Chapter.) 3: Cold reception.

"I never liked the cold, but when I got used to using neural physics which is a precursor to chakra. that's a trademark of my species, I started to use it manipulate my bodies external temperature if I'm either in the vacuum of space or extremely cold regions of worlds we visit or inhabit."

"Speaking of Chakra, I found this concept from the ancient Humans that we watched over and guided to their true potential. In essence there were the seven chakra points, or the 8 inner gates which is what they are call by my beloved eternals which are limiters for their bodies flow of chakra so the burst of energy doesn't burn up their bodies or disintegrate the smaller chakra nodes and coils. But what they don't know is all the gates can be opened completely and permanently, not do what I said previously, to achieve this one must have true mastery of each gate including the understanding of what the colors of each gate are, if not the user will only get a strength and speed increase."

Planet: Takamagahara.

Date: April 16th 1870, (A, S) shinobi calendar.

Time: 1238 hours.

Location: Hi no Kuni and unclaimed territory border.

"Hey dad, why are we going through the unclaimed territory?" Questioned our blond hero as his father was working on some sort of mechanism that looked like a carriage that was made of metal along with six wheels that his dad called tires. Apparently they were made of a material called rubber that was flexible but durable, Naruto was interested in the whole thing's construction.

Minato who was under the contraption, giggled like a mischievous child while he heard his mother groan in annoyance. "Son this vehicle is the next mode of transportation for military and civilian life, but it's just a prototype at the moment. Therefore I'm testing its capabilities with this trip, I call it the water and land chakra powered carriage."

Naruto, his mother Kushina along with the three Anbu who were still wearing their masks had blank looks along with a sweat drop sliding down the side of their heads. Only one decided that he need to speak and his response made the rest nod in agreement. "Dad… that's a lame name! Did you even try to come up with a good name or did you just throw together what it does?"

The silence was telling and Naruto sighed, while his mother giggled. "Dad your a signer of the toad contract, how come you didn't call this thing an amphibious assault vehicle or (A.A.V) for short. I mean you're not going to give civilians something this heavily armored right?"

Minato was depressed that his naming sense was belittled again and by his own son at that, but the point his son had made sense. "Naruto, my son you have a good point, do you have any other names just for this type of vehicle."

Naruto made an expression of thought on his squishy six year old face that made Kushina and two of the Anbu who were female squeal at the apparent cuteness he generated. After a moment of thought Naruto giggled mischievously. "Why don't we call this design the salamander?"

Kushina giggled, while minato scurried out from under the now dudded salamander and stared at his son's mischievous expression. "You just wanted to name it that to screw with your god father don't you." The increased giggles from his son made him smile broadly.

Minato clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "Alright Since the renaming of my creation was sorted along with me replacing the linkage cable and covering it with metal plating then reapplying the reinforcement seal and water resistance seal. We should be ready to go.

Naruto cheered, in fain excitement. "About time, I want to get to Yuki no kuni." Exclaimed the blond boy while he jumped into the vehicle after having some trouble opening the decently large metal door.

Minato chuckled thinking his son was excited to meet a true princess, so he decided to tease his son. "Naruto you don't have to be so excited to meet a princess."

Naruto, who sat in one of the six seats that lined the side wall of the massive vehicle, looked at his father who just climbed into the driver's seat in confusion then spoke his voice flat, borderline monotone. "Dad… I don't really care about meeting the princess or the royal family in the slightest. The fire lord and his family have ruined the appeal, dattebayo!"

Minato winched at the memory, that made sense to yondaime. "I… see, well at least madam shijimi was fond of you. I feel she will put her husband in his place knowing that he married into the royal family."

Naruto giggled, remembering how sacred the fire lord was when he tried to keep himself as a servant. "Yeah! Auntie shijimi is scary almost as much as mom."

Kushina, hearing this, huffed and turned her head to the side. Minato chuckled, then asked why his son was so excited to go to yuki no kuni. "Then son, what are you excited about?"

Naruto smiled, while he bounced up and down within his seat. "I want to see what that blue light was that rippled through out the stratosphere."

Minato felt shock, but thought that his son had read a lot of his books he got from the creator. The rest were confused about what the boy was talking about until minato spoke with a frown. "Naruto, you know I told you not to touch those books, they are very important."

Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion. "I didn't touch those books dad? I have a new book shelf in my room that was loaded with books… I thought you put them in there?"

Minato was curious now. "Did the creator contact his son?" He decided to ask a question. "Naruto, did anything happen before that?"

Naruto squinted his eyes in thought trying to remember if anything happened before that. Perking up Naruto had a big smile on his face. "Oh yeah I had a dream about meeting this ginormous bug-like being, he has a face that looks like those weird water scorpions. Long massive arms that looked like it was made of metal and flesh then a bunch of small ones. He was really nice, even though he was big and scary. He called me the first eternal or something like that and the rightful inheritor of the galactic machine? Manual? Mantel? Of responsibility? And I needed to be ready for the horrors from the stars or something?"

Minato was convinced now that the creator was the one responsible for the massive leap in mental and physical development of the children of konoha. Kushina looked confused but saw her husbands look of comprehension and decided to asked/Demand him to explain later. "Naruto…" spoke his father slowly. "Did he tell you anything else?"

Naruto nodded his head rapidly, gaining a chuckle from his father. "Yeah! He told me that we're not using chakra to its fullest capa… capable."

"Capabilities?" Minato helped his son find the right word.

"Yeah!" The blond cheered. "He said there's far more to chakra then we know. And he told me that the inner gates aren't just limiters to our capabilities, but he said that we have to be one with nature to fully understand how to nagging… navigate! How to use the inner gates properly."

Minato was curious, but put his thoughts to the side. "Well we'll be in yuki no kuni in about 13 hours, buckle up and let's go." Hearing the clicks of the seat belts the blond man placed his hands covered in chakra, its yellow color onto the steering wheel activating the vehicle.

A slight hum and some lights, lighting up in front of his fathers seat was the only indication that Salamander was on. Naruto look through the cabin, it had four doors with windows that can go up and down. Two front seats which his parents occupied, in the back there was a generous amount of space enough for adults to almost walk up right with a ladder in the center that lead to a hatch. Naruto remembered that his dad said something about a gunner's mount. "I don't know what a gunner is but I feel like it would be fun." The blond thought to himself.

Continuing his inspection of the interior, another thing he found interesting that the back where he sat with the three Anbu, is the fact that it had seats for six on each side and if you want to maybe a few more if some sat on the floor. The back of the salamander dropped like a ramp for a quick release of forces. "I wonder how these would be implemented into the shinobi force, I mean it would be better to use for how the daimyos war to move all those samurai." The boy spoke aloud gaining everyone's attention.

Minato grinned when he heard his son, while his mother listened on with proud interest. "What do you mean Naruto?" Minato asked, interested in what his son had to say.

"Well the westerners use some type of projectile weapon, we could reverse engineer those weapons. And have an Anbu squad use them and this vehicle could be a mobile command center that could be a relay for the village depending on the range of the radio signals." The blond spoke excitedly, he had been playing this new table top war strategy game with shikamaru and Chochi… so war strategy had become an obsession among other things.

Minato is very interested in what his son is saying now. The blond father had seen the tabletop game his friends and him play. He did find it interesting with its unique way of teaching war strategies to the young. Out of all of his son said he found some carefully said words. "What do you mean? "We could." Reverse engineer those weapons?"

Naruto was nervous hoping his parents wouldn't get mad but it was too late. "Naruto-Kun you wouldn't be hiding anything from your Ka-Chan would you?" Sung the melodic voice of his mother which made the boy sweat more visibly. Looking towards his dad to see him acting like he wasn't involved and if he looked closely he could see his dad sweating too.

"Naruto-kun?" The sirens call echoed his name again.

Slumping in defeat the blond boy bit his finger drawing blood and wiping it onto a metal wrist band and to all adults surprise a puff of chakra smoke puffed out a hand held device. Minato's eyes widened when he saw the object, it was cylindrical in shape almost resembling a cannons barrel but smaller way smaller. Where his son's hand was placed was smooth and worked wood that seemed to have a spring mechanism where the junction of the metal and wood met, possibly meant to release the pin at the top of the barrel. Kushina on the other hand was livid that her son was playing with seals at his age, but was also confused that she couldn't sense the seal. The three Anbu were on guard knowing what that device could do, after seeing the westerners use them.

"Naruto-kun what is that device in your hand?" Questioned minato knowing what it is but haven't been able to get his hands on one. He was more worried that his son had one and how he got it.

Naruto was nervous, so scratching the back of his head with a sheepish look. "I bought at the capital, from this weird guy that kept going on saying that the empire was stupid for banishing him. I did ask him about it, and he said that his business partner set him up or something. And in my defense I thought it was a toy at first until the damn thing put a hole into a tree. After that I was obsessed. It wasn't accurate at all so I learned how to take it apart and put it back together so I can improve upon it. The man called it a flintlock pistol."

Kushina widened her eyes hearing what her son called it. Pressing some buttons the redhead's seat turned once it stopped she unbuckled herself and made her way to her cowering son who held up the device for his mother to take. Her slender fingers traced along the handle of the weapon before taking it and inspecting it with interest. "Do you know how dangerous this weapon is, how many life's it took from our shinobi forces?"

Naruto had a blank expression on his face. "With all do respect mother I am a child soldier born and raised to kill. I may be 6 years old but I understand what comes with being a shinobi, actually most of my class understands this fact. The teachers do talk about how this newest class has more dedication then the majority of the previous classes."

Kushina lost all her momentum at her sons words. She felt disappointed in herself as a parent for the fact her sons innocence was already tempered by responsibility and understanding of his position. Naruto could not live normally as a civilian, with both of his parents being high ranking shinobi and political figures. It was expected of him to continue the legacy if he liked it or not. So she and Minato trained Naruto personally, he was a fast learner and for her own opinion. Kushina herself felt that her son had photographic memory especially with his new eyes. Sighing, his mother handed the device back to her son, confusing him greatly.

"You're giving it back to me!?" The blond said confused.

His mother sighed again. "My son, you've impressed me with your maturity. So I believe you are responsible enough to know how to handle this flintlock safely."

Naruto smiled brightly at his mothers prais, looking towards one of the Anbu that had a inu mask. "Kaka-ni." The blond called out.

Gaining the full attention of said Anbu with the blond unbuckling himself and walking towards inu while handing him the device. "Here, take a look at it and tell me if you like it, I've got its design down mentally and on paper I jacked from dads study. I talked with the higrashi black smith, he said if I come by and work part-time to just deliver finished orders, he'll teach me his trade and I could use the smithy."

Kushina started to giggle, gaining a chuckle from minato. Re-taking her seat and turning the seat around to face the outside world, she continued to giggle. "You know he reminds me of you when we were younger." Gaining a frown from the older blond making his wife snort.

Minato pouted. "That old fart made me work my ass off for those damned Kunai, and all he's making my son do is deliver orders."

Kushina giggled to herself again, actually enjoying this little getaway with her family. But she will have her answer from her boys about keeping secrets from her.

Planet: Takamegahara

Date: April 17th 1870, (A, S) shinobi calendar.

Time: 2538

Location: shores of Yuki no kuni

It was an hour and a half ago when they reached shores. Minato once on shore, sent a toad messenger to the daimyo informing him of there arrival and were they are located. As a shinobi his training and experience have honed his senses to a fine edge, and the feeling he was getting made him worried until the radio crackled in. "We got contacted. their Yuki nin."

Rushing to grab the radio. "Are they hostile? I heard that Yuki daimyo's brother hates the five great nations." Minato waited for a minute for them to respond.

Then the radio crackled again "Negative… but they brought us a package."

Minato was curious now. "Inspect for traps if clear. Bring it to the campsite. understood."

"Confirmed, moving" radio sounded until falling back to its soft static.

Minato turned to see his wife cuddling their son like a stuffed animal within a sleeping bag.

"Let's hope it's not as bad as I feel it is."

It was fifteen minutes later the Anbu on watch bought 4 Yuki shinobi with slashed hitai-aids. That worried the fourth fire shadow opening the door of the salamander and hoped out and walked to where his Anbu were. That's when he saw a young girl with them. "This definitely isn't good."