Two months flashed by. The uproar over the Hyuga killing never stirred the village for long.
A new year began. Naruto turned five.
It was not only an extra candle in life. Under his father's guidance within the seal, his strength had leapt forward these two months. By Konoha's scale he already brushed the level of a genin, though his taijutsu was not yet reliable.
Because the watch never truly lifted, his days were split. In the seal he learned ninjutsu from Minato. In the Mirror World he challenged puppet foes again and again, grinding his edges sharp. The virtual battles felt real enough, yet he still had not tested himself in the living world. He could not be sure what his power truly meant outside.
He laid foundations, steady as stone. Since adopting the Uzumaki refinement, his chakra swelled day by day. He learned the Shadow Clone Technique first. Lately he studied the clan's sense, the way Uzumaki chakra could feel the world around him.
Because his chakra pool had grown, he even ended most nights with time to spare in the Mirror World. More than once he won simply by spending clones to outlast Izumo Kamizuki.
He wanted to use his daylight hours too. He could not.
The ANBU who had vanished for one strange day returned the next and resumed the watch.
That morning Naruto came home with two kunai from Ninja Tools Full Point Hall. The shop had thrown in a cheap gear pouch. Kurama murmured at once that Moonlight Hayate had shadowed him home and now stood right behind his back.
Naruto could only sigh. He needed to master sensing quickly. If it took Kurama to warn him about a man as traceable as a phasing specialist like Hayate, what would he do against a terror like the Second Tsuchikage's Transparent Escape that could slip past all sense.
The kunai were for the Mirror World, which could project whatever gear he carried.
He had challenged Izumo for two months straight and collected rewards by the heap. He had the man's ninjutsu list and both genin and chunin training experience.
The experience was precious. The jutsu were not. He could not learn them yet, including the Grand Fireball.
Five slips of chakra paper had told him the truth. His nature was wind.
Thinking of Hayate at his shoulder, Naruto tucked the kunai into the pouch, spread a sheet of paper on his desk, and took up a brush.
卧梅幽闻花
卧枝伤恨低
He left the two lines on the desk and went downstairs to prepare lunch. Behind him, Moonlight Hayate mouthed the lines again and again, then slipped out the window.
On the Hokage Residence terrace.
"What do these two lines mean"
The Third Hokage frowned at Hayate's report, the first lines being exactly what Naruto had written.
He knew every character. Strung together, they made no sense to him.
"Lord Hokage, I cannot read it either," Hayate coughed. "He wrote it the moment he came home with two kunai from Ninja Tools Full Point Hall."
"Kunai." Hiruzen's face tightened. "Has anyone in the village started bullying Naruto"
"No." Black circles under his eyes, Hayate shook his head. "Target keeps to his pattern. Short walks, quick returns. He now uses the Transformation Technique each time. No conflicts."
If no one harassed him, why buy weapons.
A bad sign.
Hiruzen's unease grew. Naruto could refine chakra now. He was a shinobi in truth. If some civilian angered him…
He had to know what the boy was thinking. Every piece of Naruto must be under control.
"Send for Shikaku."
"Yes."
Night fell.
In the seal, under Minato's eye, Naruto held one palm out. Chakra gathered in a visible mass, roiling in conflicting currents as he tightened and compressed it. A dense sphere began to spin, faster and faster.
Rasengan bloomed in his hand.
With the feel fresh in his muscles, he raised his other palm. A second newborn Rasengan whirled to life.
After dinner he had been working on sensing when his father arrived, bright with excitement, and promised to teach a seal-less jutsu. Naruto guessed at once. Rasengan.
It took him more than three hours without success. He did not hurry. Minato had taken three years to create it. Jiraiya had needed three days to learn it. Naruto had no Sharingan like Kakashi or the Uchiha to steal the form by eye. A slow learner was only natural.
He planned to buy balloons tomorrow and follow the steps.
Kurama could not watch in silence. One glance told it what the technique echoed. Minato had modeled Rasengan after the tailed beasts' Tailed Beast Bomb.
The fox first mocked the Fourth for thinking in lines. Then it bumped fists with Naruto and poured the exact shaping of the Bomb into him, start to finish. After that it topped off Minato's chakra and shot him a look that said the rest should be obvious, then lay down, feigning sleep.
Naruto knew the later tale and knew Kurama's chakra could forge mind links. He could not say it aloud. Now that the fox had shown the path, Minato understood instantly.
They touched fists. Minato flooded Naruto with everything. The long road of research, the feel of shaping, the tricks of use.
With that, it did not take long. Naruto formed Rasengan cleanly. No shadow clone. One hand.
He stood before the bars, a spinning sphere in each palm. For reasons he could not name, he pressed them both to the gate.
A soft thrumming shivered the air. The spheres vanished. The iron did not stir.
Minato blinked. "Naruto, what are you doing."
"Testing. In case a Rasengan could tear the seal open."
"Do not dream," Kurama muttered, cracking one eye. "From inside I have thrown Tailed Beast Bombs at that door more times than I can count."
"Then I will try from outside. Maybe…"
"The Third Hokage is downstairs."
Kurama's warning cut him short.
"What could he want now?"
Knuckles rapped the door. Naruto went down and welcomed Hiruzen inside.
He poured cool water and waited.
"Naruto, I made time to see how your training is going," the Third said with gentle warmth. "I have been busy. Have you run into anything you do not understand."
"I have mastered the Transformation Technique." Naruto rose and formed a perfect seal.
Poof.
He became a stranger.
No teacher. No flaw.
A glint flashed in Hiruzen's eyes. His hand shot out, gripped Naruto's arm, then let go.
In that instant, Naruto felt a brush of chakra skate across his body and vanish.
"Very good. You have worked hard. Next time I will teach you something new."
"Thank you, Lord Hokage."
Smiling, Hiruzen took his leave. He truly seemed to have come only to check in.
"Hmph. That old man did not come with a good heart," Kurama growled the moment the door shut.
"Just now, when he grabbed you, he recorded your chakra signature," Minato said, face clouded.
Naruto's eyes went cold. His father had not finished.
Minato continued, voice low. "He knows the Telescope Technique. With a special crystal in his office, he can watch a chosen person from afar. The requirement is simple. He must have that person's chakra signature."
Naruto's face sank.
He knew that crystal. In the old tale, Hiruzen often used it to spy on his movements.
He had tried to be small, to be a shadow among shadows. He had arrived here anyway. Once Hiruzen returned to his office, the crystal would rouse.
Moonlight washed across his shoulder. Naruto stepped out from his room to the ladder on the side wall and climbed to the roof.
He dragged a lounge chair into place, lay back, and fixed his eyes on the night.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen signed a few documents, then slid open a drawer and drew out a crystal ball.
Soon the sphere cleared, and Naruto's image shimmered into view.
"What is he doing? Stargazing"
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