we mold chakra for techniques, we mix physical and spiritual energy inside in equal proportions. But for genjutsu you need to add more spiritual energy than physical, which I personally found strange, as chakra needs to be balanced to actually use ninjutsu…" Naruto fell silent for a moment and Tsunade raised a brow.

After a moment she coughed and nodded at him, "That's pretty much right. The Yang release is the vitality and life force of a person. It is mostly used in medical techniques, but some find use for it in a fight. Akimichi is a great example."

"Oh, jutsu that makes them big, right?"

"Yes," Tsunade just stared at Naruto for a few seconds again without saying anything. "I will tell you the hand seals for the technique, and you try to use it on the fish."

"What?! What if I do it wrong?!"

"They will die. Don't worry, if you really have as much chakra control as you claim, you won't have any problems."

"What about the Yang Release? I never actually used it…"

"That's what hand seals are for," simply answered Tsunade, but that threw Naruto for a loop.

"Wait, what?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but repeated, "That's what hand seals are for. What's wrong?"

"That's what hand seals are for, huh?"

"Brat, are you here?" Tsunade snapped her fingers loudly and Naruto turned to her.

He remembered his pressing problem and scrunched up his face, "Maybe I'll just cut my leg..?"

"And risk putting yourself into a comatose state? It's just a fish. Do it." She showed him the required hand seals, which he remembered, and pointed at the bluish fish in the aquarium.

Naruto felt a lump in his throat and took Oh-kun out of the fish tank, "Sorry Oh-kun." Summoning a kunai, he made a small cut between his scales and sealed the kunai. After making the seal that Tsunade showed him, he raised his hand, which glowed blue, to the fish.

Suddenly, Tsunade placed her palms on his, and they too started glowing with a blue light. "Too little chakra. Increase the flow," she instructed. Naruto listened and heightened his chakra flow. "Stop. Yes. Keep it at this level. Try to stabilize the flow; do not change the chakra level and feel the Yang release. Concentrate."

Naruto watched with stars in his eyes as the wound on Oh-kun's abdomen healed. When Tsunade told him to cease the technique, he quickly released the fish back into the water where it resumed swimming.

"I did it!" Naruto exclaimed, hopping around the room with joy.

"Not quite," Tsunade replied as she settled back onto the bed. "You have excellent chakra control; the flow of chakra is almost constant. But you need to learn how much chakra to channel into a wound."

"How can I do that..?"

"Mainly through practice. And studying medical literature."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "It's going to be hard to practice with clones…"

"You can use clones to practice the stability of the chakra flow and make them study literature. But if you want to practice the technique on wounds... You'll have to catch a lot of fish."

"That's more than enough," Naruto smiled. "If you can learn it without clones, so can I. Errm, no, I'd rather make them study literature…"

Tsunade smiled faintly as Naruto formed hand seals and created a blue light around his hands. He gazed at the pleasant glow, "So I can use a release I didn't learn by making hand seals." Playing with the light he hummed a little, "I need to look into it later."

"So you want to be Hokage, eh?"

Naruto looked up at her, dispelling the Mystical Palm no Jutsu with a wide smile, "Of course! It's been my dream since childhood!"

"And you're not afraid?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you understand the responsibilities of a Hokage? What does it take to lead a village?" Tsunade locked eyes with Naruto, "Do you think you know what it's like?"

Naruto tilted his head, his smile wavering for a moment, "Of course not. How could I? I'm only a chūnin," he said with a tone that could make anyone feel foolish, then grinned widely again. "I don't know everything, baachan, but I'm not afraid. Becoming Hokage has always been my goal, and as time goes by, I'm more eager than ever to achieve it."

The door suddenly swung open, and Shizune entered the room, "Huh, did you buy fish..?" Naruto folded the seals with a smile and channeled a steady stream of chakra into his hand, making it glow blue. Shizune's eyes widened, "What? You can already use Mystical Palm?! But how?"

"If the foundation of the technique is chakra control, it's not too difficult," Naruto explained with a smile. "I've been training chakra control for most of my time being genin. It's a bit trickier than the Rasengan, but the main challenge for me is determining the right amount of chakra to direct, not controlling it."

Tsunade rubbed her temples and groaned softly, "That's enough; I need to sleep. Get out, brat. Do you have money for a room?"

Naruto nodded and dashed to the door, "Thanks for your help, baachan!"

Shizune closed the door behind him, murmuring, "Wow, what a potential…"

Tsunade removed her outer clothes and shoes, slipping into bed. Turning to Shizune, who was also getting ready for bed, she asked, "Do you want to go back?"

Shizune smiled a little sadly, "I'd be glad; after all, it's been so long since I've seen my class and teammates... But I'll stay with you, Tsunade-sama. That's more important to me."

The next day.

"So, I have to redo the seal to absorb enemy techniques completely? From scratch?!" Naruto exclaimed inwardly as his eyes scanned the massive seal floating in the air before him.

"It won't work even if you rearrange all the elements. You chose the wrong core; now rebuild everything from the ground up. The seal must store chakra within it, and the core must be the strongest element of the seal," answered Kurama.

Naruto allowed the array to disintegrate, noticing the onlookers gazing at him as though he was a street magician.

"Hey Naruto, entertaining the locals?" Jiraiya emerged from around the corner with a broad smile.

"Tsunade and the piggy lady haven't shown up yet. I did not see whether they left the hotel. Do you think they'll come?"

Jiraiya settled beside him, "What do you think?"

"...I don't know." Naruto shifted his gaze from him to the cloudy sky, reflecting on the events of yesterday, "It's not polite to answer questions with questions, Ero-sennin. By the way, look at what Tsunade-baachan taught me."

After forming several hand seals, a blue light enveloped Naruto's hand, prompting a mischievous smile from Jiraiya, "Ohoho, wonderful! Medical ninjutsu is perfect for a support ninja like you." Chuckling at Naruto's twitch, he continued, "It could be helpful. Can you actually use it on wounds?"

"Not yet. I don't know how much chakra needs to be released for the wound to begin healing. Oh, but I have an idea!"

"Hmm?"

"I'll send as little chakra as possible into the wound and gradually increase the flow. When the wound shows signs of healing, I'll cease increasing the flow, and that's it!"

Suddenly, a woman's voice interrupted their small talk from Naruto's side, "Interesting idea. If you can discern when the wound starts to heal, of course. Will not work with internal wounds. But it also might take too long, and the patient may lose a lot of blood. You need to learn to quickly assess the wound's extent and estimate the necessary chakra to heal it." Naruto spotted Tonton, Shizune, and Tsunade and smiled. "But anyway, you've overcome the most challenging stage. Many doctors struggle with chakra control required for Mystical Palm."

"Oh, Tsunade! I thought you were really going to leave us!" Jiraiya exclaimed, rising to his feet. "So, have you made a decision?"

Tsunade nodded, her gaze shifting to Naruto, "I'll return, but not as the next Hokage. I'll take charge of Konoha's medical department. I'm not ready for the Hokage position yet…"

Jiraiya nodded, ruffling Naruto's hair with a proud grin. "Great job, Naruto!" Naruto chuckled, pushing his hand aside. "Let's get going then!"

As Tsunade and Jiraiya engaged in conversation, Shizune approached Naruto with a smile, "Tsunade-sama asked me to assist you with Mystical Palm. I have several books that would benefit your training. With your clones, you'll be able to practice treating wounds without risking the patient's health before we return to Konoha!"

Naruto smiled and nodded, "Thanks. Shizune-san, right?" She nodded in confirmation and began rummaging through her bag for the books. "Before that, what did you do with Oh-kun and A-kun?" At her confused face, Naruto clarified, referencing the fishes.

"Oh, the hotel relocated them to their most luxurious room and assured their care," Shizune replied with a smile.

On their path to Konoha.

"Hey, Naruto…" In the green and bright forest the little group of four shinobi and a swine traveled at slow speed. Attention of the group was on Jiraiya, who was walking next to Tsunade. "What was that technique that you used to destroy the barrier that Sound ninja raised?"

Attention swapped to a blonde boy who scratched his head with a cheerful smile, "Oh, I didn't tell you, did I? I named it Pervasive Waves. Cool, right?"

"Such a complex word, did someone help you?" Jiraiya asked nonchalantly.

Gritting his teeth and glaring at Toad Sannin, Naruto answered, "…Hinata-chan helped," at Jiraiya's smirk he exploded, "Hey! That doesn't mean anything!"

Tsunade and Shizune giggled at interaction, making Naruto turn red a little, "Who is Hinata?" Asked Shizune with a sly smile.

"Kiddo's little girlfriend," answered Jiraiya, though seeing looks on their faces change he added, "As much as I want to tease the sprout, I need to hear about this jutsu."

Attention returned to red Naruto, "A-Ahem… Well… It's a fuinjutsu that allows the user to destroy chakra constructs and ordinary physical objects by creating chakra waves of various frequencies. They vibrate the molecules and atoms of the object, destroying it."

Two sannins and Shizune turned blank-faced at his words. Exchanging small glances with Jiraiya, Tsunade asked the smaller blond, "Weaknesses and restrictions?"

"Hmm… If the chakra wave is weaker than the chakra of the object, or…" Stopping for a moment he looked at the ground, "Shit, I forgot."

"Bond between the electron shells of atoms," a soft voice sounded in his head, making him smile.

"…or weaker than the bond between electron shells of atoms, then the object could withstand the jutsu." All three adults raised an eyebrow at pause and pretty scientific, for Naruto, answer. "As for restrictions, I can't put too much chakra into the seal, the core can't hold it all in. And waves die off quickly as the distance between them and the seal furthers."

"Can you demonstrate?" Asked Jiraiya, pointing at the tree. Group halted and watched Naruto with curiosity.

"Sure." Walking closer to the tree, Naruto pointed his hand at it.

Shizune watched as he almost touched a tree, when blue symbols started showing on his hand and extended a little to the sides. Not even a moment later she noticed that tree started creaking and in the blink of an eye it broke at the place where Naruto pointed. Around five feet in girth, destroyed in a moment.

Tsunade whistled at the sight of the falling tree, "That's some scary jutsu you have, kid."

"Even more so, when you know that it could destroy the Four Violet Flames Barrier," added Jiraiya, while examining the spot where the tree snapped in two.

Shizune's eyes widened even more, while Tsunade just sighed and put Naruto in one hand headlock, "Enough of that, better tell me something about that 'Hinata-chan' of yours."

Rest of the trip Naruto was extremely embarrassed, but happy to talk about his girlfriend.

A week later. Konohagakure no Sato. Hokage's office.

The Hokage was sitting at his desk as usual with a lot of papers in front of him when a knock on his door disturbed his usual routine. Fiddling with a few documents, he straightened his back and shouted, "Come in."

The door opened and he saw Tsunade and Shizune enter his office. A smile appeared on the Hokage's face as he got up from his chair, throwing documents in his hands in the trash, "Tsunade! How nice to see you!"

Tsunade walked over to Hiruzen as he left the table and hugged him, "Feeling is mutual, sensei."

Hiruzen noticed how Naruto and Shizune entered the office and moved away from Tsunade. Nodding in Naruto's direction, he praised him, "Good job Naruto-kun. You exceeded my expectations… Unlike Jiraiya. Is he at least in Konoha?" He added the last part after not noticing the presence of his other student.

"Yeah, he said he went to collect material for his book." He clicked his tongue with an irritated expression, "We would get here a few days earlier if not for his 'research'."

The Hokage sighed and returned to his chair while Tsunade walked over to the table with a serious face, "I'll take the position of Head Med., but as for the Hokage…"

Hiruzen waved his hand with a warm smile, cutting off her words, "The important thing is that you're here, we'll deal with the rest later." Turning to the bored looking blond he smiled, "Naruto-kun, if you don't mind, I would like to reminisce about the past years with my student."

Naruto nodded and disappeared into a swirl of leaves, leaving only Tsunade, Hiruzen, and Shizune in the room. Oh, and the pig too.

Naruto found himself on the Monument of Hokage surveying Konoha from the Fourth Hokage's head, "I need to find Hinata-chan… And Anko-sensei. Sasuke and Sakura should probably be told that I'm back too." Suddenly, his eyes widened and he grabbed his head, "Karin-chan! I completely forgot about her! Where is she now!?"

"Hahaha, right here."

Naruto quickly turned around to see Karin in a light purple kimono breathing heavily and smiling widely, "Wha- Karin-chan? How did you end up here?"

Karin took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, "I sensed your chakra in the Hokage residence and ran there just as you ran here at great speed," she pouted a little "You're too fast…"

"I'm sorry about that... And for forgetting about you! With this invasion and the urgent mission from the Hokage, I completely forgot to check on you…"

Karin chuckled , "It's okay, Hinata-chan introduced me to her friends so I didn't feel lonely."

"Oh… That's great! Then maybe we'll find Hinata-chan and go somewhere, the three of us? I wonder how you adjusted to life in Konoha."

Adjusting her kimono, she nodded with a smile, "I do not mind. If we don't run like a second ago…"

Naruto laughed and held out his hand to her, "I'll use Shunshin to not waste any time."

Karin took his hand and felt how he lifted her from the ground, holding her in his hands. She blushed heavily, but before she could question him, he ran towards Hyūga Estate with incredible speed. She only saw blurry footage around her and a second later it was over and she was standing in front of the great dark blue gates with her hand still in Naruto's. She was still blushing but managed to let go of his hand, "Didn't think you'd take me in your arms…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Shunshin no Jutsu is a simple body acceleration, so the only way to carry someone with you is to pick them up."

"Oh... I didn't know how this technique works." Looking at the gates that were in front of them, she turned to Naruto, "And now what? Shall we knock?"

"Dunno. I'm also trying to get inside for the first time." Suddenly stopping he snorted, "Well, if you don't count that one time in the academy…"

"Aren't you her boyfriend?" At his nod she tilted her head to the side, "And you have never been to her house? How long have you been dating?"

"A little over six months." Naruto walked up to the large gate and knocked on it several times.

For a few seconds they just waited to see what would happen, and eventually the gate slowly opened. Two shinobi with white eyes, the main feature of the Hyūga clan, came out to them.

"Yo. We would like to see Hinata," said Naruto with a smile.

The shinobi looked at each other for a moment before one of them went inside and the other closed the gate behind him, "Wait here, he went to announce your arrival."

Naruto nodded and turned to Karin, "So… How are you feeling in Konoha?"

"Just great! I was registered in the genin register to find me a team and jonin-sensei, but for now I just receive a minimal stipend and live in an apartment given to me by the Hokage. Soon they should start sending me on missions…"

"Is the minimum stipend enough for everything?"

"Yep, enough for food, utilities and clothes. The difference from Kusagakure is just colossal, Konoha is so much bigger, more developed and brighter that it's just ridiculous!"

"Hahaha, I'm happy for you," Looking around, Naruto sighed when he did not find anything to sit on. "Did you say you met Hinata-chan's friends?"

"Yes. Ino, Sakura and Tenten-chan. They all took care of me and helped me to adjust…"

"Once again, I'm sorry I wasn't around. It was my idea in the first place…"

"And it was a great idea!" Karin exclaimed with a smile. Looking deep into Naruto's eyes she smiled even wider, "Thank you, Naruto."

The large gate suddenly opened and Hinata quickly ran out from the estate in her usual attire, "Naruto-kun! You're back!"

Naruto opened his arms wide and pulled Hinata into a hug, "Missed me?"

Hinata nodded and turned to Karin, "Hello Karin-chan. Did you two come together?"

"Naruto wanted to take a walk together and make up for the last month and a half." Seeing how close they are, Karin scratched her cheek, "Maybe I should go home…"

"Nonsense," Naruto and Hinata said simultaneously, making Karin sweatdrop.

Hinata took Naruto's slightly larger palm in hers and smiled, "Where shall we go?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head with his free hand, "Well, we have many options… Going on a picnic at the Hokage Monument; walking along the main street of Konoha, there is always something to do for fun; arranging a small workout, physical activity bonds like nothing else; buying me new clothes that would match the chūnin vest I got…"

Hinata and Karin got stars in their eyes, "This one!"

Naruto smiled weakly, "Your will is my law."

Fifteen minutes later. A clothing store.

Naruto looked at the clothes Karin showed him with a big smile, "Do you like purple a lot Karin-chan?"

"Yeah, but my favorite color is black," Karin replied and placed a few things next to him.

"Huh, I've never met people whose favorite color is black."

Karin stepped aside and Naruto was left alone with his thoughts for a moment. Almost.

"My favorite color is red," said a voice in his head.

"Let me guess. Because it's the color of blood?"

"You know me too well," purred a little crazy vixen in his head.

Hinata and Karin returned to him again with a few clothes. He first paid attention to Karin's choice. A sleek black jacket with red and silver ribbons, a black top with a red fire symbol and stylish black pants with silver chevrons on the sides. On the back of the jacket was Uzumaki's clan symbol.

Hinata was holding a traditional black kimono with red and orange ornaments which remotely reminded of two foxes fighting. The kimono also had the red symbol of the Uzumaki clan on its back.

"Hahaha, what a great selection in this store…"

Naruto bought both clothes from Karin and Hinata, as well as a simple white t-shirt with gray shorts for everyday life, and an orange tracksuit for training. Against the protests of the girls.

They completely forgot to match his new outfit to his chūnin vest.

Ichiraku Ramen. Half an hour later.

"The fact that you learned the technique of the Fourth Hokage is simply incredible!" Karin exclaimed, poking her wooden chopsticks at Naruto. "You were also able to do that with the clones?"

Naruto swallowed his noodles and grinned, "I managed to create a technique with similar properties to the Rasengan, which made it easier to learn. But developing the technique took a long time. The clones spent countless hours..."

"Naruto-kun... Usually, new techniques are developed over years, even decades. The fact that you created one in less than six months is a miracle," Hinata said without looking up from her plate.

Naruto sipped on the broth, a thoughtful expression on his face, "Clones are incredible. If only my head didn't feel like it was going to explode at the end of each week..."

"And as for the Legendary Tsunade…" Karin drawled, her cheeks tinged with a faint blush, "Do you think you could introduce me to her?"

"Hmm? Are you interested in becoming a medic?"

"I think with my ability to regenerate others when bitten, I already consider myself a medical ninja."

"Regenerate when bitten..?" Hinata paused, her chopsticks hovering above her ramen as she looked at Karin curiously.

Karin rolled up the sleeve of her kimono slightly, revealing the bite marks on her arm. "This is my body's ability. If anyone bites me, their body and chakra regenerate at a much higher rate."

Naruto grimaced, "The marks don't heal?" Karin shook her head. "Strange power. Maybe Tsunade can do something about them?"

Karin shrugged and hid her arm back in her sleeve, her expression neutral. "It would be nice. Do you think you can persuade her to meet me?"

"Of course! I was planning to ask her to take Sakura as a private student, maybe you can join as well?"

"Thank you!"

As Naruto received another bowl of ramen, he remembered something. "Speaking of Iryō ninjutsu and Tsunade-baachan. She taught me the Mystical Palm no Jutsu."

"Oh, that's wonderful," Hinata said, starting her next bowl. "I was also considering learning Iryō ninjutsu. With my Byakugan, I can easily diagnose patients, and my chakra control is quite high… But I'll still focus on gentle fist and clan techniques. I want to become much stronger physically."

Naruto smiled. He could feel the emotions welling up in Hinata as she said those words, they were genuine. "Hah, I actually felt her emotions. What is this strange feeling?"

Karin watched as they ate their fifth bowls of ramen, sweat dripping from her forehead. "…You're a chūnin now, so you'll be sent on harder missions?"

Naruto nodded slightly, still trying to understand the weird new sensation.

Karin sighed and laid her head on the table, looking at Naruto. She sensed his surprise and confusion, "What's wrong with you? Something happened?"

Naruto looked at her a little strangely, "Hmm… That's interesting."

Hinata stopped eating, her interest piqued as she glanced between Naruto and Karin.

"I kind of feel..."

"Emotions and chakra. Did you finally notice?"

Naruto closed his mouth and eyes, focusing on his surroundings and the voice in his head, "So I'm a sensor after all?"

"This is something more than ordinary sensors can do. You don't even need to knead chakra in order to feel. Also, I have not heard that sensors can feel emotions…" She paused for a moment, probably remembering something. "…You couldn't notice this ability for such a long time, why are you always so slow?"

Suddenly, Karin touched his forehead with a finger, "He-llo-oo, Naruto, are you there?"

"Looks like I'm a sensor."

Hinata and Karin exchanged glances. It was Karin who asked, "Where did you get that from?"

"I can sense your chakra and emotions," Karin's eyes widened as Hinata noticed, "As well as Teuchi-ojisan, Ayame-neechan, people outside of Ichiraku…"

"... Are you kneading chakra?" Karin asked in a slightly excited voice. Naruto shook his head and Karin suddenly threw herself at him with a hug, shocking both him and Hinata. "This is great!"

Naruto chuckled as he enjoyed the hug from the joyous redhead, "Yeah, that's pretty cool…"

Karin pulled away from him and shook her head vigorously, "You don't understand! It's a hidden Uzumaki technique!"

"... But it's just sensorics?"

"Normally, sensors can only use their abilities while kneading their chakra. Also, normal sensors don't feel emotions, only changes in chakra, so it's obviously Mind's Eye of Kagura!" Karin explained with a smile.

"How else does it differ from ordinary sensors?" Hinata asked while poking Naruto with her chopsticks like he was some entertaining animal.

"Not by much. But you can feel emotions and distinguish the chakra of different people much better than other sensors. The range is also higher. I can barely feel a radius of a hundred feets around me, but my mother could feel for miles!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and turned to his ramen, "Hmm… You said it was a hidden technique? How can I know it? Maybe it's just a strong aptitude for sensor abilities?"

"I was also able to learn it without any guidance. I think the Uzumaki have a predisposition to some techniques in their genes. It's not exactly a kekkei genkai, but very similar to it."

"Well, I'm glad. That means I am sort of relative to you, right?"

Karin blushed and nodded, her heart filled with warmth when she heard the word relative, "I will help you train this ability."

Naruto nodded with an appreciative smile and drank the soup of his ramen. Hinata had already finished her plate and was waiting for Naruto.

"Ahhh, it's incredibly delicious, as always, Teuchi-ojisan! I'll see you later!"

"I'm glad you liked it! Stop by anytime!" A reply came from the kitchen.

The company got up and left Ichiraku, heading in a random direction.

"I'll have to rework my training plan a bit," Naruto muttered, throwing his hands behind his head. "In Konoha I can make as many clones as I want, so I'm back to my standard training."

"Erm…" Naruto heard Hinata from his right and turned to see her fiddling with her fingers. A habit that she began to show much less often than before. It was a bit of a nostalgic sight now…

"What's up?"

"…Your training regime earlier. We didn't have enough time for… us…" Hinata said, blushing with every word.

Naruto thought as he looked up at the red sky, pink hue adoring his cheeks, "You're right, I barely had two free days a week after Kakashi-sensei's order to rest. And I often spent them studying… And training continued from early in the morning until late at night…"

Karin gaped at him, "In Konoha, genin training is quite difficult…"

Hinata giggled, "It's just Naruto, other genin train less. Although there are exceptions like Rock Lee."

"Or Sasuke," added Naruto .

"Yes, Sakura-chan said that he trains quite a lot. Neji-neesan also trained day and night, but after one training session with the team, he started taking longer breaks, during which he often came to me to hang out." Hinata had a warm smile on her face as she talked about her brother.

Naruto just chuckled, happy for Hinata, "Well if even Neji takes breaks to be with his family I can't be any worse."

Karin, Naruto and Hinata spent the rest of the evening walking the streets of Konoha and talking about various topics. Karin felt wonderful in this village. Everything around was so warm and bright that she became a little lightheaded towards the end of the walk.

n

When the sky was completely dark, they decided to take Hinata home. Naruto lightly pecked her at the lips before she went home, and he walked Karin to her house.

"How serious are you about Hinata?" Karin asked, looking at the road ahead.

"I love her to death, she loves me back. How to measure seriousness?"

Karin smiled a little mischievously at his words, "Are you ready to be with her for the rest of your life?"

Naruto smiled as well and turned to her, "In grief and in joy, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth?" Karin nodded with a wistful smile. "We are thirteen, Karin. I love her, but I'm not sure if she wants to be with me for the rest of her life. I can bore her. Also, her father may not allow such a… union."

"So, you're going to keep dating her until one of you gets bored?"

Naruto sighed, his hands dropped from behind his head, "It's even harder than space time fuinjutsu... Of course I want it to be forever. Being with her for the rest of my days sounds like a dream, but…" Karin continued to walk beside him, not pressuring him into a quick answer. After a minute of silence, he again raised his gaze to the sky, where the stars were already visible, "...Two years straight. If in two years, when we are both sixteen, everything remains as it is, I will propose to her."

"Wow, for real?" Naruto nodded and Karin squealed a little, "Wow, Hinata will be the happiest girl in the world!"

"Hehe, just don't tell her about it, let it be a surprise."

Karin nodded and felt the pressure of the secret on her shoulders, "Why did you tell me?"

Naruto shrugged, "Because… Hmm… If we're family we have to trust each other, right?"

Karin stopped in the middle of the street, Naruto stopped a little ahead and turned to her. Her crimson eyes pierced his blue ones.

Naruto sheepishly smiled, "If you don't mind being a family, that is."

Karin looked at Naruto's face with a slightly shocked expression. After the death of her mother, the topic of family was especially difficult for her. She had hoped to marry some shinobi from Kusagakure and maybe get a normal family, but…

Closing her eyes, she focused on Naruto's chakra, "So warm… Reminds me of mom…" She felt his chakra getting closer to her, but she didn't open her eyes, just enjoying the feeling of his chakra next to her. Suddenly she felt his arms around her. He hugged her.

"Don't be sad. I'm sorry if I reminded you of unpleasant memories."

Oh, he also has Mind's Eye of Kagura. So he feels her emotions right now?

Karin wrapped her arms around him, still not opening her eyes, "It's not your fault. I would be happy if you became my brother."

She felt his chakra become more cheerful, brighter, "Really?" Karin gave a small nod and felt Naruto lift her into the air, she quickly grabbed his shoulders out of surprise, "Yay! I have a sister! Hahaha!"

"Hey! Put me on the ground! Hey!"

People around stopped to look at the happy Naruto and Karin, some laughed, some noticed that it was Naruto and continued on their way.

Suddenly Naruto heard a familiar voice behind him, "Naruto!?"

Putting Karin on the ground, he turned to the direction of the voice and saw Sakura and Sasuke there. They approached them, both looking at the Karin, "Hey Sakura, Sasuke. Returning from training or a mission?"

"Training," Sasuke replied, "We've only been given two missions for the past month. It seems the Hokage doesn't want to send an incomplete team."

Naruto nodded and turned to Karin with a smile, "These are my teammates, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," turning to Sasuke and Sakura he continued, "And this is Uzumaki Karin, my sister."

Sakura nodded, a little surprised at the last part, "I was introduced by Hinata-chan, but sister?"

"Who else? Brother? Or uncle?" Naruto laughed.

"You were unlucky with your brother, Karin-chan. Maybe it's not too late to make a withdrawal?"

Karin looked at Naruto with a smile, "I never dreamed of any better."

Sasuke nodded and continued on his way home, "Glad for you both. Naruto, join our training tomorrow."

"Of course, starting tomorrow I'm back to my schedule! Or almost back…"

Sakura also said goodbye to them and ran after Sasuke. "Are they dating?" Karin asked, looking at the disappearing figures of Sasuke and Sakura.

"Hmm... Why would you say that?"

"She looked at him as if he was the sun. And he, it seems, was not at all against her company," smiling impishly she added, "Also, I can sense emotions, did you forget?"

Naruto smiled a little, "Sakura loves him, but he doesn't accept her feelings. Something is holding him back."

"Hmm…"

They walked another street in silence, after which Karin pointed at the house with her finger, "This is where I live. I would show you inside, but I really want to sleep…"

"It's okay, some other time." Coming close to her he hugged her again, "Join my training anytime. I train on training grounds 3 or 44." Karin shuddered at the mention of Forest of Death and wrapped her arms around him a little tighter, "Sasuke said he wanted to practice with me, so I'll be at 3'rd one tomorrow around eight in the morning. Will you find it by yourself?"

Karin nodded lightly, "I'll come."

Pulling away from him, she looked at his face, at his smile. It was a small smile, but together with his blue eyes, it enveloped Karin in a warmth like no other smile of his.

And right at this moment he disappeared into the leafy shunshin. She looked at the place where he had just stood for some time, after which she decided that it was time for her to sleep.

The next day. Training Ground 3.

Arriving at a beautiful clearing, on which there were three wooden poles, Karin noticed Sakura and Sasuke. They were doing some kind of light warm-up.

"Oh, Karin! Hi!" Sakura exclaimed, stopping her warm-up.

"Hey. Naruto hasn't come yet?"

Sakura's face changed from friendly to annoyed, "He really is Kakashi-sensei's 'best' student… Picked up all of his bad habits."

"Hey-hey, don't talk bad about me to Karin!" Suddenly Naruto's voice came from the forest beside them.

Karin saw his big smile as he walked into the clearing and let out her big smile as well, "Morning, Naruto." But in her mind she thought, "I knew that I had a perfect eye for clothing. Black suits him."

He was wearing the clothes that she chose for him yesterday. Sakura took a look at him and smiled a little strangely but didn't say anything.

"Morning Karin, ready to practice?"

Karin nodded, but noticed that Sasuke stepped out in front of her and approached Naruto. She felt conflicted emotions from him and saw his serious face so she decided to stay silent.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his actions, "What is it, Sasuke?"

"I want to fight you. No restrictions."

Naruto looked at him with a confused face for a while, trying to get a hold of the emotions he felt from him, "Heh, I don't mind." He finally broke the silence with a smirk, "We haven't fought in an all out spar for a long time…"

Karin moved to the wooden posts and sat down to watch the battle.

Sakura stood between a serious looking Sasuke and a smirking Naruto, "Are you ready?"

Naruto made a seal of reconciliation and bowed a little, although he knew that Sasuke would not return the sign.

Sakura saw Sasuke and Naruto stand up in their taijutsu stances, "Then... Begin!"

Sasuke didn't waste time and ran straight at Naruto, making the seals for the Great Fireball. His eyes were already red, with three black tomoe in them.

Naruto made a clone seal and a dozen shadow clones appeared around him. They immediately started running in different directions, trying to surround Sasuke.

Sasuke focused on Naruto in the center who was still holding the clone seal, and released his jutsu into him. Flames engulfed the clearing, taking out several other clones as well.

Immediately after that, he jumped into the air, noticing how the ground under his feet cracked, and threw a shuriken at the clone that came out from under the ground trying to touch his leg. Naruto kept him from breathing by throwing shurikens at him while he was in the air.

With incredible reaction, Sasuke deflected each shuriken, and noticed a clone that came quite close to him. With his excellent eyesight, he noticed an exploding tag that was attached to him. He threw a kunai straight at the seal, dispelling the clone and detonating the seal a short distance away.

Naruto got his memories from the clone and looked at the small cloud of dust that was raised by the explosion. Suddenly, four Sasuke jumped out of it, directed in different directions. During the time that Sasuke was in the dust, Naruto created several more clones, so now there were five Naruto's clones for each Sasuke.

Sasuke's clones clashed in battle with Naruto's clones, slashing each other with kunai. Sasuke's clones slightly outperformed Naruto's clones in taijutsu, cutting out at least three of them. As Sasuke's clones received a kunai in the rib, they exploded in a small bolt of lightning, scattering the rest of Naruto's clones around them.

There was only one Naruto left in the clearing, who closed his eyes and concentrated on the surroundings. Grinning, he felt the ground crack beneath him and jumped slightly into the air, but Sasuke quickly jumped out of the ground and punched him in the stomach.

Naruto coughed and flew off to the side before dissipating in a puff of smoke.

Turning to his left, Sasuke saw only one Naruto in a taijutsu stance not far away from him. Gritting his teeth at Naruto's smirk he crossed the distance between them and hit the supposed clone in the abdomen, only to be hitted in the head by a strong punch of, unexpectedly, the original Naruto.

Not feeling even a little dazed, Sasuke backed away with a high kick, which Naruto blocked with his two hands.

Readying his next attack, Sasuke was not expecting the clone, who appeared out of thin air to kick him in the side. Though he still managed to put up a block with his hand, he saw a few more clones around him.

Sasuke noticed movement to his right and put up a hand to Naruto's leg kick, which knocked him back a bit.

Stopping, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and turned quickly to see another clone with a fist raised to strike. He quickly deflected his fist to the side, and dispelled it with a swift blow to the chest.

Turning to the other side, he saw two Narutos quickly forming hand seals for fire and air techniques. Behind him, he noticed two more clones doing the same thing. "Under the ground…"

As he was about to make seals for the earth-moving machinery, he felt the ground beneath him shudder, and suddenly, his legs were grabbed by two hands that flew out from under the ground.

He quickly pulled out a kunai and stuck it into the ground, blowing away the clone below him, but he noticed that the clones in front of him were already breathing in the air. He didn't have enough time to form the seals, so he decided to retreat into the air.

Channeling a large amount of chakra into his legs, he jumped towards a tall tree that was quite far from his position. But he was able to jump to it in one movement, avoiding the fire that consumed almost the entire clearing.

Sakura and Karin were sweating a little from the heat of the fire as they watched the battle from the wooden posts.

Sasuke landed on a tree and immediately jumped to the side, dodging several shuriken that crashed into the tree. He landed on the ground and saw twenty more Naruto clones surrounding him with wide grins.

Sasuke clenched his fists, feeling his slightly quickened breathing. Constantly using the Sharingan and techniques is exhausting, but running around this clearing dodging the attacks of all these clones is exhausting more than anything else, "I can't even use my strongest jutsu because I can't be sure if it's the original. Maybe the original hid in the forest altogether... Although no, it's Naruto."

One of the clones in front of him started making seals that he didn't recognize, it looks like he will be able to copy some new techniques?

"Hey Sasuke, you knew that I was almost able to finish my training with Nature Transformation of Water?" Suddenly one of the clones shouted, making Sasuke's eyes widen a bit. "Ero-sennin was so proud that he decided to humor me and gave me hand seals for a nifty little jutsu!"

All but one of the clones started running towards Sasuke at high speed. He felt the ground beneath him shake again, and with a slight click of his tongue, he directed chakra into his leg and hit the ground, creating a large dent in the ground and dispelling the clone.

He noticed the clone to his right jump into the air, trying to kick him. He grabbed him by the leg and threw him towards the other clones. Who caught the clone and again tried to throw it like a projectile in the direction of Sasuke.

But as they tried it, the clone suddenly exploded. Quick hand maneuvering from Sasuke and ten of the clones disappeared in a huge explosion.

Sasuke directed chakra into his legs and tried to jump out of the environment in which the clones tried to hold him. Approaching several clones, he formed a pair of seals and several bolts of lightning flew out of his hand, crashing into the clones, blowing them away, "Electromagnetic Murder."

The clone that wasn't hit by the lightning with a chakra boost was at Sasuke's side in an instant and gave him a hard punch on the shoulder, pushing him towards the other clones.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and noticed that behind the clone that was forming seals for the water technique, a giant dragon head formed and began to approach his position.

The clones around him prevented him from making seals and also from jumping into the air. They attacked him without stopping, not valuing their own lives.

He slashed clone after clone until at one point he stuck a kunai into the clone, but it didn't puff away and grabbed his arm. "Original?!" It wasn't long, maybe less than a second, but the rest of the clones took advantage of it and hit Sasuke on the back, knocking him off his feet. He noticed how the clone that had withstood the kunai blow dissipated in a poof of smoke, "Still a clone…"

Sasuke quickly got to his feet, but his eyes widened when he saw the head of a giant water dragon a few feet away.

"Shit…"

The water crashed into him with great force, quickly lifting him off the ground and pushing him back a great distance. The clones that were next to him dispersed with smiles on their faces.

His sharingan couldn't see through the large amount of water around him. He felt his ribs creaking under the strong pressure of the water, his lungs quickly releasing all the air he had taken in before the impact. Soon he felt a sharp pain in his back and the back of his head, as if he had crashed into a tree, but the water was still pressing on him for some time from the front. Suffocating him.

And suddenly it all ended. He fell to the ground coughing violently, spitting out the water that had accumulated in his lungs. After a few seconds, he greedily grabbed air with his mouth, enjoying each deep breath.

Raising his head, he saw Naruto walking towards him. There was also a drop of sweat on his face, it seems that this technique is quite difficult for him, or the incredible number of clones that he destroyed is still exhausting even for him.

"He's still in much better shape than I am..." Sasuke thought as he got off the ground.

"Ready for round two?" Naruto's voice rang out.

Karin turned to Sakura with sweat dripping from her forehead like crazy, "Are they for real? They almost killed each other!"

Sakura smiled a little sheepishly, "That's normal practice for them. Though they don't do that often."

Sasuke brushed his wet hair from his face and looked into Naruto's eyes, his Sharingan glowing red.

Naruto smirked and shook his head, "Genjutsu? Unfortunately, it won't work against me." He raised a hand to his side, blocking a blow from Sasuke, who thought he had approached Naruto without his knowledge.

The smirking Naruto dissipated in a puff of smoke, slightly blocking Sasuke's visibility. A second later, a fist flew out of the smoke, but Sasuke managed to block it again, showing incredible reaction speed of the Sharingan.

Immediately after the punch, he felt a strong kick from the side to his ribs and winced a little, "It seems to be a cracked rib after all…"

He jumped back, but another clone was already behind him. Dazed, Sasuke didn't have time to block the blow that hit the back of his head and sent him flying forward to meet another clone.

He was able to get a kunai and dispel the clone before it could hit him, but suddenly he noticed Naruto next to him, his hands behind his back.

Forming seals quickly, Sasuke slammed his hands on the ground and an earth wall appeared in front of him. Naruto threw his arms forward swiftly and narrowed his eyes, "Kakashi-sensei what, decided to pass on all of his techniques to Sasuke?"

Two green streams of wind formed large snake heads and flew towards the earthen wall. Sasuke from the other side of the wall was once again surrounded on all sides by clones, unable to use even Kawarimi to escape.

When the snakes collided with the wall, they crunched through it with a loud crunch, losing momentum, but still knocking Sasuke aside, leaving several deep scratches on his body.

Naruto's clones closed in on him, but as they got in hand distance, Sasuke's anger and frustration bubbled up in him as he suddenly hit the ground with his fist and screamed, "Electromagnetic murder!"

Around ten feets around him exploded with a bright lightning, dispersing all of Naruto's clones.

"Form and Nature Transformation…" Thought the original Naruto from nearby.

Sasuke took notice of the last standing Naruto and after a lightning-fast hand seals, around his palm shone bright lightning, letting out a high chirping sound.

In a blink he closed the distance between him and the supposedly original Naruto, around which dozens of clones have already appeared.

Striking his left hand forward, he smiled widely seeing blood flow out from Naruto, "Finally..!"

Naruto's clones acted quickly and before Sasuke could even understand what was happening, he felt that he could not release even a drop of his chakra.

Dropping to the ground, he looked up at Naruto whom he striked a moment ago. His brand new clothing was ripped, blood steadily flowed through the open wound on his side.

The clones around them dispersed and the original approached him chuckling a bit, "I think this is enough for sparring?"

"You… didn't even use…that technique…" Sasuke muttered heavily from his position on the ground.

"Naruto! That's a dangerous wound!" Sakura and Karin ran up to them with worried expressions. They stopped as they saw Naruto raise a hand and turn to them a little with a cold stare.

"That technique..?" Naruto thought for a bit as he approached Sasuke, "Ah, you must be talking about the Rasengan. Of course, this technique is not for use in friendly sparring. Also, I still think that Dance of Wind Serpentines and Water Dragon Bullet is on par with the Rasengan in terms of power."

Sasuke felt the seal lift from his body but didn't move a finger, "I lost."

Naruto nodded with a smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes, "Yeah, looks like you have more training to do." Sitting down next to Sasuke, he looked at his scratches and switched his gaze back on his black irises.

Sasuke felt his stomach turn at the stare that Naruto gave him. There was definitely no usual happy blond boy right now.

"Sasuke, I don't really adept at this skill yet, but the emotions that you're displaying are disturbing me. I don't know why you feel this way, or either will you follow these feelings, but remember this: Those who abandon a mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are even worse than trash." Making a pause he didn't look away from him even for a second. He was not even blinking. "I can tolerate trash. I almost grew in it. But any worse than that…" Looking Sasuke dead in the eye, he paused again. Atmosphere quickly started heating up and one could notice sweat dripping from Sasuke's, Sakura's and Karin's foreheads. In the next second the atmosphere rose by a whole lot.

As Naruto's eyes turned red. Sasuke saw how the wound on his side closed in a few seconds and soundly gulped.

"I think I might lose it. Just for information." His voice sounded much deeper than usual.

The killing intent that radiated off Naruto was at least at the same league as Orochimaru. If not greater.

And just as it came it was gone. Not even a bit of red in these blue eyes of his.

Sakura and Karin managed to stop the shaking in their hands as they noticed him making several seals and placing his hands, which began to glow a warm blue color, to Sasuke's bleeding cuts.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly, "Iryō ninjutsu?!"

Naruto chuckled, "Made the clones read a bunch of medical books. Shizune explained a lot of details to me because I couldn't understand the terms in the books… But the jutsu I learned from Tsunade."

Sasuke looked up at the sky as he felt Naruto's chakra begin to slowly heal his wounds. He slowly weared off from Naruto's warning and sighed, "I'm weak…"

Naruto looked at Sasuke's face and burst out laughing. A rolling, deep laugh that came from his belly and heart. He stopped Mystical Palm no Jutsu and began punching the ground with his fist, even creating large dents from the force of the punches, "W-weak! Hahahahaha!"

Karin chuckled a little, also hearing Sasuke's words and seeing Naruto's reaction.

Sakura sweatdropped a little after hearing Sasuke's words, but smiled when she saw Naruto's reaction. When he stopped treating Sasuke, she sat down next to him and began the treatment herself, folding the seals.

Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes and got to his feet, "You're the only genin… Maybe even the only genin and chūnin who can give me such a difficult battle, Sasuke." Turning back to him without a smile he continued, "With your eyes, a pretty good amount of techniques and chakra, you're quite a dangerous shinobi. Even jonin will be serious about fighting you, but you're thirteen! Where are you weak, Sasuke? In a few years, your physical training will be at the jonin level and even Kakashi-sensei will not have any advantages over you in this regard. Chakra reserves will also increase. Chakra control will skyrocket. Your growth rate is incredible considering you don't have clones!"

Sakura looked away from Sasuke to Naruto, surprised by his words. Sasuke seemed to be thinking something similar to her thoughts as well, but Naruto noticed that his emotions were torn between pride, hatred, surprise, and joy.

Naruto sighed, "I don't fully understand why you're in such a hurry to get the power, but if you ever want to talk I'm always here."

Sasuke looked at him and snorted, "Hmph… I'd rather confess this to Sakura than to you."

"Weird choice of words…" Naruto grumbled and stepped aside, "Don't keep it to yourself, idiot. Share your problems with us. We are your team, we will support you."

Sasuke noticed Sakura's slight nod, but said nothing.

Karin walked up to Naruto with a nervous smile, "I'm feeling a little out of place…"

Naruto's eyes widened, "What?! That's not good! Let's train together! How did you say I can train sensory abilities?"

Karin began to tell him the basics, but he created a clone that listened to her explainings, and he himself listened to the voice in his head.

"You burned a large amount of chakra…"

"Yeah, about half?"

"You didn't use the binding technique and 'Pervasive Waves' against him."

"…Kanashibari is quite an interesting technique, Kurama. Even though my chakra is many times greater than Sasuke's, he would still be able to quickly break free by releasing a strong chakra impulse, but…"

"But creating a hundred clones and forcing them all to use this technique on one target won't let that target move a muscle. Even that snake freak in the Forest of Death couldn't move for a while, even though his chakra was stronger than yours."

"Anko-sensei gave me incredible power with this technique. And with great power comes great responsibilities. As for Pervasive Waves… I didn't want to kill him."

Evening of the same day.

Sakura was incredibly excited, nervous, happy and a little scared to be in a nice little restaurant near her home. The reason for this state was the Uchiha Sasuke, who seems to have taken his words about confessing to her instead of Naruto seriously.

He sat across from her, looking at the menu with a relaxed expression on his face. Finally choosing, he returned to the waiter and placed his order, tomato onigiri.

Sakura blushed slightly when he looked at her and looked away from him. Her heart almost dropped to her heels when she heard a tired sigh from Sasuke.

"We have been in the same team for more than six months, yet you still blush from a simple glance? Don't you think it's too much?"

Sakura turned to him and looked into his black eyes, the pink color still visible on her cheeks, "I-I…"

"Sakura. I agreed to this… date… to talk to you about our future cooperation as a team. Not to play in love. We are shinobi, control your emotions."

Sakura slightly lowered her eyes to the table, but quickly turned them back to Sasuke's face, this time without a blush. Sasuke was surprised to see this quick change, "…I wasn't sure she could really take this seriously."

"If it's influencing our team why isn't Naruto here?" Sakura asked in a calm tone that almost made Sasuke smirk. Almost.

"Because he's pissing me off," Sasuke replied, making sweat roll off Sakura's forehead. Didn't he just say something about controlling emotions? "As I said, we have known each other for a relatively long time. You know me as well as I know you. My likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses... Goals…"

Sakura nodded a bit concerned, "You said you wanted to kill someone, but you didn't explain why."

Sasuke looked into her eyes and she felt her insides twist and turn inside out, "My brother, Uchiha Itachi, an S-class criminal. He was the one behind the Uchiha's Massacre."

Sakura choked a lump in her throat, "Damn it, why isn't Naruto with me?! He can handle these tough conversations much better than I can!"

Sasuke was silent for a while, looking out the window of the restaurant, "…He's an incredibly strong ninja, Sakura. Much stronger than Naruto, Kakashi… Probably even stronger than the Hokage and Orochimaru." Sakura's eyes widened, but Sasuke continued, "I want to kill him, Sakura. What he did…" He trailed off for a few seconds and Sakura felt an unpleasant tingle run up her spine, "It's impossible to just forget."

Sakura nodded slightly, opening her mouth to say something. She felt how dry her mouth and lips were, "But even if he is that strong, if we keep getting stronger… If we attack him together… You, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and I. We can win."

Sasuke looked into her eyes again for a long moment before lowering his gaze to the table, "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I don't know if I can become that strong. Or rather… Can you guys get that strong." On Sakura's forehead appeared a twitch mark, "His sharingan was much stronger than mine, he said that I don't have enough hatred to awaken the true power of this eye, but l-"

Suddenly he noticed Sakura snickering and turning away from him, "You say that as if your sharingan is some kind of ultimate jutsu that no one can defeat. Did you forget how Naruto kicked your ass this morning?"

Sasuke actually made a ram hand seal, stopping the flow of chakra in his body to check if it was the real Sakura in front of him.

"Time to channel some Naruto-energy…" She sighed and turned back to him with a warmer look, "I understand how strong he can be, Sasuke-kun. But you also have to understand that the strongest shinobi of this world died from various causes. A few professional killers, poisons, overwhelming numbers. Not all of them died, taking with them crowds of enemies, or surrounded by loving people. A shinobi death can be quite scary and lonely."

Sasuke didn't respond to her words, continuing to look into her eyes.

"Naruto and I will continue to grow stronger in order to support you when you go to fight him. You just have to believe in us and get stronger for us in return." She suddenly blushed and lowered her gaze back at the table, "Plus, your other dream…" Sasuke was confused for a second before he remembered about his dream of Uchiha Clan restoration. "You most definitely will need some help with that…"

The next day. Training Ground 3.

Kakashi had returned from a mission involving Suna only last evening. One feral cat had kept him awake at night, so now he would have to go straight to his students instead of his usual route around Konoha and to the Memorial Stone.

He sighed and went out into the clearing he knew oh so well, immediately taking notice of many clones of Naruto. They all sported the brand new orange sports suit while performing different sets of training.

Some stood on the water and tried to control it, stop the flow of the river or redirect it. Some created a circle of water in front of them and tried to release various techniques into it. It seemed like they were trying to create some kind of water technique. Some created a Rasengan, and it looked like they were trying to add wind chakra to it. The quiet bunch of the group sat with their eyes closed, focusing on their chakra senses around them, several of them turned their heads towards Kakashi and smiled. The rest sat with pensive expressions on the fuinjutsu seals, workings of which Kakashi himself no longer understood. But it looks like Naruto himself can't quite fathom their essence.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Original Naruto shouted, jumping up to him from nowhere.

Kakashi inspected his clothes a little closer, "What, going back to your orange repertoire again?"

Naruto smirked, "Like it? I definitely do. But unfortunately, this is only a sports suit for training."

"Log, have mercy…" Kakashi muttered, making Naruto's eyes narrow. After a second Kakashi gave off his trademark eyesmile again, "I came here to give my cute little minions some of my genius."

Naruto ignored his words, "Anko-sensei is busy?"

"She took a week off. Said that she wanted to spend the whole term in bed."

Naruto nodded, "What did you want to teach us today sensei?"

"Today I would like to enlighten Sakura and Sasuke on some aspects of shinobi life, and introduce Sakura to Tsunade-sama herself. Scheduled a meeting for the evening."

Sighing, Naruto scratched his nogging, "Understand. You will find them in the clearing behind the river. If you present Sakura to Tsunade-baachan, then take Karin along, okay? She also has a great desire to become a doctor."

Kakashi nodded and turned towards the river, "Sure. If she has enough talent and patience." Pausing momentarily he said, "Yamato-kun and I are still watching over your further training, officially. But, in fact, you can train with anyone you want. Oh, and, I guess, Jiraiya-sama would like to continue your training?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow but suddenly felt familiar chakra behind him and turned around. Standing before him was Jiraiya with a smile, "Hey kid."

Kakashi quickly crossed the river so on this side of the training ground only Jiraiya, Naruto, and his clones remained.

"I have a proposition for you," Jiraiya said, sitting down on the ground and crossing his legs beneath him. "In a couple of months I'm leaving Konoha for about three years. I wouldn't mind taking an apprentice with me."

Naruto's face could see the emotion change from surprise to seriousness, "…I would rather not leave the village."

Jiraiya sighed and scratched his beard, "What if I can talk Hiashi into letting your little girlfriend go with us?"

Naruto furrowed his brows and also sat in front of Jiraiya in the lotus position, "Hinata-chan is not the only reason, probably most important, though. Karin, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, the Third, the rest of the genin of our year and Team 9… After our graduation, I became close to all of them."

"With me, you will be able to become much stronger, Naruto. I will put everything I have into you, with full dedication I will come to your training."

"What specific training are we talking about? If it's ninjutsu - Kakashi-sensei seems to know a thousand different techniques. If it's taijutsu, Gai-sensei has the best training in Konoha. If it's fuinjutsu, let's be honest, Kyūbi knows a lot more about it than you and I. Put together."

"Gai and Kakashi have other students, other things to do, life to live. They won't be able to give you as much time as I do."

"Heh, it's good that you don't argue about Kyūbi's skills. But even so, I will still have opportunities to go on missions. I'm a chūnin now, and I'm not going to stay that way for long. I will be sent on many missions where I will be able to gain important experience."

Their conversation stopped, only the sounds of clone training echoed around them. Jiraiya looked at Naruto with an intense stare, but finally broke off, looking at the sky, "Well, I can't force you…"

Naruto nodded and smiled a little, "Thank you for the offer, Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya waved his hand, "Forget it. Now, I have important information for you. This is related to your jinchuriki status, so listen carefully," Naruto nodded and Jiraiya continued, "While traveling the world, I came across information about a nasty little organization. Akatsuki. They perform any work, no matter the complexity and dirtiness, and their prices are much lower than market prices. Their number seems small, but it consists of extremely high-ranking ninja. One of them is Uchiha Itachi, who was spotted in Hoshigaki Kisame's company near Konoha, around the time we set out to find Tsunade. They did not try to enter the village though."

"Uchiha Itachi? I heard that name somewhere…"

"He was the one who did the Uchiha's massacre, you must have heard it from your teammate."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "No, he didn't mention that…"

"In any case. This organization seems to collect information about tailed beasts and jinchuriki. According to my sources, they will start actively hunting for them in about three to four years. I don't know the reason, but it's a fact."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Three or four years… Quite a long time, I'll probably be able to finish all my projects by then and more."

"If you keep up training with the clones and step up your taijutsu training, in three years you'll become a force that even the five great Kage will have to reckon with, kid."

"Hahaha, the five great Kage will reckon with me, and for you I'm just a kid?"

"What do I care about those five? I am Sannin. To become a challenge for me you will have to grow and grow for tens of years."

Naruto got up off the ground and stretched a bit, "But it's a shame you won't teach me anything else…"

Jiraiya watched as Naruto did his warm-up exercises, thinking deeply about his options. Naruto had incredible potential, but… "Maybe he's already ready. No. Thirteen years is not enough, at least fifteen or sixteen… But his chakra level by far exceeds mine when I went There, and his control is so great that he can perform medical jutsu!"

"Well, I'll go step up my taijutsu training, Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya sighed, "Naruto, I'm going to give you one more chance to gain great power. But you have to make a choice."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit, "I'm listening."

"This power… Countless great warriors tried to gain access to it, but those who lacked the willpower left this world in the process of training. I went through this training myself and gained access to this power called Senjutsu," Jiraiya rose from the ground and continued, "I was taught this by the frogs on Mount Myoboku. Mastering Senjutsu makes it possible to access the Natural Energy that is around us and strengthen yourself with its help."

"You can die from training..?"

"If you cannot control the natural energy in your body, it will turn you into a stone frog. You are still young, only thirteen years old, but you are already quite a formidable ninja, no matter how hard it is for me to admit it. So I leave the choice to you whether to go through with it or not."

Naruto scratched his head and looked at his training clones, "Can this training be held here?"

"You will have to go to Mount Myoboku for that training. It's one of three places in the whole world that I know of that teaches this art to people."

"And how long can that take?"

"It depends on your talent, I think you will learn the basics in a few months, if you don't die, and then you can develop more in Konoha. Know, that the great I have been training with this power for twenty years, but still cannot use it perfectly."

Naruto hummed, "Few months is not three years, sounds like another long term mission. I am definitely interested, but… It's a little too much don't you think?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "Hmm?"

"I noticed that all I do these days is nonstop training. Not that it's bad, or that I'm tired, but…" Jiraiya noticed Naruto's pink cheeks and smirked a little. When Naruto mumbled something, Jiraiya made it look like he didn't hear it, so Naruto repeated, "…I wanna spend more time with Hinata-chan."

Jiraiya chuckled and turned away, walking slowly towards the tree line, "Don't worry, as you are already a summoner of the toads, you'll have other opportunities to learn it. For now enjoy your youth. I will inform the Hokage of your decision."

A second later he disappeared into a swirl of leaves, making Naruto sigh.

"And once again you get the opportunity to get some incredible power," Kurama's melodious voice sounded in Naruto's head. "Are you sure you don't want to learn it as soon as possible? These Akatsuki could be bad news for you."

"For you too," Added Naruto, while watching his clones train. He smiled hearing Kurama huff indignantly, "Anyway, I will learn it. But first, I will finish with an affinity of water and two seals I'm working on."

"The Teleportation seal could take up to years."

"Well, if it'll take more than a year, I'll change my plans."

Peaceful moment of silence fell on their conversation. Naruto reflected at how relaxed he was when speaking with her. Like all of his struggles washed away with her warm voice.

"…Do you know something about this senjutsu?" He asked after another moment.

"A bit. What that pervert told you is all I know, but it must be an incredible power. Sage of Sixth Paths used a toad senjutsu and it was incredible."

"Whenever you mention Sage of Sixth Paths your tone changes a little, like it becomes nostalgic. Did you know him well?"

"…Yes."

Naruto sighed and didn't ask any further, just going back to his training.

Suddenly, he turned his head towards a tree where a small cloud of smoke could be seen, "What is Sasuke doing, spying on me..?"

Hokage's office.

Jiraiya materialized next to the window in the Hokage's office and noticed two people inside. Opening the window, he smiled, "Tsunade! Seeing you is a pleasure for my eyes!"

"Can't say the same for you," Tsunade answered as Jiraiya climbed through the window.

Hiruzen sighed, "Have you talked to Naruto-kun about the Akatsuki yet?"

Jiraiya stood next to Tsunade, across from the Hokage's desk, and nodded, "He refused to leave the village with me. But I suggested that he learn Senjutsu."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at this and folded her arms under her gorgeous bust, "Teaching a thirteen year old boy Senjutsu? Are you mad or what?"

"Haven't you seen what the boy is capable of at his age? I watched as his clones tried to add wind chakra to the Rasengan and some of them showed signs of success. Together with Kyūbi, he creates seals of teleportation, which in essence strongly resemble Minato's famous technique! His chakra capacity and control over it is simply fantastic and continues to grow! I give him about two or three years before he reaches a level of strength where even I can't stop him."

"You're exaggerating with that last one…"

"Jiraiya is right," Hiruzen intervened, "Naruto-kun has the talent that Minato-kun had and the opportunities that he, unfortunately, did not have. This boy is our future, nothing should slow down his development."

Tsunade nodded reluctantly, "Well, it's not like I'm his mother…"

Jiraiya smirked, glancing at Tsunade, "Judging from his nickname for you, you are, indeed, not his mother. Baachan." Tsunade's eyebrows twitched, so Jiraiya returned attention to Hiruzen, "He refused the training."

Shock was visible on the faces of Hiruzen and Tsunade, but the former quickly gained control of himself and smirked, "Well, as expected of our unpredictable blond. At least he is not after every possible knowledge like Orochimaru."

Looking at the Third, Tsunade asked, "And what are your plans for his future?"

"His future depends only on himself, I only help him achieve his goals." His smirk did not disappear for the rest of their talk.

The next day. Training Ground 44.

"Hmm... I'll focus on fuinjutsu and allocate sixty percent of the clones to it. The rest is for the rest," Naruto said before folding the clone seal.

Without any smoke or noise, Naruto's clones appeared in the clearing and filled it with their bright orange color. He did not have to issue any orders, they divided themselves into groups and began to train.

Naruto himself scratched his head thinking of what to do when he felt chakra near him. Closing his eyes, he focused on the approaching creature and smiled slightly, "Hey, Anko-sensei. Have you decided to visit your favorite student?"

Beside him, as if out of thin air, Anko appeared with a pout, "I can't take you by surprise at all these days. Our student-teacher relationship is crumbling with every evasion you make."

"Well, I'm not shying away then."

Anko raised an eyebrow, but suddenly widened her eyes when she felt arms wrapped around her torso. Turning her head slightly she smiled at Naruto and turned around in his arms, "How are you? We haven't hung out together in a long time."

"Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin taught me a little, so I'm fine." Anko looked at him questioningly and Naruto chuckled, "Jiraiya the Sannin."

Anko pulled away from Naruto without losing her smile and stroked his hair, "Good for you."

Naruto cocked his head to the side with a thoughtful expression, "You've become a little less bloodthirsty Anko-sensei."

"Fufufu, well, I got a dog. Helps relieve stress."

Naruto pursed his lips in an 'oʼ and smiled mischievously, "Hehe, understood."

"I didn't come empty-handed, Naruto-kun!" Suddenly, Anko proudly shouted, "I brought gifts!"

Naruto's eyes lit up when he saw the scroll Anko took out of her… pocket. "Is that a jutsu scroll?"

"Yup, Daibakuha Bunshin no Jutsu. This is a clone that can blow up and... And that's it. Catch."

Naruto carefully caught the scroll and quickly unfolded it, absorbing all the information from it, "Blowing up clones? I used Exploding Tags to detonate clones after dispersal for surprise, but they were often spotted. Especially by Sasuke. With this I will be able to… Wait, did you steal it from a formidable jutsu's scroll? And what's with the author?! Uchiha Itachi?!"

"Khe-khem…"

Naruto looked up from the scroll and looked at Anko who was looking at him rather expectantly. He quickly fell to his knees, "Thank you, Anko-sensei! You are the best teacher in the world! Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin are not even close to the great Anko-sensei!"

Anko raised her nose high and proudly smiled, hands on her hips, "Heh, thank you, thank you. Now, let me let you know that Yamato will be coming soon to supervise your training."

"And you..?"

"Unfortunately, Kurenai-chan and Yūgao-chan are waiting for me. It's a bachelorette party, Yūgao-chan is getting married to Hayate," Anko informed him.

"Oh, give her my best regards."

Anko smiled and nodded, "She asked to give you the invitation to the wedding."

Naruto scrutinized his face, "Do we know each other?"

"Yugao-chan - no, but you saved Hayate's life, if you haven't forgotten."

Naruto landed a fist on his palm, "Right! The coughing guy! So they are together, huh? When will the wedding be?"

"In three days."

"Then I will definitely be there!"

"Don't forget to bring sweet-cheeks-Hinata with you. Good luck with your training."

As she disappeared into the swirl of leaves, Naruto sighed, "Now, if only Yamato-sensei could help me with the taijutsu…" Tossing the scroll towards his clones, who greedily grabbed the scroll and began to read it, he waited for Yamato.

After a couple of minutes, Naruto felt Yamato's chakra approaching his position. He turned to him with a smile, "Hello Yamato-sensei."

"Hey, Naruto-kun. I have a message for you from Jiraiya." Naruto raised an eyebrow and nodded, "He has decided to leave the village today. He asked me to tell you, when you are ready, summon the toad and have it reverse summon to Mt. Myoboku."

Naruto clicked his tongue, "Asshole, didn't even say goodbye. Thank you, Yamato-sensei." Yamato nodded with a small smile, "Look, could you help me with some taijutsu? Team 9 is still on a mission, so I can't ask Gai-sensei for help."

"I suppose I can. Have you trained with Gai-san a lot?" Seeing Naruto's nod, he continued, "And you don't use weights?" Negative nods from Naruto. "Amazing. I thought he would make all his students carry weights."

"I meant to ask about them, but I forgot. You don't know what weight is best for me to start with?"

"Wear as much as you can carry and move around. It would be an extremely effective exercise for you, considering your regeneration." Noticing Naruto's questioning look, Yamato smiled, "Do you know how the process of increasing muscle volume works?"

"During training, the muscles get strained and develop micro-traumas and tears, that when regenerated increases…" Naruto's eyes widened before he laughed out loud, "With the Kyūbi's regeneration, I recover much faster, meaning the muscles regenerate faster! Hahaha, how did I not think of this before?!"

Yamato nodded, still smiling, "That is, if you carry the weight, your body will regenerate at the same rate as it is damaged. In this way, their constant growth will take place."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Should have started wearing them sooner."

"I'm free tomorrow, so I'll buy you some weights. Today we can spar to see your progress in taijutsu," said Yamato.

Naruto smiled sincerely and bowed, "Thank you, Yamato-sensei."

"Looks like you got yourself a training regimen, huh?" Kurama's voice came out, "Don't you forget something?"

"…I want to finally add wind chakra to the Rasengan and create that water technique. I'll increase my training with your chakra after I'm done with it."

"Even with clones, you can't learn everything at once?"

"Let's start," Naruto heard Yamato's voice in front of him and saw him get into a taijutsu stance.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto stood in pretty much a basic taijutsu stand. One hand with an open palm in front, the other next to the body, nothing extravagant.

Yamato's stance was the same. A second passed and Yamato sprung into action with a quick jab at Naruto.

Naruto ducked away from the blow and tried to strike back. Yamato quickly deflected his fist to the side and landed his own in Naruto's chest, "Faster."

Naruto coughed a little and brought his hands back up in defense. Yamato attacked him again with a hand strike, which this time was deflected to the side. Naruto tried to counterattack as well, but Yamato jumped back, "Better. Never lose focus."

Later.

Hit, block, dodge, hit again, dodge again, hit again. This continued for five hours with little breaks for a snack. Yamato continued to pass through Naruto's defenses and hit him, dodging his counterattacks. After that he explained the mistakes to him and continued.

Naruto, breathing a little heavily, dispersed his clones, marking the end of his training.

"You finished early today," Yamato remarked.

"I promised… that I would… take more time… to rest. I have to keep my promises," said Naruto, trying to catch his breath.

Yamato smiled and nodded, "I'll leave you then, have a good evening."

"The same to you Yamato-sensei," Naruto wished before he disappeared into a swirl of leaves.

Hokage's office. Half an hour later.

Naruto appeared in a swirl of leaves next to the window to the Hokage's office and knocked on it with a slight smile. Hearing a heavy sigh, his smile widened.

"Come in Naruto-kun."

Opening the window, Naruto quickly jumped inside and spotted the Hokage with Tsunade standing next to him, "Huh, baachan, you visit the old man quite often, are you planning to take the position of Fifth from me?"

Tsunade sighed, watching how he closed the window, "You pick up the worst from your teachers… I am here to report on preparation for the final stage of the exam."

Naruto's mouth formed an 'o' and he turned to the Hokage, "I forgot about it. When will it happen?"

"In a week. Most of the participants in the final shinobi exams are Konoha's, so I don't think there will be any problems," said the Hokage, "You can tell your girlfriend and friends the news."

"Will it be the same event as last time?"

"No, it's going to be a closed event, but I think you can be passed inside to watch your girlfriend fight," Hokage smiled and winked at Naruto making him laugh.

Tsunade sighed again and sat down in the chair next to the Hokage's desk, "You are spoiling him too much, Sarutobi-sensei."

"Maybe…" The Hokage took the phone out of his locker, "Did you get Jiraiya's message?"

"Yeah. I want to finish with the Rasengan and a few of my fuinjutsu first," said Naruto, "Right after that I will head to Mount Myoboku."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"Rasengan? Few weeks at most. Jiji, it's becoming something amazing! So much power…"

"Few weeks for what the Fourth has been trying to do for years…" Tsunade muttered.

"I'm just that awesome. And that's not a few weeks, that's almost two months."

The Hokage took a drag from his pipe and released a cloud of smoke with a smile, "Awesome you are, Naruto-kun. And what about your other projects?"

"I guess I cannot master Water affinity to the level of the Wind, no matter how much I try, so a few more weeks and I will move to the next affinity. As for the fuinjutsu, my Teleportation seal is far from being done, and the Jutsu Eater is almost ready. Few years for the first and a month for the last."

Lowering his eyes to his desk, he took another puff, this time much longer. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Hokage's silence and was about to say something when he exhaled again and looked into his eyes, "I would like to apologize to you Naruto-kun."

"What?" Now Naruto was confused, "For what?"

Putting the pipe down in front of him, Hiruzen rubbed his forehead, "Looks like my age is catching up with me, it's true they say you can't escape time." Without meeting Naruto's eyes he continued, "I completely failed to realize how badly information about your jinchuriki status was going to impact your life."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this and turned his head to Tsunade. But she continued to look at the Hokage with an unreadable expression, "What do you mean..?"

"It was never my intention to turn the entire village on you, but my actions have led to just that. The Fourth's last wish was for you to be viewed as a hero, who helped to save the village. So, naturally, I followed his wish and shared his request with others. I didn't expect such an outcome." Hiruzen continued, looking up at Naruto's face, "The fault for your treatment by the village is totally mine. I underestimated the hatred of the inhabitants of Konoha to the Kyūbi. This is the worst blunder of my entire life."

Naruto smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head, "It wasn't that bad, Jiji."

"Living alone at the age of thirteen is already an incredibly difficult experience, Naruto-kun, and the cold treatment from the residents of the native village would make it even more difficult. Your always cheerful facade easily calmed any of my worries, so I didn't make much effort to help you." Sighing, Hiruzen picked up his pipe again, "The only possibility I see for even a small apology to you is to support your dream of becoming Hokage. Of course, if you haven't changed your dream yet?" Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but quickly shook his head in denial, making Hiruzen let out a chuckle, "I have already informed my advisors about my decision. You are my official successor, Naruto-kun."

Naruto widely gaped at him and heard Tsunade chuckling at his side. Turning to her he asked, "You knew?"

She did not answer and let Hiruzen continue, "The only reason for you NOT to become Hokage is if I die before you reach jonin rank, and even then, my advisors can't ignore you for too long. Anyway, I doubt you'll keep me waiting. Will you?"

Naruto stood with his mouth open for a moment before his face broke into a wide smile, "Of course not!"

Hiruzen chuckled and enjoyed Naruto's flamboyant smile for a little, but after a few moments he turned somber again, "Now… I have something more to tell you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his gloomy tone and Tsunade's sad expression, "You are giving me goosebumps, Jiji, how much else do you wanna dump on me today?"

"This matter is concerning your heritage, Naruto-kun." At these words Naruto's face turned neutral. "I can finally reveal this secret to you. As Kakashi already told you, you are an Uzumaki. But not fully, as your father was from a different family."

Tsunade watched Naruto's expression closely, but he seemed to be completely calm outside.

"That was a secret for your own safety, to be revealed only once you become chūnin and deemed to be responsible and strong enough to protect yourself. Basically, it included information about your tenant, but Mizuki already covered that one." Looking straight into the blue eyes of Naruto, Hiruzen continued, "Your mother's name is Kushina Uzumaki, she was an incredibly powerful kunoichi of Konoha and the previous container of the Nine Tailed… Vixen. She was happily married to the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, Minato Namikaze. Your father."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly and he heard a light clicking of the tongue inside of his head.

"I should have guessed. You kinda look like that bastard."

"When your mother, Kushina, was giving birth to you," Hokage continued, "All kinds of preparations were done to ensure your and hers safety. As well as the village's. But due to unknown circumstances Kyūbi got freed from her seal and killed all of the eyewitnesses of your birthday." Pausing briefly, Hokage let out a heavy sigh, "Rest of the story you already must've known. Minato and Kushina sacrificed their lives to seal the Kyubi in you."

Naruto stayed silent for a while, but after a few seconds he heard Kurama's voice, "After getting out of the cage I remember seeing the cursed sharingan and then nothing, until your father dispelled genjutsu and tried to seal me."

"Sharingan..?" Naruto murmured, confusing Hiruzen and Tsunade, "Does this mean somebody intervened in the process of my birth to control you? Who could that be?" Asked Naruto, but no answer followed from Kurama.

"Naruto?" Tsunade gained his attention by saying his name, "Are you speaking with Kyūbi right now?"

"She said that somebody with sharingan controlled her right after she got out from the seal."

Hiruzen's face hardened, "So that was true…"

"What?"

"After Kyūbi's attack, high ranked shinobi believed that Uchiha's clan was responsible for the attack. My advisors believed so too."

"Could that be Itachi? He killed his own clan, maybe he was planning to kill everybody in the village?" Thought Naruto.

"Impossible. Squirt was what, eight at the time? He was no way strong enough to control me."

"Who is strong enough to control Kyūbi? I can't even imagine it…" Naruto looked between Hiruzen and Tsunade.

"We can't know for sure." Answered Hiruzen, "Maybe that person is already dead."

Few minutes of silence later, Naruto sighed, "Well… Do you have some other mind blowing things to tell me?"

Hiruzen shaked his head, "Sorry for letting it all out at once, but I got you promoted partly to tell you this."

Nodding, Naruto turned to the window, "Thanks, Jiji, that was rather interesting information. Goodbye, Baachan." Not waiting for their reply he disappeared in the swirl of leaves, leaving the window opened.

Tsunade turned to Hokage with a small smile, "Were elders against him becoming successor and knowing the truth?"

"Heh, one mention about how he saved this old man's life and they silently accepted all of my decisions."

At the Hokage's Monument.

Naruto arrived at the Fourth Hokage's head in a swirl of leaves and wasn't surprised by Hinata's presence here as he sensed her a little while ago, "Hey, Hinata-chan."

Hinata happily turned to his voice but frowned when she saw his sad smile, "Hi, Naruto-kun. Did something happen?"

Scratching his head he sighed, "From where can I start..?"

Two days after that.

Iruka was having a great weekend. He relaxed in his home the whole time, just reading some books while listening to music. But after some time he got a little bored with the books that he had at home.

So, taking some snacks with him he headed for a library, hoping to find some entertaining books for him to read.

Imagine his state when he saw Naruto, of all people, calmly sitting in an empty library and reading some books. He was surprised, to say the least!

"Naruto..?"

The whiskered chūnin, as Iruka loved to proudly think of him, raised his head and smiled at Iruka, "Hey, Iruka-sensei. Long time no see."

Sitting on the stool next to him, Iruka threw a glance at the names of books on the table, "Learning geopolitics? Seems like you are taking your dream seriously, huh?"

Naruto scratched his cheek and nodded, "Jiji gave me a giant list of books to read and learn, so I am spamming clones to quicken the process a little." Turning a little sad he sighed, "The headaches at the end of the week are insane."

Getting a little worried, Iruka asked, "Is this safe then? Maybe you shouldn't over exert yourself?"

Smiling again, Naruto shook his head, "Kyūbi's chakra will heal me faster than I can damage myself."

Iruka was still a little worried but turned his attention to the opened book in front of Naruto. Smiling a little he looked back at Naruto, "What about a little test of your knowledge? It will help with your learning."

"Huh, I suppose it would be nice." Answered Naruto and gave to Iruka his book.

"The best way to learn something is through the tests, Naruto," started Iruka, while researching a book that Naruto gave him, "Active engagement with material, such as testing your knowledge, reinforces learning. When you actively apply what you've learned, it becomes more ingrained in your memory." Closing the book he asked, "Let's start with something simple. Name the capitals of Five Great Shinobi Countries."

"Hi no Miyako in Land of Fire, Kaze no Toshi in Land of Wind, Raidenburg in Land of Lightning, Mizu no Kyojin in Land of Water and Tsuchioka in Land of Earth"

"That's right, now, what about Land of Rain?"

"Amegakure. Village of Eternal Rain. Though it was not always a capital. Hanzo the Salamander killed the daimyō of their country and established a dictatorship with capital in their ninja village."

"True, now, what do you know about our country?"

"Like, form of government, etc?" At Iruka's nod, Naruto continued, "Well, in the head of the Land of Fire stands Kazuhiko Kagetsu, our daimyō. He controls pretty much everything. All different ministries and departments directly answer to him. Daimyō's position is inherited, so his son is probably the next daimyō, as he is the sole child." Making a little pause he hummed, "Konoha is the Land of Fire's army village. We, shinobi, don't have any taxes on us, though civilians have to pay theirs. In exchange, we swore to protect the Land of Fire with our lives."

Iruka nodded, "What about demographics?"

"In the Land of Fire lives at least seven hundred thousands of people. But the number of shinobi is secret, known only by higher ups. I guess at least ten thousand. Seeing how in previous shinobi wars thousands died from both sides… It doesn't really prove anything though."

"What do you know about Hokage?"

"He controls all shinobi in the Hidden Leaf. He approves missions, he supervises village's defenses, he monitors his higher ranked shinobi, he helps with civilian matters from time to time. Jiji is cool."

"Hahaha, that's true. Now, let's talk about clans…"

On the next day.

Naruto, dressed in a black and orange kimono, walked hand in hand with Hinata, who was wearing a beautiful lilac kimono. They took their time and walked down the street when Hinata turned to him with a small nervous smile, "I was so happy when you invited me to the wedding that I forgot to ask… Why did Hayate-san and Yugao-san invite you?"

"I… helped Hayate at work. A little." Hinata raised an eyebrow but said nothing, "He must have been feeling grateful or something."

Hinata nodded and turned her head back to the road ahead. She noticed people looking at the two of them with smiles, her cheeks turning a little red, but she also noticed people looking at Naruto with cold eyes and those that just ignored them. "Why are they…"

Suddenly she felt Naruto's hand tighten around hers and she turned to him. He smiled warmly, barely showing his teeth, "Don't pay attention to them…"

Hinata pouted and looked at the ground, "You read me so easily with your sensorics…"

Naruto smiled cheekily and lightly planted a kiss on her cheek, "I feel your emotions even without it. After all, my attention is focused solely on you." He smiled wider when Hinata didn't blush any harder at his words, instead she smiled and straightened up a bit, looking ahead.

After some time, they reached the venue of the wedding and immediately noticed a bunch of different shinobi. Some of them they knew, and some they saw for the first time. Naruto sensed Hayate behind a small crowd of people and Hinata told him to congratulate the bride and groom.

They walked up to the crowd and immediately a cheerful Anko jumped up to them, "Hey kids, how are you?"

Hinata smiled and greeted her, "Everything is fine with us. Are you here alone?"

Anko smiled wider and pointed a finger in the direction where they noticed Kakashi sitting at the table next to a member of the Akimichi clan, "I was able to take the dog for a walk."

Naruto laughed and felt Hayate's chakra close in on them.

"Naruto-san… It's nice to have you here," he said, holding back a cough and holding out his hand to Naruto.

Naruto shook his hand and noticed a woman with purple hair and a gorgeous white dress next to him, "It's nice to be here. This is Hinata Hyūga, my girlfriend."

Hinata bowed slightly as Hayate and Yugao smiled, "It's great that you came, I wanted to thank you in person, Naruto-san." Yugao said, "If it wasn't for you, this wedding might not have happened…"

Naruto scratched his head and nodded slightly, "You're welcome..?"

Yugao chuckled, noticing the curious stare of Hinata, "Well, let's not embarrass the young couple, let them have fun." Taking Hayate's hand in hers she pulled him away towards other guests.

Hinata narrowed her eyes at Naruto as they stepped aside with a small smile, knowing he could feel her gaze and emotions. She smiled even wider when he blushed a little.

They spent the rest of the day talking among themselves and with their friends whom the bride and groom also invited. Or their parents. That's how they met Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba, who, after talking with them for a while, went their separate ways.

Hinata was surprised to see Karin talking to some girls older than her, but it turned out that she had also been invited by Naruto.

As the procession came to an end and people began to disperse, Hayate and Yugao came over to say goodbye to him and Hinata. Wishing them the best, Naruto threw one arm around Hinata and disappeared into a swirl of leaves.

On the Hokage Monument.

"Isn't this the best place in all of Konoha?" Naruto asked, holding Hinata in his arms.

"As long as I'm with you, any place is the best in the world," Hinata said, enjoying the view of Konoha in front of her. The sun had already set, so they did not have time to see the sunset. Turning her head to Naruto she smiled, noticing the blush on his cheeks, "So cute…"

"Since when did I start blushing in our relationship?" Naruto looked at her and suddenly remembered something, "Oh! I wanted to ask you to stroke my cheeks!"

Hinata was a little surprised at the change of subject but quickly regained herself, "Cheeks?" Naruto blushed a little and scratched the back of his head. Hinata chuckled and sat down on the slightly cold ground patting her lap, "Here."

Naruto sat down next to her and turned to rest his head on her lap. Hinata carefully lowered her hand to his face and ran her fingers gently down his cheek. Her eyes lit up with stars when she heard a soft purr from Naruto and she saw him close his eyes with a satisfied smile.

Enjoying Hinata's touch, Naruto thought to himself, "Not one iota worse than you, Kurama." He heard her snort and smiled a little wider.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm?" Naruto looked at Hinata, who was looking down at Konoha and gently running her hand over his cheek.

"I wanted to ask for a long time... When you told me about the Kyūbi, you said that your relationship was bad at first- "

"It's better now," Naruto cut her off.

Hinata stopped her caresses for a second and looked at Naruto's face. He closed his eyes again and seemed unwilling to continue the conversation further. She sighed and started playing with his hair.

"Hey, about the Nature Transformation of chakra…" A sleepy voice sounded in his head, "I think I got something. Don't forget about it, because I will."

"Heh, alright."

Naruto felt himself drifting off to sleep and with a little yawn decided to get up, "I don't want you to get sick sitting on the floor for so long. Let me get you home, Hiashi-san will also be pissed if we come back late."

Hinata gave a small nod and got to her feet, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked…"

"What? Oh, no, it is fine! It's just…" Scratching his head, Naruto suddenly deadpanned, "Why am I even trying to hide anything from you? Take my hand." Naruto held out his hand and Hinata gently placed her palm at his, "Actually, let's sit under that tree, it'll be better that way."

Hinata raised an eyebrow but nodded and felt him lift her off the ground. The next second she noticed that she was on his lap under a large tree, "What are you trying to do?" She tried to control herself, but a small kinky smile and blush appeared on her face.

Naruto smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, taking her hands in his, "Close your eyes and relax."

Hinata did as he said and for a while she enjoyed the warmth radiating from Naruto's body with her eyes closed. Suddenly, she felt a small flow of Naruto's chakra in her chakra system and noticed that the light breeze stopped blowing in her face and the sound of dripping water could be heard nearby. Actually, it was not his usual chakra…

"You can open your eyes now," she heard Naruto's voice.

Opening her eyes, the first thing that caught her eye was a huge gate that separated a ginormous, dimly lit room. Immediately after that, she noticed the reddish-orange hair of the most beautiful woman that she had seen in her life, "Wow…"

The woman smiled and came a little closer to her. Reaching her hand to her chin, she lifted Hinata's head slightly higher and looked deeply into her eyes. "Hello there, little one." Hinata was fascinated with her crimson slitted eyes and did not even notice their proximity.

"Enough trying to seduce my girlfriend, Kurama," reminded Naruto of his presence, slightly squeezing his hands around Hinata.

Kurama smirked and lightly pecked Hinata on the cheek, "Too late, she's already in love with me."

Naruto turned to Hinata with a fake hurt expression, "What? Is that true, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata shook her head violently and shouted loudly, "No-no-no!" Wrapping her arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly and frantically began to kiss his face, "It's not true! I only love Naruto-kun!"

Suddenly she heard chuckling from Naruto and the woman behind her and looked up to feel his lips on hers, "I love only you too, Hinata-chan."

Hinata's eyes turned into hearts as she melted into his kiss, but after a few seconds she pulled herself together and turned to face the woman Naruto named Kurama, "But where are we? And who is she?"

"We are in the seal that restrains the nine-tail beast, and this, in fact, is her," simply answered Naruto with a smile on his face.

Hinata's eyes widened as she processed his words, "Wh- Kyūbi..?"

"Kurama," Kyūbi introduced herself with a small smile.

"But I thought that…"

"That Kyūbi is a big and bad demonic fox?" Naruto asked and Hinata nodded slightly, "Well, you're wrong. Like most people in Konoha. Kurama is a sweet little vixen."

"I can still rip your tongue out for that comment."

"Hahaha!"

Hinata gulped a bit and rose to her feet, "N-nice to meet you, Hinata Hyūga." She greeted, bowing deeply.

"I share all of Naruto's feelings, knowledge and experiences, I know everything about you that he knows too."

"Oh, I see…"

"Kurama is helping me to learn fuinjutsu and is also in charge of my training with her chakra," said Naruto, still grinning widely.

"Red cloak on the final exam…"

"Yes! That's Kurama!"

"O-of course…"

There was an absolute silence in the seal for a while with Kurama observing squirming Hinata, but finally, Naruto sighed, "It's getting late, you better go home. Maybe next time you will open up to each other a little more…"

Hinata looked into the crimson eyes of Kurama when her surroundings blurred out and she heard a melodious voice, "See you later…"

As Hinata's form disappeared from the seal, Naruto prepared to leave too. But suddenly, Kurama placed a hand on his shoulder, "Wait."

Turning to her fully, Naruto was a little surprised when she pulled him in a hug. Hugging her slightly bigger form, he froze when he heard her next words.

"I'm sorry."

Feeling her soothing caressing on his back he relaxed a little more. Then the next sentence made him tighten the hold around her a little more.

"For your parents. I am truly sorry."

Trying to look at her face, Naruto broke off the hug, but he saw only Hinata's small frame and Konoha's night view. Getting to his feet, Naruto carefully adjusted Hinata in his arms and disappeared in the swirl of leaves.

Few seconds later.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that she was in Naruto's hands next to the Hyūga's Estate. Getting to her feet she sighed a little, "That was a little nerve wracking… She has so much chakra that it's suffocating." Turning back to Naruto she smiled, "I'll prepare for our next meeting and will not freeze like I did today."

Naruto grinned widely, "I'll drop by tomorrow after training?" Hinata nodded in response so he pecked her on the lips, "Then see you tomorrow."