Chapter 7

Authors Note:

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Chapter 7

[Shikaku Nara]

Looking up at the sky and watching the clouds drift by was always one of his favorite pastimes. The mostly warm and sunny weather in the Land of Fire is peaceful and one of the reasons why the Nara Clan was only dwelling in the Land of Fire before the formation of Konoha. Considering the lifestyle of a ninja clan, it was a common opinion between his clan members, that making time to watch the slow moving and uniquely formed clouds was integral with maintaining a peaceful mind.

It was even true, he thought. The stress and responsibility that fell on the Nara during the time of war was taking its toll on them every time. It was not easy making decisions on life and death when every mistake can cost your comrades their life. Even if the Nara were gifted, even exceedingly in some cases, at strategizing and coming up with new ways to use the tools they had.

Best not to think about such troublesome things. Shikaku thought while watching an amusing cloud, shaped like the male genital.he Sh

The benefit in times of peace was, that watching clouds turned more into an excuse to laze around. Which was why they had just not stopped with their clan tradition. People got used to it and even lowered their expectations of the amount of work they had to do in comparison to others.

That is the most ingenious idea since the formation of the Nara Clan, were his and every other Clan members thoughts on the matter.

Shikaku's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden cheering taking place, after the first new genin exited the academy. He spotted his son beside Choji exiting as well.

His back was slouched, he was dragging his feet behind and seemed to be half asleep.

I am so proud, were his thoughts.

"Shikamaru! Straighten your back and stop dragging your feet behind!" came the loud voice of his energetic wife, Yoshino.

In response to the loud voice, Shikamaru seemed to slouch even more in defeat and slowed his pace even further. Shikaku's lips twitched in amusement, but he controlled himself. Least his wife takes out her anger out on him.

"It is like watching the past, eh Choza?" asked a chuckling Inoichi their third teammate.

"Hahaha. Maybe the Nara take specialized training in it, Inoichi." Choza retorted, with a booming laugh.

His teammates and their respective wives witnessed the byplay already a dozen times but find it amusing, nonetheless.

"Ughh. Shikamaru, Choji. Hurry up already!" came Ino, Inoichi's daughters' predictable reaction to Shikamaru's laziness, having finished her greetings with her parents. "I am hungry and want to celebrate."

"Yeah, yeah, we are coming." Shikamaru responded looking over at Naruto Uzumaki, who was lingering at the back and watching his classmates and their parents with a sad smile.

Shikaku watched his son pondering something, but with a 'troublesome' made his way to them.

Huh. Interesting.

"Congratulations son." Shikaku congratulated, pushing the silent interaction to the back for the moment.

"My baby is growing!" whined his wife enveloping his son, who just sighed and endured the public show of affection silently.

"Thanks dad. And stop calling me that, you troublesome woman." Shikamaru muttered the end.

"Uncle Shikaku!" called Ino. "We are ready to go. Let's go celebrate my graduation!" she said with a pumping fist to the air.

"It is not only you that graduated Ino." Inoichi said with closed eyes and a sweatdrop.

"Let's go." Ino said, ignoring her father.

Slowly making their way out of the academy courtyard, Shikaku let his gaze wander to the Uzumaki child and saw him talking with an academy instructor sporting light blue hair.

"I see that Naruto graduated as well." Shikaku broke the peaceful silence, that settled on their way.

"Ugh. Don't remind me. I have no idea how he managed to use the Clone Jutsu." Ino answered with a scowl.

"Did you not like his performance, Ino?" Shikamaru answered with a snicker, while Choji started chuckling.

Asking his son what happened and hearing the story, the adults could not stop themselves from laughing.

"Stop laughing!" shouted an obviously embarrassed Ino with a red face. "Do you know how embarrassing it was." She whined. "Does it really look that bad, when Sakura and I start fighting about Sasuke?" she directed at the Shikamaru with a red face.

"Yeah." came the unified answer of both Shikamaru and Choji.

"You should really forget about the Uchiha boy and focus on your training Ino." continued her father to spare his daughter further embarrassment. "You had such high goals for yourself when starting the academy."

Seeming truly to ponder the advice, she nodded to herself and hugged her father. "You are right daddy. Maybe I should start to focus on my training a bit more." Ino said to herself. "Sasuke-kun might even like me more, if I get stronger." she finished with a laugh.

That's…progress, I guess? thought everyone to themselves.

"Coming back to Naruto. Was he not able of performing the Clone Jutsu or why were you so surprised?" Shikaku asked with an arched brow, having noticed the tidbit of information.

"Yeah. He couldn't even make one clone. 'Munch.' They were all pale and dispelled themselves in less than a second." Choji answered between the bites of chips he was eating.

"Hmm. Even after he improved in the last months, the Clone Jutsu seemed always impossible for him to get right." Ino continued with a thoughtful look.

"Ooh. So you noticed the extent of his changes too huh." asked his son with a half lidded eye looking over to Ino.

"Pff. Of course I noticed. At the beginning I thought he just got rid of the horrible orange clothes he wore. But he got quieter and did not cause any trouble. Hell, he even somehow nearly topped the class this year." Ino pointed out. "I don't know what changed, but he did not interest me enough to seek out the reasons. Anyway. The only thing, that did not change was, that he could not make a single Clone to save his life."

Interesting. Now that she mentioned it, there were no pranks of his that I witnessed for almost a year. mused Shikaku.

"Impressive." praised Shikamaru. "But what he showed today was not the Clone Jutsu. At least not the one we learned at the academy."

"What? Of course, it was. What are you on about?" questioned Ino confused.

"The Clones he created did cast a shadow. The regular Clone Jutsu is only an illusion of a body and does not have a shadow, which is also why they are practically useless against practically any Chunin and above." Shikamaru explained.

"Truly. He can make Shadow Clones, already? That is impressive." Choza said, with raised eyebrows.

"Shado-"

"What are Shadow Clones? Is it a Jutsu of our Clan?" Shikamaru interrupted a surprised Ino.

"No. Despite what the name implies, it is not one of our Clan Jutsu." Shikaku answered turning to his attentive son. "It is a Kinjutsu developed by the Nidaime Hokage. The Jutsu produces physical Clones, which even the Sharingan and Byakugan cannot distinguish between."

"Wooah. Really. Can I learn it, too?" exclaimed an excited Ino. "Please daddy!" she begged, with puppy eyes directed at her father.

"Unfortunately, no." answered Inoichi, exasperated at his daughter. "It is not a Kinjutsu, for no reason. The Chakra cost is quite high and if the user creates clones without having the required Chakra reserves may even lead to severe chakra exhaustion or even death in some cases." Inoichi finished with a hard look at his daughter.

Swallowing at the serious look, Ino wisely drops the topic and nods in response.

"Then how does Naruto know it?" Shikamaru askes with narrowed eyes at his father. "I knew that he has more chakra, than the rest of us, which is surprising considering he is not part of a clan, but to be able to use a Kinjutsu, that was declared as such because of the chakra consumption."

The question hung in the air for a few seconds. Shikamaru was watching the adults with narrowed eyes and was watching for any kind of reaction.

Huh. Troublesome. Shikaku thought. He did not intent for his simple question to lead to this point. Now how should he lead the children away from the whole Kyuubi business. He knew his son after all. If he does not give him something plausible, he would look up possible reasons for possessing large amounts of Chakra, which would ultimately lead to the topic of Jinchuuriki. Looking over at his company, they were probably thinking the same thing.

"How do you come to the conclusion, that Naruto is not part of a Clan?" Shikaku voiced out.

It is better he researches the Uzumaki. he he thought. It will be satisfactory for the time being and they will be older, when they know the truth.

"What?!" Ino shouted. "Naruto is part of a Clan?!"

For the rest of the walk, the children tried to get more information out of them but were met only with a slight smile. At the end they gave up, but if the shocked and curious looks on all three children was anything to go by, they will be focused on that news for quite some time.

Your son is developing in some interesting ways, Minato. were his thoughts before he sat down in the booth with his family and friends.

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[Naruto Uzumaki]

*At the same time*

Naruto was curious, what Mizuki would do after it was clear, that he passed the Graduation Exam.

Apparently, the exact same thing. Naruto thought to himself bemused, while making his way to the old man. He only changed the 'Graduation Test' to a hidden 'Rookie of the Year Test'. What an idiot. he thought.

Naruto did think about pretending to fall for it, to get access to the Forbidden Scroll, but after thinking about it for a while, discarded the idea. It would not match with his improved critical thinking he showed during the last year. The situations are just too different form each other.

He also doubted, that the original Naruto, was truly capable of sneaking past ANBU guards and steel one of the most precious treasures the village possessed.

It was likely a dummy, which contained the instructions of the Shadow Clone Jutsu for Naruto. he concluded.

There was just no way the situation truly was, as portrayed in the anime. It would make sense for the ANBU guarding the original Naruto, to have overheard the conversation and to report it to the Hokage. Hiruzen in response manipulated the situation to let Naruto graduate and teach him a Jutsu he could use while doing it.

That is at least what I think really happened.

That was why he was on his way to see the Sandaime. It was an opportunity to prove once again, that he is not susceptible to that meager attempt at manipulation. In return, his opinions would gain more credibility.

It was the best outcome he could think of. Naruto already had access to the Shadow Clone Jutsu and was using to great effect. He also doubted, that Hiruzen would give him another Kinjutsu that early in his career. Considering he sported one more, than all his former classmates was odd enough. Thankfully, nobody would make a big fuss about it, because he was the only Jinchuuriki of the village. In turn he should get as strong as possible to protect the village. Letting him learn one relatively harmless Kinjutsu was…reasonable. Giving him more than one on the other hand, while he is a green Genin…not.

Entering the Hokage office after hearing the 'Enter', Naruto closed the door behind him and looked at the Hokage.

"Hello Naruto-kun." greeted him the Sandaime. "I see that you passed the Graduation Exam. Congratulations." he said indicating at the Hitai-ate Naruto was wearing at his forehead.

"Thank you, old man." Naruto accepted happily, with slightly pink cheeks and a bright smile. "I will work hard and get strong enough to protect everyone I care about!" he said with conviction and determination in his bright blue eyes.

"I cannot wait for that day to come." Hiruzen smiled at him softly.

A few seconds later, Naruto straightened up and cleared his face of all emotions.

"Hokage-sama." he started blankly, with no emotion in his voice.

Seeing the change in posture and address, Hiruzen motioned for him to continue.

"Following the Graduation Exam, Chunin Instructor Mizuki approached myself and informed me, that I was selected for a special test, concerning the 'Rookie of the Year' Award. He instructed me, that retrieving the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Tower and delivering it to him this midnight in the forest near the southwest village border is required." he started his recounting.

"I accepted the mission, with the intention of reporting to you, that Chunin Mizuki likely turned traitor and intends to leave the village, while also stealing the forementioned Scroll of Seals. Report End."

After my report ended, Hiruzen stood up and walked to the window overseeing most of the village. Looking outside the window, he took out his pipe and filled it with some tobacco. Applying, what Naruto assumed to be, Fire-natured Chakra he started to smoke.

"Good job, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said without turning from the window. "I was already made aware of the situation shortly before you arrived." he continued. Now turning around, facing Naruto again Hiruzen smiled at him. "What pleases me to most is, that you behaved professionally. You not only let your emotions overwhelm you, but also pushed them aside by letting Mizuki believe that his deception was successful." the Sandaime praised proudly.

"You will be awarded a B-Rank mission for your part in this situation. The money will be deposited to your account in the next three days. Mizuki will be handled by my ANBU." he continued.

"Understood, Hokage-sama." nodded Naruto with a smile.

"I am proud of you Naruto. Now get home and prepare to meet your team in a few days."

"Thank you, old man. See ya!". Naruto, sporting pink cheeks, opened the window and jumped out with a cheeky grin."

Laughing at the familiar move one of his students was so fond of, Hiruzen got behind his desk and looked over at one of the four portraits hanging on the wall. The man had blond, spikey hair with familiar striking blue eyes.

I am sure you would be proud of him, Minato-kun.