บท 8: Chapter 8

Naruto was waiting in the dining room, trying to swallow his nervousness.

'It's just Jiji, Naruto. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out.'

He heard his mom opening the front door. "I'm glad you could make it!"

Then he heard the familiar and oh so nostalgic voice respond. It was a voice he hadn't heard for years and almost made him tear up just listening to it.

"Of course I would make it Kushina. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Now, what was it you wanted to show me?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto had not revealed himself yet.

"Well, it's a bit hard to explain but please come in first," she said.

The moment Hiruzen did, she activated all her privacy seals.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at this, curious at what it was that warranted such caution from the beloved wife of his late successor.

It was at that que, Naruto stepped forward from the dining room door.

Hiruzen dropped his smoke pipe.

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"This is…this is an unbelievable account," Hiruzen muttered, "Alternate worlds from our own, and your story. Fighting orochimaru, Madara, a goddess? It's…rather mind–boggling…"

Naruto had been more brief with the story with Hiruzen than Kushina due to time constraints, but he got the gist of it told. "I–I know, it's crazy even hearing it coming from myself but…it's true…"

Hiruzen looked down at his plate of food. It was half-eaten, so absorbed in what he was being told. "Yet your story makes sense. It all…fits together too well…else, how would you know that such a jutsu like the Edo Tensei even exists? How can you look just the way I imagined Minato and Kushina's son would look like? How would you know about the secrets of the Uchiha massacre? And things that if you say will happen in the future…if they're true…it's just…"

Hiruzen felt like a headache was coming. He looked at Kushina. "And you trust him?"

She nodded.

"Of course you do," Hiruzen shook his head. He knew just how desperate the Uzumaki matriarch was for peace over the years. He knew how much she struggled. He knew that the moment this…Naruto stepped foot in her home, she would jump at the opportunity to have him in her life, no matter how outlandish this boy's story was.

Hiruzen looked at the Konoha headband that was worn slanted to cover the boy's eye. "And that? What happened to your eye?"

Naruto showed him.

And Hiruzen could swear that he must be hallucinating. "Th–the rinnegan."

Naruto nodded solemnly. "The eye that belonged to my friend, and my enemy, transplanted by the best medic in the world."

"Tsunade?" Hiruzen queried.

Naruto shook his head. "Her disciple, Haruno Sakura."

Hiruzen's eyebrows rose. "She's currently the top of the grade in the academy, though her combat skills could use some work."

"She's a genius, Jiji," Naruto said, smiling at the memory of his old crush, "she deserves every opportunity you can give her."

Hiruzen stared at the boy, taking in the nickname he had for him. It was actually quite derogatory but this Naruto spoke to him in such familiarity that there was nothing but love behind his tone…yet there was also that sound of…longing…and of loss…

"You skipped over some parts, didn't you?" Hiruzen said.

Naruto looked down to his lap but he nodded.

"...How did I die?" Hiruzen asked, curious about this strange spun tale, with so many secrets exposed and facts true that it would be impossible for even one such as Jiraiya and his spy network to even discover half of it. The impossibility of it made it believable, though Hiruzen could still not believe his ears.

It took a moment for Naruto to get the words out and even then, his voice broke when talking about his grandfather-figure's death…directly to the very man in front of him. "O–Orichimaru killed you. He used Edo Tensei on the first and the second's corpses."

Hiruzen clutched the chopstick so hard it broke into four pieces. "That damnable student of mine…to think he would fall so far…"

"Wait! Just because he was terrible in my world–"

"--I know, boy," Hiruzen interrupted, "I know that if what you say is true, then the things of your world might not be completely true here. Yet, too much is similar for me to ignore."

That sat silently for a minute.

Then Hiruzen shook his head and spoke up, "Allow me to dwell on this for a few days. For now, let us finish this incredible dinner that you both made."

He smiled that grandfatherly smile that Naruto had missed so much. Then he looked towards Kushina. "As to honour all that you've done for this village, Kushina, I can assure you that this will stay a secret and no harm will be brought to…Naruto."

Kushina glared daggers into him. "If you harm even a hair on his head. You can kiss this village goodbye, because I'll wipe it off the map."

Had anyone else dared make such a threat to an acting Kage, they'd have been executed on the spot. But Hiruzen knew that the village owed this single individual more for saving it, even indirectly, more than thrice over. She was the only deterrent against other villages sending their Jinchuuriki to invade, with her Uzumaki bloodline being the single greatest counter to a bijuu, plus she was a seal master and an S-ranked Shinobi. Also, she was known as the Red Habero for a reason…her temper couldn't be contained, and comments such as this were…regular from her.

Hiruzen was also too old to deal with this shit. "Of course. Also, in regards to your ranking situation, how about we come up with a test for you, just to see how far along you truly are?"

While the boy had an outrageous story to tell, one that he was still in need of a long contemplation about, there was no denying his value. He had the rinnegan. Just that fact alone was enough.

Naruto nodded. "While I'm ready for anything, I have to warn you about something, Jiji. Hearing my life's story, what I've been through, I'm sure you understand that my duties and responsibilities belong not just to Konoha, but to the entire Elemental Nations. While I'm willing to reenlist as a Konoha ninja once more, I will not become a weapon of this village, but only a shield to call upon when the time is needed. I'll fight on my own terms. Is this…acceptable?"

Hiruzen smiled at the will the boy showed, the fire blazing in his eyes. He needed time to process the story he'd heard but he had no doubt that the boy was truly Kushina's son. As bizarre as what he said was, something in Hiruzen wanted to believe him, to dive into the possibilities of multiple worlds–no, universes. His scientific mind was itching, curious at the concept. He also wanted to believe that this boy had done what he said he had. If so, then Konoha's safety will be ensured as long as he lives.

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe. Kushina had allowed it this one time due to how stressful the situation was for him. "A shield…that's all we need, so I agree to those terms. First and foremost, there will be a written test."

Naruto slumped immediately, to Hiruzen's amusement.

"Then we're going to have you fight someone."

"What!/Really?!" Kushina and Naruto shouted at the same time.

They looked at each other.

"But–But–" Kushina knew how stupid the response 'it's not safe' was to a bunch of ninjas who fought for a living but this was her son! She'd not risk it.

Hiruzen raised his palm placating, "Worry not, Kushina. I think I have the perfect person for him to fight."

Naruto was eager, so much so that he was shaking a tiny bit. "Who's it gonna be? Kakashi? Gai? Asuma? or - or one of your Anbu?"

Hiruzen gave a smile that stopped Naruto's enthusiasm in its tracks. "Me."

***

Hiruzen had given Naruto three days for him to prepare and he would waste no time in getting started. Before the hokage left though, Hiruzen asked for a single strand of Naruto's hair for DNA testing purposes. Naruto agreed, seeing that it wasn't blood he was asking for, which could be used in a variety of terrible jutsu.

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Day 4:

The next day saw Naruto quickly eat breakfast and immediately back in the training grounds, trying once more to ignore the visage of his beautiful mother after waking up…to partial success.

Now he was in the area where he sparred with Hinata the day before.

"I can't believe I have to fight the old man…" Naruto muttered, "What if I accidentally hurt him? He is in his golden years despite still being strong as heck."

"Try your best Naruto!" Kushina shouted encouragingly from the distance, having set down a picnic basket and blanket to spend her day helping him. He'd aired his concerns about people spying on him whilst he was training which gave Kushina the perfect excuse to tag along and be his personal 'spy-sensor.'

She'd also give him one of those privacy wards just to be safe. He'd just stick the tagged Kunai on a tree and within a certain range all who viewed into his area would only see an illusion where no one was there at all.

With that, Naruto was comfortable enough to finally get things rolling.

He stared at his palm, channelling his chakra the way it has done thousands of times before. "Rasengan."

He'd heard his mother gasp in the distance as a growing, spiralling blue ball appeared in his palms. Naruto nodded to himself before striking a nearby tree with it. The back of the trunk, opposite of where the Ransengan had struck, burst out and disintegrated due to the kinetic energy flowing through it, whilst the site of the impact was neatly shaped into a small spherical crater. The tree promptly fell.

He'd be worried about tarnishing the environment of the training ground should he have not known that non-uprooted trees in Konoha would grow back to their original size within a week…due to some Shodaime bullshittery.

"Good," Naruto said, glad that his rasengan still worked. "Now, let's try this…"

Naruto realised that he was giving his mom a free demonstration of what he can do. She didn't mind it obviously but it seemed to bring her great elation that he managed to execute one of his fathers techniques.

Hopefully she won't freak out after seeing what else he did to it.

"Rasenshuriken."

The orb of spiralling death that appeared in his palm steadily grew almost double in size, accompanied by razor sharp wind blades.

Naruto glanced back at his mom and she had her hands covering her open mouth as it hung off her jaw. Her eyes were wide and glued on to the technique–his technique–that was being displayed.

Naruto smirked, almost preening.

He was showing off in front of his mom! And he enjoyed it! What was this called? Making your parents proud? He liked the feeling of it, that was for sure.

He tossed the rasenshuriken at a cluster of rocks. The rocks disintegrated on impact, just as everything around it did as the rasenshuriken grew into a giant dome surrounding it.

Rocks…didn't regrow…nor did the earth that was disintegrated beneath it….

…He supposed that it would become a D-rank mission for genin teams to repair. That was how things were done in his old world.

Once upon a time, the Rasenshuriken partially damaged his arm but through mastery and practice, he could control the violent tiny strands to a degree that would do no harm to him.

"N–naruto!" He heard Kushina call out, "That was awesome, dattebane!"

He almost stumbled as he heard the rather similar tic she had. He'd heard her say it before during the meeting in his mindscape but to hear if now from the source, the proper still alive source. It was…rather shocking.

He raised an eyebrow quizzically at his mother. She looked sheepish.

"Did you just–" He shouted.

"Carry on! Don't let me distract you!" She shouted back, interrupting him. It seemed that she was embarrassed that the tic slipped out in her excitement. Maybe it was because she was older now and wanted to be more elegant in her speech.

Personally Naruto didn't mind it.

"Alright…" he chuckled.

Now, he figured that the rasengan and rasenshuriken were only a viable option to use in the duel when he had to destroy something like an earth wall that was tossed his way. He couldn't exactly use it on the old man–it was far too deadly a technique.

"What's next," Naruto mumbled.

He didn't really have a large repertoire of jutsu but the few that he had, were mastered and deadly.

He had: Shadow Clone jutsu, Rasengan, Rasenshuriken, Sage mode…

He realised that after Kurama's separation, he probably lost the ability to use the Nine-tailed chakra mode.

Though he was too upset about that. If he had to pick between the jutsu and his friend's freedom, he would pick his friend's freedom a hundred out of a hundred times. Besides, with the way he feels now, he was confident he could take on Madara if he appeared in front of him right this instant. He had the experience and the ability to deal with such a threat.

He now also had other avenues to explore, mainly the Rinnegan's abilities. Good thing he found out about that training shortcut with the shadow clones, so he should be able to get it down in no time.

First though…

Naruto got into a meditative pose, sitting on the ground. Though he'd learnt how to draw in nature chakra even during his battles to make it last as long as the fight went on for, he still found that sitting in the pose helped with his concentration.

He needed to get this right the first time. He didn't have Fukasaku to bonk the Nature energy out of his head should anything go wrong. While he trusted in his abilities, it was better to be safe than sorry. "Shadow clone jutsu."

A single clone appeared next to him, in the exact same position he was in.

"You try it first," Naruto commanded.

"Osu," the clone said.

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With Kushina:

Kushina was glad she was able to accompany her son to his training session. It made her think that, perhaps, she could help by joining him. She, too, needed to get back into shape if she wanted to protect her son and have his back in a battle. But for now, she was content to observe, and boy was she amazed.

She was keeping a lookout for interlopers too, of course, but the immensity of her son's chakra, when he was not hiding it, was like bathing in the light of the sun. It was comfortable for her, knowing who it came from. Had this amount of chakra come from somebody else, she'd have left the village already to get as far away from the monster as possible.

When he'd performed his father's technique, the rasengan, she was so proud that even without them in his life growing up, he was still able to perform Minato's created jutsu. Then, he showed her the 'rasenshuriken' as he shouted out, and she was entranced. To think that her son was able to not only achieve but evolve the rasengan, showed mastery that even her late husband did not have.

She'd cheered then, letting slip her tic, much to her embarrassment. She was just too proud of him, of the man he became even after all that hardship he told her of that it felt like her chest was about to burst. There was also that warm feeling in her core–no, her soul– every time she looked at him. After all these years, a decade and a half, even, she was finally healing.

She sat and smiled constantly at her son. Her wonderful–oh, what was he doing now?

He'd sat meditatively and made a shadow clone. Then, after a few words were exchanged, the clone closed his eyes and began meditating.

Kushina, with the chakra sensing ability, felt something being drawn to the clone of her son. It was…a wild energy…intense unlike any other chakra form that existed in this world. She knew this energy. Minato had been able to utilise it but wasn't adept enough in his efficiency to master it.

No he couldn't be–

The clone smiled, said something, then popped.

Naruto, her son, the boy that was like the sun to her, both figuratively and literally, became…more.

She'd never felt chakra so densely packed together in a single being before. Even in her youth in the Uzumaki clan, no Uzumaki had reached this level of chakra density. Not even Lady Mito.

Not even…not even a Bijuu could match this…

'Dear Kami.'

It was like she was looking at a god…and she wasn't even trying to exaggerate out of pride.

Her son stood, then he exhaled, releasing the energy. He went to being just the sun again. Then he inhaled. And this time it was so much energy that she felt like she was going to drown. Exhale, it was gone. Inhale. Even more than last time. Exhale…it stopped going away.

Kushina realised that her son had found a way to perpetually cycle this energy into him, and how he was not turning into stone, she did not know. He was beyond being 'efficient' in using Nature energy, he had achieved perpetuity.

"N–naruto!" She said, turning off her Uzumaki sense before she became chakra-blind.

Naruto immediately released the sage mode, noticing her distress, and body-flickered to her, grabbing her shoulders.

"Mom! Are you alright?!" He asked, panicked.

Kushina set his mind at ease immediately.

"I'm fine, Naru-kun," she said, teasing the nickname he gave her yesterday. "Just didn't expect that much chakra coming from you. It overloaded my Uzumaki senses."

Kushina glanced toward the clearing where her son had just been. It was like nature had reclaimed the space around him for years. Flowers had bloomed, the grass was taller, the foliage denser, the tree that he destroyed with the rasengan towered over its original state.

"Will you be okay?" He asked worriedly.

Kushina smiled at her son and placed her palm on his cheek, of which he leaned into unconsciously. Her heart fluttered at the gesture. "I'll be fine in a moment, son. It's like having your ears ring after a loud noise. It'll go away."

Naruto gulped. "I–I see. To be honest, mom, I didn't expect nature chakra to flow that easily. The last time I did it, it took a portion of my concentration to maintain the energy inside me as well as creating the state of flow. Now…"

He stared at his hand, his bandaged, changed hand. "It feels…almost too easy. Scarily so."

Kushina hugged, comforting him in her motherly love. Naruto hugged her back.

"Don't worry son, we'll figure this out together," She promised.

Naruto squeezed her tighter, smiling into her hair, feeling reassured. "Thanks, Mom."

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With Naruto:

Naruto practised his sage mode again, trying to dial it down this time.

It was true, what he said, that nature chakra flowed too easily into and out of him now. Where before he could channel it and his body acted as sort of a conductor to the wild chakra, now he was like a giant sponge. He could take far more inside him than he could before.

He thought of why…then as if suddenly remembering something important, he smacked his head in surprise.

He remembered his fight with pain. One of the body's abilities.

'Preta path! It has the ability to absorb all forms of chakra!'

Naruto remembered how it was only used defensively in his fight against pain, but to think it could be used in this application as well…

Perhaps that was why nature chakra came so easily into him.

And his strength! It was probably because of the Asura path.

Naruto palmed where his eye was. Was he using its abilities unconsciously? He really needed to get started on that rinnegan notebook.

For now, he focused on controlling how much natural energy he took in. Good thing he had already achieved a level of mastery to reach the 'flow' state, as he named the perpetual intake and outtake of natural entergy, thereby allowing him to use sage mode permanently.

It was a scary thought–that pain could have been far scarier if he didn't split his paths into separate people due to his sick body, and if he could use sage mode like naruto…

Naruto shivered, because that was what he was becoming. He promised that the eye wouldn't change him, not like the way it did Nagato. He remembered scouring the Konoha archives after their fight and he came across a section which read: 'in times of disorder, one who wields the Rinnegan is sent down from the heavens to become either a "God of Creation" who will calm the world or a "God of Destruction" who will reduce everything to nothingness.'

Naruto couldn't promise to be either, but he could promise that he would try his best to make the world better.

Naruto breathed in, letting the energy of nature flow into him. He heard his mother gasp in the distance, but it was one of awe rather than pain. He'd already made sure that she was alright before he continued practising. Just as the rush of energy gathered within him, he breathed out again.

'Control.'

He'd already set multiple clones out to do the same thing.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

'Control.'

Naruto could feel a slight improvement in how much he was taking in, with it being less than it was before from slowing his cadence of breathing.

'Good.'

'Again.'

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"Naruto!"

Naruto snapped his eyes open.

"It's lunch time!" His mother called out.

Naruto smiled. He'd been at this for hours now and he was certainly getting the hang of it.

He was so far able to get the hang of a single breathing pattern–one for minimal sage chakra absorption. Though he was sure he could further separate it into multiple stages after more training. For now, this was good enough.

Even with minimal absorption, he felt ten times as strong as he did without using Nature chakra, which was already plenty. He didn't dare explore the upper limit of what he could take, knowing that it would without a doubt blind most of the Hyuugas in the village and alert any sensory tyres even for those not in fire country. It wasn't a point of arrogance, but a reminder of caution. He needed to be careful in showing his hand too early.

Naruto shunshin'ed to where Kushina was. She'd set out the bentos that she packed earlier this morning when he was making breakfast. Their mother-son kitchen tag team skills could use some work as they kept bumping into each other or getting in each other's way. They had time to improve. His mother even started making a game out of it by purposeful hip checking him every time she walked by. It was funny…until he did it to her when she was cracking an egg into a pan, making her miss it completely.

She threw flour at him.

He threw a banana peel back.

It concluded in a rather fun morning as well as a giant mess he made his shadow clones clean up, much to their grumbling.

"Wait," Kushina said, just as he was about to take a bite. "I sense someone coming."

Naruto waited for a moment, letting Kushina pick up who it was. "It's…a Hyuga?"

Naruto's eyes widened in realisation. "Ah! That must be Hinata-chan!"

Kushina's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Hinata…chan?"

'It's been three days, and he already has another vixen chasing after him?!'

Naruto had some explaining to do.

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