Royal Assistance

The sun was just about to peek over the horizon when Team 7 met their sensei at the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village. The boys seemed enthusiastic to varying degrees, but Sakura still had a bad aftertaste from her last conversation with her parents. Still, she was determined nevertheless. She would go through whatever Tanya had prepared for her and then ace the exam!

Tanya noted their presence with a mere nod before gesturing them to follow her. A bit away from the road, in a small clearing in the forest, there was a complex-looking seal drawn onto the ground.

"Each of you, stand in one of the small circles and drop a bit of your blood on the seal," Tanya instructed as she nicked her finger and put it to the ground. Unsure about the purpose, the three Genin followed suit. Then, they just stood there. A few minutes passed, but nothing happened. Sakura knew Tanya-sensei had to have a goal in mind with this, but something had to happen, right? But the golden-haired girl simply stood there in her part of the seal. She could see Naruto getting increasingly fidgety and almost felt him winding up to a barrage of questions when suddenly, the group got enveloped in a puff of white smoke. Sakura felt like someone had tied a rope to her feet and now flung her through the air like a flail. Her stomach rebelled and her head spun wildly.

'Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu!'[Reverse Summoning Jutsu]

After just a fraction of a second, it was over and her feet once more stood on solid ground. Somehow, she managed to power through the vertigo and remained standing.

"I welcome you and your disciples, Lady Tanya," a distorted voice greeted them. Looking up, Sakura could see the huge, white moth sitting before them that Tanya had summoned during her fight with Zabuza.

"Thank you, Kireiga. Please inform your mother that we have arrived."

The moth made a gesture that could have been an insect's attempt at a nod or a bow and fluttered off. As Sakura's brain caught up, she was able to take notice of her surroundings. They were still in a forest, but not the one surrounding the village. The trees were strange, consisting of thin, long trunks, and instead of proper treetops, they seemed to just have a set of four to six gigantic leaves growing out of them. She couldn't see it clearly though as everything was bathed in a thick mist. What had just happened? How had they gotten there?

"Woah, what is this place?!" she heard Naruto more exclaim than ask. Tanya put her arms behind her back and turned around.

"Welcome to the Great Dorīmudasuto Tree. The home of the moths."

"Tree? This is an entire forest!"

"If you refer to these…" she spread her arms, "those are offshoots growing out its roots."

She then walked up one of the 'offshoots', and the trio followed her. All four ended up on a leaf so massive that it was more like a large carpet and easily held their weight without so much as bending slightly downwards. Then, they saw it. In the distance, right in the center of the misty 'forest' was an absolute behemoth of a tree, big enough to dwarf a small mountain. Its crown was so high up in the sky that they couldn't even see it.

"It took some convincing to allow you guys to set foot here, so behave. Do what I do, and whatever happens, don't. Say. Anything!"

"Why not?"

"Naruto, I'm serious. You will be as silent as a falling leaf, or I will make you silent. If I have to rip your vocal cords out to achieve that, I will do it! I can get you through the exam without them."

What would have been an obvious hyperbole with anyone else saying it made the blonde shut up immediately, the only other sound coming from him being a heavy gulp. Sakura and Sasuke didn't even attempt to say anything; it was clear how serious Tanya-sensei was about this matter.

Jumping from leaf to leaf, they traveled closer to the tree. Sakura noticed that it was further away than she initially thought, meaning the thing was even bigger than it looked. They only closed in half-way though, after that, Tanya abruptly stopped and knelt down. The three Genin were confused for a second but almost immediately felt a bit of the young sensei's killing intent leak out, reminding them of her instructions. They hectically knelt down as well.

"I offer you my greetings, Your Majesty," she said with a submissiveness that was completely off of everything they knew about the golden-haired girl. Sakura wondered who she was addressing, but that was answered momentarily when a heavy, distorted voice reverberated over the area. It probably came from the tree, but Sakura couldn't see the one speaking.

"Welcome, little Tanya. We take it that these are the children she has taken under her wing?"

"That they are, Your Majesty. I humbly request your assistance as we have discussed."

"There is no need to do so, little Tanya. We are merely granting her that which she has earned."

Sakura didn't even want to imagine what would happen if she tried to call her sensei "little Tanya". In the corner of her eye, she could see Naruto shaking, probably giving his best to hold back his laughter. They all knew what would happen if he were to let it out.

Suddenly, a fine, silvery dust flaked down from the sky, setting down on Tanya's body for a moment, before it rose up again and formed two clouds. Soon after, the clouds solidified into two identical copies of their sensei.

"This marks one of her two privileges. She may use the other as she wishes, but she should not forget it."

"I won't, Your Majesty."

"Stay diligent, little Tanya, and one day, she may earn her entrance to our court."

"My deepest thanks, Your Majesty."

The voice grew silent. After a few more moments, Tanya and her two clones stood up, making the three Genin finally dare to move again and they jumped to their feet.

"What was that?" Naruto immediately blurted out.

"The Moth Queen, the ruler of this place," Tanya explained. "We've done plenty of team-building exercises, so now I want to focus on your individual skills, both physically and mentally. Two months is not a long time though, so I want to maximize our efficiency. But I can't permanently sustain two Shadow Clones without reducing my own capabilities."

"We on the other hand," one of the clones continued, "can be sustained by the Moth Queen indefinitely as long as we remain here."

"Which means each of you will have my undivided attention," the other clone added.

"Now, here is the plan," the original Tanya spoke again. "Naruto, Sasuke, you will stay here with a clone each. Sakura will come with me because her training will require us to switch locations a couple of times. Questions?"

"What was the Queen referring to at the end?" Sakura asked.

"I meant questions regarding training, but fine. While my contract allows me to summon her children at any time, summoning the Queen is something she only allows those that are granted a rank at her court. But while you work your way up there, you can earn certain one-time privileges. This is one of them. The other I will save for emergencies."

"These moths are so cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "Can we summon them, too?"

"Theoretically, yes, but not for now."

She turned around and pointed at the titanic tree.

"She only lets you sign the contract if you can make it to the top. And that is not something that can be achieved in two months, if you can even get so far in the first place. But back on topic."

She pulled out two scrolls and opened them. Each seemed to contain a seal similar to the one they had used to get here, albeit simpler. She instructed each of the boys to charge the seal with their blood and chakra, then they separated.

Tanya's clone lead Naruto to a point where a root had broken through the earth, the part above ground alone being bigger than a house. Water was seeping out from beneath it, forming a pond that fed into a small stream. This place was truly fascinating, but it was difficult to focus on that. He was way too pumped for learning new things. It was also hard to forget how the Moth Queen had called her 'little Tanya'. He wondered how the one behind that voice looked.

"So, what cool new Ninjutsu are you gonna teach me, Tanya-sensei?"

The girl put down her bag and rolled her eyes.

"For the record, you can't just solve your – many – problems by slapping more Ninjutsu onto it. For comparison, most Chūnin master one technique and know a handful of stuff beyond that. Knowing one thing really well is better than knowing ten things a bit. If you just stockpile whatever you come across, you'll end up as a Jack of all traits, Master of none."

"Wait, so… you're not going to teach me new jutsu?"

"That's not what I'm saying, I-"

"Then what you saying?"

"I'M SAYING I KNOW MY SHIT AND YOU DON'T! AND NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN!"

Naruto instinctively recoiled. Either the clone wasn't as good as the original when it came to suppressing her killing intent, or she had done it on purpose. Neither implied something good, so he quickly went quiet.

"Let me explain the issue in a way even you will understand."

From her bag, she pulled out a tea set and filled the kettle with water from the pond. She then placed the cup on a flat rock.

"Imagine this cup is a jutsu you wish to use, and the water is your chakra. To perform the jutsu, the cup must be filled completely. You're following so far?"

"I'm not dumb, Tanya-sensei!"

"We'll see. Now, if Sakura uses Ninjutsu, it looks like this."

She poured water from the kettle into the cup and stopped at the exact moment it was full.

"For Sasuke, it looks like this."

She emptied the cup and filled it again, but this time, she stopped slightly too late and the cup overflowed.

"Wait, so you are saying that Sakura is better than Sasuke?"

"If we're only talking about chakra control, then yes. Sakura wastes almost no chakra. But she also has much less than the average, so Sasuke still can perform much more than she can, even if he wastes a bit. But back to my main point: if you use Ninjutsu, it looks like this."

She now took out a bucket, filled it with water, and dumped the entire thing over the cup, knocking it off the rock.

"This is also why you could never create a proper clone, by the way."

"B-but I never had that problem with my Shadow Clones!"

"Yes, because that jutsu functions differently. As I already explained. Back on topic, we will first iron out your weaknesses, and then focus on a few things you are good at. Be glad that chakra exhaustion basically is a non-issue for you. We'll start by tackling both your lacking Taijutsu and your bad chakra control."

"Can I maybe later try and climb the-"

"No. Now, step one: transform into someone, I don't care who as long we're talking about a human."

Unsure what this would be for, Naruto thought for a second to use his sexy jutsu, but that didn't seem to faze Tanya in the slightest. Well, she was a girl, but even from women it usually provoked some reaction. A hot dude maybe? He knew he was walking on thin ice with this, but she had literally said he could take on whatever form he wanted, so she couldn't really get angry at him for it. Then he had an idea.

'Henge no Jutsu!' [Transformation Jutsu]

In a puff of smoke, he turned into a copy of Tanya, albeit with a few changes: his version has half a head taller, lacked the flak jacket, but instead showed off much more notable curves. Her reaction was… not what he expected. Rather than anything specific, she seemed to get thoughtful for a second. He thought about making a comment about his new form, but that would really be pushing his luck, so he decided against it.

"Alright, here is what we'll be doing. To improve your control over your chakra, you will stay transformed during the training, switching looks on occasion. No matter the situation, when I look at you, you will be transformed. Doesn't have to be something big, changing your hair color or something like that is fine, too. The important part is that the jutsu is active until you can keep it up subconsciously. By doing this simultaneously with your other lessons, your chakra control will improve over time. Oh, and just to be clear…" She twirled a kunai around her finger. "… should the concentration you spend on the jutsu make you underperform, or should your concentration break for whatever reason and dispel the transformation… that will be your problem, got it?"

Naruto gulped and nodded, starting to regret the form he chose.

Sasuke and the clone went to a spot without many roots that could probably be called this place's version of a clearing. While he didn't exactly show it, this space was highly intriguing to him. The moths Tanya-sensei had summoned so far, while strong, weren't exceedingly powerful as far as he could tell. Their big strength was the utility they provided her with. But even if they hadn't seen the Moth Queen, he could tell that she was something else if she even made Tanya behave like that and didn't even allow someone like her to summon her yet.

The tree itself was also fascinating. He had heard stories that shinobi who had a summoning contract could also let themselves be reverse summoned to the realm of their contracted spirit animals, but seeing it was something else. The seal and the blood had probably been there so the moth could summon him and the others without a contract, though seals weren't something he knew all too much about. It was once more a reminder that their young sensei hadn't even remotely revealed all of her arsenal to them, and he was ready to suck up everything she was going to show him.

"Activate your Sharingan," the clone said in a way that sounded more like a statement than an order. Sasuke complied.

"Two tomoe already. Alright, we can work with that. How much have you used them so far?"

"Not much."

"You should have. Your eyes are a powerful tool and a great asset, and we will dedicate a good portion of your training to them. It will also help you with learning new things, but keep in mind that you can only copy techniques you would be able to use anyway. For example, you wouldn't be able to copy any of my Wind Release techniques since you can't use the wind element. And while you might be able to use the fire element, you still couldn't copy my Liquid Fire Jutsu because your chakra control, while good, is not on the level you need for this technique. Regardless, they will make things easier."

Sasuke didn't like to hear the legacy of his clan being called a 'tool', but didn't voice his displeasure.

"For now, let's start with something simple, a warm-up for your eyes so to say. Take a good look."

Tanya stuck a bomb tag to the ground and ignited it. Before it blew up though she tore it off and scrunched it up. The paper gave off a hiss, but that was it. To the blank eye, it would've looked quite simple. But Sasuke had seen the details. The motion had been as precise as it had been quick, injecting chakra exactly at the right spots to disarm the ignition formula.

"Did you see it?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Good."

Before he could react, she pulled out another bomb tag, stuck it to his chest, and ignited it.

"Your turn."

"So, this is our training spot?" Sakura asked curiously. Tanya had announced that they would switch locations a couple of times for her training, she wondered what she had planned. Currently, they were on top of a mountain. In the far distance, she could see the village. The journey had been rather quick thanks to Tanya-sensei's moths, but Sakura had to admit that she had expected flying to be… better. It was likely due to the circumstances. Unlike Tanya, who had clearly been in control of her flight, Sakura had merely been luggage to the insect. Maybe one day, she could attempt to climb the tree and form a contract herself. Tanya-sensei didn't say it was impossible, just that they couldn't do it in the current time frame.

"For the first part, yes."

"The view is nice. It's a bit nippy though."

"Only during the day. It will get much colder at night," Tanya explained and extended her hand toward her. When Sakura grabbed it, she got surprised.

"You are so warm!"

"That I am. What can you tell me about moving the chakra in your body?"

"Chakra flows in the body through the chakra network, or Keirakukei," the pinkette recalled like she was reading from a book. This had been one of the earliest lessons in the academy, and she had thoroughly memorized it. "On this network are certain points called Tenketsu, from which the chakra can be used. But while it can be concentrated at any Tenketsu, it can only leave the body through the ones in the hands, feet, and mouth."

"Correct, although you missed one detail. The Hyūga can release chakra from any Tenketsu."

"Really?"

"Yes, but that's not relevant right now. What I'm doing right now is spreading the chakra evenly within my body and then imbuing it with the fire element to keep myself warm. For something on this level, you don't need an elemental affinity, so it doesn't matter whether or not you have a fire nature. Now, coming you your first lesson-"

"Um, s-sorry to interrupt, Tanya-sensei, but isn't this my first lesson? That's why we're in a cold area, right?"

"That's why we're here, yes, but this is not your first lesson. That's what you will be doing while we're on the first lesson."

"I'm… not sure I understand." If this wasn't her first lesson, why was she showing it to her?

"Then let me be clear," Tanya explained with a grin. "We start with your first lesson, and during that, you will also figure out on your own how to keep yourself warm like this. If you don't figure it out by sundown, there will be a high risk of hypothermia, so you better hurry. And be careful to not run out of chakra until then, would be quite pointless otherwise. Good luck."

The Hokage's office was quite full at the moment. Across from Hiruzen stood multiple Anbu, including the Anbu Commander, as well as Shikaku Nara and a currently very angry woman called Anko Mitarashi.

"So, the bastard is finally on the move again," she spat. "Do we know it for sure, Lord Third?"

"Not definitively. But Tanya claims that her source is trustworthy, so we at least can't ignore the possibility."

For just a second, the anger in Anko's eyes got replaced by a look of terror and she recoiled slightly. She got a hold of herself again right afterward, but for some reason, merely mentioning Tanya's name always seemed to make her uneasy. Unfortunately, she always refused to elaborate when asked. Well, at least she was able to mostly keep her composure this time.

"I have already sent word to the Kazekage," he added. "While Rasa voiced doubts about the validity of the source, he agreed that it was better to be cautious. He will assist with the security measures and will send an increased delegation with his Genin."

"Speaking of which," Shikaku chimed in, "something about all of this rubs me the wrong way. If he really wants to make a move against the village, why during the Chūnin exam?"

"Maybe he thinks sneaking in will be easier among all the guests?" the Anbu commander suggested.

"No," Anko countered. "With that perverse jutsu of his, he could walk past our Sensor-nin any time, he wouldn't need a distraction. He could stand right next to us and even I wouldn't recognize him."

"And I can think of a lot of reason why not to do it," Shikaku continued. "Since we rarely issue missions as the host, pretty much all of our Ninja will be in the village. On top of that, we have all the Jōnin-senseis accompanying their teams from the other villages, and during the last event, the Kazekage himself and a large portion of the Sand Ninja will also be here. I honestly can't think of a worse time to try anything. It only makes sense if the exam gives him a unique opportunity that outweighs all of that."

"And what would that be?"

"I don't know, that's exactly my issue. My other idea would be that he leaked the information intentionally to make us focus on the wrong date, but it's not like we'll be any less on guard on other days than normal because of this. Not to mention that we never worked with the Akatsuki before, so Tanya's contact wouldn't have been a reliable channel for him."

Hiruzen had to agree with his Jōnin commander, what he was saying made sense. But at the same time, not responding to this risk also wasn't an option. He was the reason why his former student was still out there, and he had a duty to make up for his failure. Just what piece of the puzzle were they missing?

Sakura thrust out her hand into the balloon she had tossed up, but rather than popping, it simply bounced off of her fingers. The sun was about to set, and her fingers and toes already were numb from the cold. Focusing her chakra at any part of her body was easy, but spreading it evenly under her skin wasn't, even if she wasn't forced to multitask. The balloon was already the third exercise they went through, not counting what she had to figure out by herself. And during all of this, she had to ration her chakra to still have something left for the night. Suffice it to say that she was already quite exhausted and tired by now.

Another attempt on the balloon failed, it just deformed for a second before the air pressure inside forced it into its round shape again.

Hang on!

Maybe she was going at this the wrong way. She ignored the balloon for a second and tried something new. Rather than manually spreading her chakra everywhere, she instead focused on her core and pushed her chakra away from it so it spread on its own.

It worked! Now she just needed to mold fire chakra!

… which she had never done and had no idea how to do it.

No wait! When they had trained together, Sasuke had performed a fire jutsu for her. If she could just recreate the feeling, she would-

She instinctively tilted her head and dodged a kunai that came from behind.

Back on topic. Fire needed fuel. Maybe if she imagined her chakra like that? When Sasuke had used the jutsu for her, he had first focused the chakra in the stomach, then in the lung. The latter was for the jutsu itself, so maybe fire chakra was created in the stomach? And while she couldn't decipher hand signs entirely, Sasuke used the 'Tiger' seal for all of his fire techniques, so maybe…

A soothing warmth spread through her body and brought the feeling back into her limbs. She had done it! It had taken her almost the entire day, but she had figured it out on her own!

"Not bad," Tanya commented. "I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to get it without any hint. We may be switching locations sooner than planned. Guess I'll better send notice to the Medical-nin."

"Medical-nin?" That was a rank Sakura hadn't heard about yet.

"Yes, ninja that specialize in Medical Ninjutsu."

"Medical Ninjutsu? Is that Ninjutsu that can heal?"

"Indeed, it is. It's no replacement for regular medical arts, but it can be life-saving on the field and highly accelerate the natural healing process. You know, for someone who always acts like a walking encyclopedia, your knowledge of Ninjutsu is severely lacking."

"S-sorry. But… does that mean I will learn Medical Ninjutsu?"

"Wasn't the plan. Medical Ninjutsu requires extensive knowledge and studying, otherwise, it'll do more harm than good, and there are other things I gave higher priority for the exam. But if you keep up that speed, we might be able to squeeze in the most basic basics."

Memories of her feeling of helplessness during the rescue of Team 8 flared up and stoked Sakura's motivation even further. No matter what Tanya-sensei threw at her, she would surpass her expectations! But… something didn't add up.

"Hang on, sensei, if it wasn't the initial plan, why are we meeting a Medical-nin at our next location?"

"Because you will need one," Tanya stated like it was obvious. She then quickly ran through a set of hand seals and vanished into a swarm of moths. Seconds later, Sakura heard a whistle that brought back really bad memories, followed by an explosion not far away.

"Next step," Tanya's voice echoed through the illusion, "keep up the warmth while breaking out of my Genjutsu! And don't forget your other task!"

Sakura's short-lived sense of accomplishment vanished. As would become a common occurrence in the next two months.

"Well, how was that?" Naruto asked proudly as he finished the katas I had shown him. It was weird to hear my own voice talk to me like that. I had no idea what he was trying to accomplish by transforming into an imagined older version of me, though I doubted I would look like that in a few years. I certainly hoped I wouldn't, assets like that would only be in the way. That didn't mean that, under normal circumstances, I would just let what he was doing slide, but instead of stoking my anger like it usually would, seeing him like this let my thoughts wander somewhere else. The transformation technique really was one of his forte. One needed a clear image for the transformation to work, and even then, it was easy to get the details wrong. But Naruto not only had no issues with that, but he could also easily modify the transformation or make up entirely new people from scratch, something many ninja struggled with. It was one of many contradictions about the supposedly dead last from the academy that I noticed, but now I had an idea for the reason behind it. And if I was right, I would need to change my tactic a bit. I would also be quite angry because it meant a lot of headaches of mine could've been avoided. But I needed to confirm it first.

"Acceptable," my clone answered. "Give me a second, then we keep going."

My clone held up its hand and a small moth landed on it. Well, small relative to the others, it was still large for an insect. The clone gave it an order along with some chakra and sent it off.

A fist connected with Sasuke's shoulder and made him stumble backward.

"I told you to keep your Sharingan active!" Tanya's clone barked.

"I'm… out of… chakra," Sasuke panted, but a punch in the stomach threw him back and made him collide with a tree.

"Your enemy won't care about that! Now use it!"

In an instant, she was in front of him again. In a last-ditch effort, Sasuke tapped into whatever reserves he could find inside of him and activated his Dōjutsu. It flickered to life for just a fraction of a second, but it allowed him to see through Tanya's attack and tilt his head to dodge. The fist connected with the tree and broke off a large piece of bark.

"See? Was it that hard?" his sensei asked with an evil smile. Sasuke didn't answer, he just slid down the tree and released the tension in his body. He had no idea what time it was, as the tree was perpetually surrounded by the same hazy twilight, but right now he didn't care. He was just glad to finally get some rest. Or so he thought.

"Next step: How to act when you run out if chakra in mid-combat. Now get up, we don't have much time before your chakra exhaustion will kick in! And after that, we'll go back to battle tactics while you recover!"

A sudden knock pulled Iruka out of his sleep. Tired, he quickly threw some clothes over his pajama and opened the door.

"Tanya?" he greeted his sister surprised. "I thought you said you would be gone for two months."

"Good evening, brother. And yes, I said that. This is just a clone. I require your assistance."

"Okay… you know it's the middle of the night, right?"

"If I didn't I would've gone directly to the academy."

"The academy?"

"Yes. Now go get your keys, I need to see Naruto's files."

Despite the late hour, Tanya managed to get Iruka's curiosity. He led his sister to the academy building, unlocked the door, and led her to the teacher's room. Tanya quickly took the files she was looking for and started reading. Her face hardened as she did so until she angrily closed the folder.

"This has to be a fucking joke!"

"What do you mean?"

The girl slowly turned her head to him.

"You know, people can be very susceptible to biased information. That's why propaganda works, after all. And while I'm very good when it comes to spotting it, I'm unfortunately not entirely immune to it. You see, Naruto's files paint a very clear picture. Pathetic grades, constant troublemaker, abysmal skills outside of strength and endurance, and while beginning his education earlier than most, he needed three attempts to finish. And I allowed myself to be swayed by this picture. But that's just half of what I have been seeing since. Naruto doesn't understand clear explanations, but once he can picture a topic he has close to no trouble with it. He has seemingly no fine control, but then he makes better transformations than most Chūnin. I can almost see his brain walking away when I try to talk with him about battle tactics, but in an actual battle situation, he is suddenly quick-witted and shows surprising ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking skills. He is somehow both talented and not at all at the same time."

"Okay, and… your point?" Iruka knew that Naruto wasn't someone whose values were more underlying, but that didn't change his performance at the academy.

"My point is: Naruto is definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed by any stretch of the imagination, but not to this degree. His problem in the academy was something else. So, tell me, dear brother: how the hell did none of you notice that the kid has ADHD?!"

"He has?"

"Yes, damn it! That's of course no excuse for all the trouble he caused, but maybe it wouldn't have come to that if the only teacher that cared for him wasn't the one with the least experience! Do you have any idea what I could have done, to what level I could have brought him by now if I had known that from the start?!"

His sister was pissed, but Iruka could fully understand her. While her words hurt, they were all true. When Naruto had entered the academy had been the same year he had started teaching, and Iruka himself had only been sixteen at the time. He had always tried to empathize with Naruto and didn't join in on the hate others showed him. But if Tanya notice it that quickly… had he failed his student?

"Then… what now?"

"Well, I know what I'll be doing: adapt my training plan ASAP and try to somehow make up for the time that could've been spent more productively! Though I'm not really sure how, it's not like he can split himself in four!"

She paused, and could almost see a lightbulb lighting up over her head.

"Actually, wait, he can. Can't be used for physical training, but in terms of control and skills… training like that would be suicide for anybody else, but for him… it could work."

"Um, what are you talking about, Tanya?"

"Nothing. I'm leaving, I have to hurry."

"What do you mean, didn't you say you're a clone?"

Halfway through standing up, the clone halted. A solid few seconds passed, then, without further comment, clone-Tanya dispelled herself and vanished. Iruka couldn't help but chuckle.

"I knew you would be the right choice, Tanya," he said with a wide smile into the empty room.

A/N: I planned to finish the Preparation Arc in this chapter but it got longer and longer, so I cut it again. On the flip side, that also means the next chapter is almost done, so it shouldn't take long.