Kapitel 5: Chapter 5
If there's one thing Naruto knew, it was that the Hokage had people watching him.
Most of the time it was for his own protection.
This time it was for both his protection and to keep an eye on any odd developments he might demonstrate after the 'incident' as Tsunade and Dan had taken to calling it.
One thing he couldn't afford was Jiji getting suspicious of him, it would cause him to waste too much time and would make things all sorts of complicated, too complicated.
So, obviously, he needed a place to get away from the prying eyes for a bit. Somewhere he could give his Anbu guards, wherever they were, the proverbial slip for a few minutes.
And this place was none other than his own bathroom.
It was the one place that none of his guards followed him, not only was it in the middle of the apartment so no one could really get in without walking through the walls and giving away their infiltration through the chakra spike such a technique would require, but there was the more obvious issue of privacy.
In a village full of people that could turn invisible, teleport, see through walls and find a million and one other ways to spy on you without being seen, it was almost an unwritten rule even without the hangups of basic human decency...
One Ero-sennin hadn't applied to the onsens in his own little version of the rulebook but, to digress.
He was now in his bathroom, doing something he was probably better at by this point, than breathing and walking at the same time.
Seals.
He was rapidly discovering that no matter how much he pushed himself there's only so much a four year old body is capable of. At the very best, he would barely be able to take on a seasoned gennin at this point. He was just too small, he didn't have enough power behind his limbs to throw a kunai or shuriken at blinding speed, or punch someone unconscious. A full on adult civilian could take his blows with relative ease and his Chakra reserves were nowhere near where they were when he graduated the first time so even his ninjutsu arsenal was limited.
He was good enough to pass the academy, that was for damn sure, but not much beyond that.
But...if there was one thing he could still do, it was seals.
And seals were more useful than people gave them credit for.
He wasn't gonna do a lot, that would draw way too much attention. He wouldn't even do something that would be visible for a while.
He was gonna start to condition his body for nature chakra.
Nature chakra was a potent, powerful force no matter who wielded it. It wasn't on par with the power he'd wielded when he and Kurama were of one mind...nothing ever would be...but it was a weapon he still had available to him. One that when mastered, was damn near unstoppable.
The problem with nature chakra of course, was its inherent risk.
You turned to stone.
As a rule, you needed massive reserves of human chakra to even attempt the technique, which was why it was so little known. Few ninja ever managed to have that much chakra, and those that did had other weapons in their arsenal that made this, little known hermit technique seem like a waste, especially given the amount of control needed, something that people of such reserves, didn't necessarily have in the first place.
When one first started training with nature chakra, that was the most dangerous part. Nature was everywhere, all around the person. So the moment one opened themselves up to that power, it was like opening a pair of massive floodgates and the whitewash is what normally took people completely by surprise and turned them to stone.
The key was, learning how to open those floodgates 'just enough' so as to allow the bodies own natural human chakra to "water it down" just right. Too thick and you're half an animal, too thin and its not having any effect.
There was no way he was gonna risk turning to a stone statue in the middle of his bathroom before he could even start getting ready for Tobi. He didn't have the chakra, he didn't have that stick to whack himself on the head, he didn't have anything.
All he had was a little seal that would act as a sieve. One that would slowly... trickle little droplets of that chakra into his system every day.
There was no guarantee it would have any long term effects, but at this stage, until time could bring about its natural changes he would hold out hope that this thing would give him a bit of an edge when it was time to learn to do it properly.
He'd traveled through time on more farfetched hopes...
He finished with a bit of a flourish, blowing lightly on the ink that now decorated his shin to dry it. Few people would look there.
It was only a few seconds before he felt that familiar, welcome friend coursing through his veins again.
Lowering the leg of his pants back down, he flushed the toilet to finish the theatrics show before stepping out into the hallway ready to get some sleep.
He was gonna meet his last teacher tomorrow.
-0-
Seven months.
In seven months the boy had burned a way clear through the academy's curriculum. Passing every test ever placed in front of him with flying colors. It was only written exams that seemed to give him any pause, but tests of strength, skill and stealth, especially stealth, he seemed to push right through them as though he should be teaching the instructor.
There had only ever been a handful of exceptional academy students like this. The prodigal scion of the Uchiha clan heads being the most recent.
Hatake Kakashi was the one before him, driven to such lengths by his own intense drive to be better than his father, who had brought shame to the prestige of the Hatake clan name.
Sakumo himself was another exceptional student, but it had only been expected. The Hatake clan was one of the last to join the village system, the last vanguard of the old way, the times of endless, unremitting war.
Compared to that, the academy was probably a relaxing warm-up exercise.
There were a few others that had managed to demonstrate well enough aptitude to push through the academy in quick succession. Nothing nearly as exceptional as a single year, but in two, or so, give or take a month.
But one thing, Orochimaru knew was that each one of these people, that pushed themselves so hard had one thing in common.
A drive!
They were driven to such extremes. It wasn't by choice, it wasn't by mere, happenstance. They pushed themselves because something made them believe that they had to do this. That they had something to prove, or accomplish.
With the Uchiha it had been a wish to get away from the clan. Fugaku was a strict disciplinarian even by clan standards, the young prodigy had sought the freedom of a gennin team, of missions that would extend their reach beyond the walls of Konoha.
The Uchiha had wanted an escape.
Hatake had wanted to outrun the memory of his father.
Sakumo had wanted to drive himself into the heart of Konoha and plant his clan's proverbial flag as to declare that even though he was not a founder of this village, none would look down or attempt to usurp the prestige of the Hatake a clan that had beaten back both the Senjuu and Uchiha's many times over the years...
But...for the life of him...he could not determine what it was that drove. Naruto.
And something was indeed driving him.
He stayed up all night studying ninjutsu scrolls, reading history books, sharpening his kunai, training. It was more than one occasion where Orochimaru and the Anbu guarding him felt compelled to put him to sleep with a genjutsu, ones that, every day were getting increasingly more difficult to pull off.
It would be years before he could, in actuality shrug off one of his sleeping illusions of course. But the fact that he was able to not only detect but offer at least a token resistance was remarkable.
He was no slacker when it came to the subtle art of genjutsu.
But still, the driving force behind Naruto's sheer...desperation in passing through this process as quickly as possible, or to be as strong as possible was one that he simply could not discern. Not only that but the ever present hostility he harbored towards him had not abated in the slightest. All his defenses came up like an iron wall whenever he even heard the sannin's voice.
Coming from a child, who's first impression was a toothless smile and a grubby, drool covered hand reaching for his hair; who with a giggle finally tugged on it hard enough to make him wince it was a startling change for him to witness.
In truth he was somewhat bothered by it.
Mostly because he knew just how easy such a look could grace many features.
He'd killed...a lot of people. Most Sensei knew about, and if he didn't Tsunade did...
But what he did in his professional life for the sake of the village...and worse...for his own ambitions had taken him to dark places...places he may not have crawled out of in one piece had it not been for key moments that had pulled him back from the precipice of oblivion he'd been standing on at points in his life.
If Naruto ever knew about those...then it would be very easy for him to look at him with those eyes.
Easy for him...for sensei...for a lot of people that halfway mattered.
And that did bother him in several ways. Not the least of which was that whomever had altered Naruto's memories might have at least, an inkling...and to give those memories to a boy...who's to say he or she couldn't just go blathering on to everyone?
That worried him
Still they didn't know...for now at least...and he was grateful for that.
He picked up a file, one that was steadily growing in size since he started it seven months ago, pulling free the pad in order to jot down the notes of this last week.
-Subject demonstrating remarkable aptitude for the academy stealth exercises...
-0-
"Naru-chan!"
The second he walked into the class, he heard Shizune's voice, finding her at the top row, seated next to a handful of other students.
He smiled, waving, and smiling a little more when he realized she had reserved a seat for him.
Marching up he laughed as she ruffled his hair.
"This is totally unfair you know." She bemoaned. "I gotta sit here for four years and you just up and get through this thing in less than one."
"I'm just awesome that way..." He replied, showing off those pearly whites as he took his seat.
Yeah well we'll see how well you handle Zae-sensei. She's the toughest teacher here.
"Yeah right." Naruto scoffed. She can't be on my case anymore than Iruka-sensei was when I was here.'
Shizune offered a shrug, her face saying just how confident she was in the fact that Naruto would be eating those words.
"That him?" The voice brought Naruto's eyes to the other side of his adopted sister, looking at a rather scruffy looking Inuzuka kid. No jacket like Kiba, a bit thinner than he remembered Kiba being too...though...come to think of it that could have been the jacket. His dog was definitely a sight bigger than Akamaru had been, reaching the kids knee already, whereas Akamaru had been small enough to prop on Kiba's head.
He squinted at the four year old. "He don't look so tough..."
Shizune smacked him on the shoulder. "He's four. What the hell did you expect?"
Sticking his tongue out and making a face Naruto let some of his natural immaturity shine through as he joined the rebuke in his own way, out of sight of Shizune of course.
"He's supposed to be taller."
"And you're supposed to be smarter." She deadpanned.
Naruto helped by continuing to make faces.
Before anything more could be said the doors opened.
"Sit down all of you!"
The words weren't shouted, they were barely even heard all the way up top where he, Shizune and some of the other students were sitting, but never, in his life had Naruto ever heard a room go as quiet as a crypt as fast as this room had.
Every student sat in their chairs like they were falling into a regiment's formation.
The woman that marched into the room was...not what Naruto was expecting.
She had something akin to a bowl cut hairstyle, like Gai or Lee, only long enough to reach down to her neck, chocolate brown hair, wrinkles that were as carved into her skin as Saru-jiji's, and the most distinguishing feature of all...
"She's practically shorter than me."
He hadn't realized that he'd spoken out loud until the room, as quiet as it was seemed to grow even quieter somehow and every eye swiveled around to look at him...how this was accomplished without anyone moving a muscle he'd never know.
Zae, as he remembered her name, didn't seem to let it affect her at all as she marched up towards her desk, speaking. "It seems they taught you a good grasp of the obvious in the lower academy tiers Uzumaki, now lets see if we can teach you something a little above the level of potty training.
It was a joke. One that pissed him off but that he knew quite a few people would have been laughing at. Hell, he'd be laughing at it, if he wasn't the victim that is.
So why couldn't he even hear a snicker?
He couldn't hear of see any movement.
In-fact...the only thing moving in the room, unseen to all was Inu, who winced in his hiding spot, remembering just what it was to take class with this woman.
"Well...now that our introductions are all finished we'll all be heading outside for some weapons practice."
Now the class started moving, smiles flitting about here and there at the prospect of abandoning these books for a little while.
Smiles that were quickly wiped clean.
"But before we get to that boring old stuff we'll have a fun little pop quiz to get those minds working! Doesn't that sound nice?" Zae chirped with the most pleasant smile you could ever see on someone's face.
The groans seemed to feed that smile.
Naruto could somehow tell, this was going to be a very miserable three months.
-0-
At the end of the day, as they were all getting ready to head on home, Zae-sensei's voice cut through the classroom chatter as easily as it had at the start of the day. "Mr. Uzumaki please stay here for a moment I'd rather speak to you in private."
Shizune threw him an apologetic look, but he smiled and waved anyway, what was the worst a teacher could do to him really?
He sat and waited, student after student filed out as Zae-sensei gathered her own things getting ready to leave herself.
Finally, as the last of the student's left. "Sorry I called you short." He said.
"You didn't call me short. You called yourself short while comparing my height to yours. And there is a difference." She replied, finishing gathering her things before she grabbed her papers and walked up to him.
She stared at him for a second or two before she pulled her glasses free from the bridge of her nose and wiped at them. "Now, I'm going to give you the same speech I've given to more students than I should have since I've been teaching here and I expect you'll, in the end, prove as stubborn as they were and give me roughly the same answer and quietly mutter about how I don't know what I'm talking about but- holding out on a prayer, here goes nothing. Might be, you're the first surprise. How bout you go out and play for a few more years, Hmmm?"
Naruto blinked, the question, put so strangely caught him a little flat, making him answer the first thing that came to mind. "There's no time for that!"
"Now, that's a curious answer, because now is the time for it. Later is when there won't be time! You're four years old, you shouldn't be in here training how to slice open a man's neck but out there-" She looked like she was about to go on something of a tangent when he interrupted.
"I'm not quitting." He appreciated the thought, really. But she just didn't understand, no one would understand that he really didn't have any time. Every second was precious.
She made a bit of a face, half exasperated, half resigned. "Well...at least you don't seem as stiff and boring as the last two of you that came through here. We'll see each-other tomorrow then."
Naruto nodded, hopping down from his seat to walk out of the class.
Zae waited for him to leave before turning her eyes to the side, peering into a corner of the room. "Kakashi"
She could almost feel said corner stiffen.
"Be a dear and do your old academy sensei a favor, could you get in contact with Oro-kun and tell him to get in touch? He never writes anymore."
There was silence for a moment before the corner spoke. "How the hell do you do that?"
She smiled. "Because my dear no matter how old you get you never forget the basics..."
She began to leave.
"I'm not boring you know!"
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