Chapter 38

"Mbrghbs" Naruto nodded, stuffing his face. They couldn't tell if it was agreement with either of them or a complement to the chef.

"Sensei can make solid clones." She said. "We'll have to rope him into it somehow. Maybe he can summon some of those snakes for practice too." The mocha skinned girl smiled, it was no secret by now that, one thing she was interested in the most was learning the summoning jutsu.

It wasn't even the snakes she was particularly interested in. She was just facinated with the fanciful stories that had wandered in her youth about the Yondaime and the Sannin charging into fierce battles on their legendary summoned beasts Manda, Katsuyu and Gamabunta.

"Mbhr" Again Naruto nodded.

"Hey, know what else we should do? Weapons. I heard Sensei's a master swordsman or something. He's supposedly got this really strong sword! We should get him to teach us."

"We only have a few months though." Kyofu warned. "That's not nearly enough time to learn Kenjutsu enough to make a difference in the exams."

"I guess. Still should get him to teach us though."

"You haven't even mastered the elemental manipulation yet." Naruto reminded.

She whirled and smacked him upside the head. "Oh, so now we're articulate? And you're not much better Princess"

Naruto smiled rubbing the spot. "Its true though. We have to get that down before anything." He corrected her assumption that he was at her level in that regard but stopped himself.

"Yes and if Naruto-san and I could have access to two affinities by the time the exams roll around we'll have a much greater chance at winning with combination attacks and a more diverse array of tactics." Kyofu chimed in.

"Yeah, you got three to learn." Ryoko scratched at her chin smirking. "Better get on that weird gift of nature."

The blond laughed nervously.

That had hit a little too close to home.

He'd thought long and hard about that little "revelation" during the Suna mission.

More than that he went and did some research, or tried to. Books were never his strong suit.

But ultimately he came to a conclusion.

There was no natural way this could happen to anyone.

So that just left some unnatural theories.

Two of which, Kurama and his "Jump" could be easily ruled out.

Kurama hadn't gifted him with any chakra elements back in the original timeline not even when they were friends, and even if this Kurama for whatever reason chose to do so (or could.), he was gone by the time the Naruto here was only four years old a time period where, as a Jinchuuriki his coils were still adapting/contorting themselves as they grew with him to hold the Demon.

He didn't think it was likely that amongst all that chaos Kurama had managed to mutate him further with two extra affinities.

As for him jumping back in time causing it, only his consciousness, or his...soul, survived the journey. There was nothing physical that translated to this reality so chakra and chakra afinities shouldn't have been a factor from the life he jumped from onto this one or vice versa.

So there was only one thing he could really think of.

And it was the seal he'd stuck on his leg while he was still in the academy.

The one that was like an IV drip of nature chakra into his system.

Out of the five elements, what were the three most abundant in nature?

Wind, Earth and Water.

Nature chakra went into his system carrying those elements then dispersed.

And it's been doing that during the last stages of his chakra coil development, for quite some time now.

So he'd unwittingly mutated himself.

At least that was his thinking.

He could almost hear Sakura's disapproving tone hovering behind him at his carelessness.

-0-

When Orochimaru opened the door to his apartment he couldn't stop himself from roling his eyes, a snarl curling up his lip. "Don't you have someone to dissect and call it nurturing."

Tsunade's stirring of her tea faltered for a moment before resuming. "What crawled up your ass today?" She questioned.

She didn't know then? "Nothing." He hissed. "Its just been a long day." He stepped into his apartment beginning to remove the kunai and shuriken pouches and setting them into their proper place.

"Does it have something to do with Sensei going to see you?"

He sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils. "Are you playing coy to drag this out hime? That's not your style."

"Well...truth be told-" She took another sip of her tea. "I'm not sure what happened. One minute I'm in my office, next thing I know someone's telling me Sensei marched out looking like he wanted a new snake skin wallet."

He looked at her.

"Come on." She shrugged. "You know how this works. Whenever me or Jiraiya got into a fight with Sensei one of the Anbu on sensei's detail would come to the two of us not involved in the fight to help or whenever we were fighting each-other someone would go to Sensei. The Anbu do a lot more than keep pointy things from getting too close. They also look out for his emotional health if they can."

The serpent sighed, finishing removing all said pointy objects from his person and arraying them on the table. "I may have...stepped on a toe or two today."

"I can imagine that's an understatement."

"Yes well...What's done is done, might as well go and see it through now." He shrugged. "He's already angry anyway."

She drank some more tea. He sat down on his couch and saw a smile begin to form on her face.

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