The clones let off a collective affirmative and returned to their task. Naruto walked over to the tree where Jiraiya's muddy replication lted as the man himself ca from the trees. Jiraiya ruffled the boy's hair, "Good fight gaki, you didn't do too badly."
Naruto grumbled, "I didn't lay a finger on you, even my double-edged move didn't do anything."
Jiraiya pointed at himself, "S-ranked ninja standing here. I told you what was going to happen. You're good, but not that good. You have way more jutsus than I thought you would. A few of your moves were sothing incredible for a kid your age, I don't think I'll ever get over just what you can do."
Naruto sighed and walked back to the waterfall, "I guess I'll join my clones on working on the waterfall."
Jiraiya laughed loudly, "Oh now you're all dejected? What happened to venting so aggression on ? I guess you've learned that when it cos to dealing with hotshot know-it-all punks with blonde spiky mops there's no one better than the great toad sage Jiraiya!" He finished while standing in his pose.
Naruto got a tick mark on his head and ford his seal for Kage Bunshin, surrounding Jiraiya in copies of himself, "Oh, yeah, like a bunch of brats are going to beat up. Oooh I'm so scared."
"Henge! Harem no Jutsu!"
In a puff of smoke, Jiraiya had countless nude blonde won hanging off of him. This was too much for his brain to handle as he launched back into the woods with blood flying from his nose. Naruto dispelled the clones and headed back to the waterfall, "Huh... I should have thought of that during the actual fight."
XxX
(Two Weeks Later)
Naruto had been steadily training with his clones to perfect his nature manipulation, but even with the clones his progress was slow. They were finally making headway, with a cut beginning to form in the waterfall, but there was an agonizingly long way to go if he wanted to master his elent.
He had still yet to go speak to the Kyuubi after their little episode because his seal was still visible on his stomach, even when he was relaxing. He followed Jiraiya's advice and stayed put of his mind for the ti being.
While he had his clones handle working on the waterfall he told Jiraiya about his interest in Fuuinjutsu and trying to take it up, if nothing else so that he knew what was going on with his own seal. Jiraiya agreed that it was a good skill to have and put him to work, taking him off of splitting the waterfall personally and leaving that to his Kage Bunshin. He had Naruto start straight from the basics, which was getting his handwriting perfect so that he would make perfect strokes with his brushwork when sealing, as even a small slip could be catastrophic.
Much like the work with his elental training it was bitter work and slow going. Made even slower by the fact that Kage Bunshin would do him no good here. Getting his calligraphy perfect was more along the lines of muscle mory, like learning stances and the like. As thus it was more physical than ntal. He could use them later on when he got into the practical education of sealing, but until he wrote clearer than a ten year old grammar student he couldn't.
Jiraiya had left him at their training spot to head towards a town to get more sealing supplies, as he was going to teach Naruto how to make his own ink to seal with. And the boy found himself alone one night by the waterfall.
"Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto turned towards the source of the voice to find a boy, roughly his age standing in the branches of a tree. He had pale skin, short black hair and black eyes. He wore a collared shirt that cut off at his mid-section along with black pants, black shinobi sandals, and black fingerless gloves. On his back was a tip-less tanto and a backpack that could be accessed quickly in case of necessity.
Naruto was sitting by the water when the boy showed himself. He stayed up in the tree, "Is Jiraiya of the Sannin around?"
Naruto scoffed, "If he was here then you wouldn't even be this close. What do you want? Who are you? And why am I not killing you right now?"
"I am here for Danzo-sama. He has been wanting to get into contact with you for quite so ti now." The boy bowed slightly, "I have been given the na Sai for this assignnt."
Naruto looked at Sai with an appraising eye and decided to test out Sai's claim to be one of Danzo's n, "So Danzo-jiji decides to send out a gay hood ornant to contact . Tell him that he needs more girls in Root, it's a sausage fest, I swear."
Sai didn't blink at all, getting a nod from Naruto, "Okay, you're Danzo's. So what's the ssage? I probably already know, but go ahead."
Sai spoke, "Danzo-sama says that you are no longer one of his tools. You were extrely useful during your ti under him, but you're too risky to try and take back now. Besides that, he says that you wouldn't fir back in anyway." Naruto nodded, "I figured that... He's right, I can't just disappear back to HQ now, I'm too out in the open, and he can't keep risking guys like you just to make contact with for assignnts either, it's too high of a gamble now for him to have ." He looked at Sai suspiciously, "So what does this an then? Am I a loose end for him and he sent you to try and kill ?"
Sai shook his head, "I am incapable of bringing you down Uzumaki. I was simply dispatched to bring you Danzo-sama's ssages. You are by no ans expendable. You carry his teachings inside of you deeper than any other, he just cannot risk trying to et with you himself, it would seem to suspicious, and it is no longer necessary. Even without him you are true to the one thing that he put into you more than anything else, that Konoha cos first, everything we do is for Konoha. To that end he says to you to grow stronger and protect our ho. The foundations of the great tree will always be rooted inside of you Uzumaki." Naruto nodded and turned to return to watching the water when he still sensed Sai's presence, "Yes? Do you still need for sothing?"
Sai was still in place from when he first started speaking, "Danzo-sama does have one last assignnt for you Uzumaki. It is one that he is certain is well within your paraters to complete."
Naruto turned around and stayed seated, watching Sai carefully, 'One last mission huh? What the hell, why not? One more for old tis sake. I owe the old cripple that at least.'
He gestured for the pale boy to continue with the ssage which he did without delay, "Danzo-sama wants you to do all that is in your power to beco Hokage."
Naruto's eyes widened. Root training be damned even though he was in front of one of the operatives, he was surprised as all hell to hear that, "Danzo-jiji wants to beco Hokage? What? I thought that was his kick, why would he want to do it?"
Sai stared at Naruto emotionlessly, "He has not truly given up. Danzo-sama is getting old Uzumaki. He says that the death of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the last Hokage, showed him his own mortality. He is well aware of the fact that he will probably die before another opportunity to take the position ever shows itself again. You are the closest thing to an apprentice that he has, he has shown you his ways of working, he has shown you what he could about the system of the village. With you in power he would feel secure in the fact that Konoha would have a kage that would truly be strong enough to handle the job, to do what is necessary."
Naruto still couldn't believe it, "Why ? Couldn't he have actually trained soone for sothing like this?"
Sai spoke again, "Who else would suffice? Even though you have Danzo-sama's backing no one knows it. He could never instill his views into soone and send them into the political world without suspicion arising. You already are mistrusted by a good portion of the population and you are slowly turning that number around, you already have the backing of a few significant nas in the village due to your actions and character alone, the entire country of Nami no Kuni sees you as a hero for one, and you are close to the current Hokage herself as well as the children of the Kazekage and the current Raikage favors you. You inadvertently put yourself in the position for this."
Naruto looked at his hands, ", the Hokage? It was a pipe-dream of a foolish mindset, not sothing real. And he wants to actually go for it?"
Sai turned to walk away, "I have given you Danzo-sama's words to you, but he asked to leave you with this in case you were having trouble." Turning around to face Naruto he looked at him firmly, "Where there is light, there is shadow. To be a shinobi is to sacrifice oneself. Closing your eyes to the sunlight... Distinguishing yourself in the shadows. That is the true form of a ninja." Naruto nodded in agreent, but snapped his eyes open when Sai continued, "But that is not your destiny Uzumaki. The truth is, you are the leaves bathing in the sun... and I... I am the roots that grow in the dark."
Naruto looked up at Sai who turned and began walking back to the woods. Before he made it to the edge of the trees he turned around one last ti, "You have the full support of Danzo-sama and Root. We will be in touch, Uzumaki, do not worry about that. We will not disappear." Sai gave Naruto a closed eye smile that seed totally out of character and left the area, leaving Naruto alone with himself.
Naruto looked at his reflection in the moonlit water. Splashing the water to disrupt the image he looked up to the moon and sighed, "The last order from Danzo-jiji... Beco Hokage or die trying." Naruto chuckled to himself, "Naruto Uzumaki, the Rokudai Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. Now that sounds like it would look good in a history book."
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