[Chapter Size: 3300 Words.]
Canon World, Konoha, 63.
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...
Naruto watched Konohamaru trying to pop the balloon while he had already moved him on to the next stage of Rasengan training.
First, he had made the boy destroy a balloon filled with water after enveloping his body with a large amount of the Nine-Tails' chakra, allowing him to get used to the necessary circulation much more easily. He completed it easily thanks to having so much chakra from the cloak...
After that, Naruto withdrew his help and made him repeat the process on his own for the next few hours until he finally managed to complete that stage successfully.
Now Konohamaru was trying to move on to the water balloon, and beside them were three other people completely sprawled out on the ground, all injured, while a Naruto clone using Sage Mode stood motionless in front of them.
Naruto had decided to include Moegi and Udon in the training and, somehow, even Ebisu ended up getting dragged into it. He wasn't taking it easy on any of them either, practically replicating some of the training sessions he had experienced in the other world.
To Naruto, that sight didn't even seem all that strange. After all, he himself had finished countless training sessions that way, lying on the ground with his entire body aching from the blows he had taken. For those three people, however, it was extremely violent, a type of training they had never been accustomed to, and even the team's sensei was now sprawled out on the ground alongside his two students, while Konohamaru watched them with a certain amount of pity.
"Pay attention to your own chakra," Naruto warned without even looking at him.
Konohamaru had no choice but to turn his attention back to the balloon, although he still felt somewhat sorry for his friends and especially for Ebisu.
Naruto continued watching as his clone approached the three and placed some of the Fox's chakra into each of them to speed up their recovery. Currently, Naruto had enough control to decide when that chakra would activate inside each person's body and even when it should disappear completely, although the amount he could leave inside someone was large enough to remain for quite a long time if he wanted.
As soon as he realized the three had recovered enough, the clone simply ordered them to get back up. Ebisu no longer even understood how he had gotten dragged into this mess. He had only come to accompany his students, and now he was being beaten and humiliated during a training session conducted by a boy much younger than him.
Naruto looked away from Konohamaru, who was still having considerable difficulty making the chakra spin with enough force inside the balloon, and glanced to the side when he noticed some people approaching. In truth, he had already sensed their presence before they even entered the clearing.
His sensory abilities had evolved to the point where Naruto unconsciously maintained constant awareness of everything that entered a radius of approximately fifty meters around him, almost like a passive ability. If he truly concentrated, he could expand that range to a much greater distance, but then he would need to devote his attention specifically to it.
Shortly afterward, Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura appeared in the clearing.
"Naruto," Kakashi called as he approached, but his eyes quickly swept over the scene before him. Konohamaru was training on one side, while on the other stood a Naruto clone in Sage Mode before Ebisu, Moegi, and Udon, all three surrounded by the Nine-Tails' red cloak.
Kakashi observed it for a few seconds before understanding what Naruto was doing. "You created some kind of training area with a barrier... smart, so you won't alert the others by using the Kyuubi's chakra." He said.
Naruto had done that so he wouldn't alert the village yet, since it would attract a lot of people here.
Naruto simply remained with his arms crossed. He could personally supervise Konohamaru while his clone handled the training of the other three and, thanks to Kurama's chakra, he could push them far beyond the limit that would normally be safe without having to constantly interrupt the training because of their injuries.
"Hello, Kakashi-Sensei, Sakura, and Sai. Is there a problem?" Naruto asked. They hadn't arranged to meet that day.
"We stopped by your house, but realized you weren't there. Sai was able to tell us where to find you," Kakashi explained.
"Did something happen?"
"No. The Hokage just asked us to tell you a few things that will be announced in the village today. And as for tomorrow, we'll also officially start working as a team again, and we'll probably need to train our new formation," Kakashi replied.
Naruto nodded slowly. That made sense. His change hadn't affected only his own strength; it had completely altered Team Seven's dynamics. The fighting style they had before his journey would no longer work the same way now that Naruto had returned with so many new abilities.
"Of course, but what did the Hokage want to tell me?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi pulled a scroll from his pocket and tossed it toward him. Naruto caught it easily and began to open it, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Konohamaru had stopped training to watch.
"Why did you stop, Konohamaru? Keep going," Naruto said in a firm tone.
The boy immediately turned his attention back to the balloon and resumed working.
"You're teaching him the Rasengan," Kakashi commented, stating the obvious.
"Of course. I thought it would be better to start passing this technique on. Actually, I'd already been thinking about teaching it to him even before that mission," Naruto explained as he began reading the scroll.
Kakashi remained silent as he watched his reaction and saw Naruto raise an eyebrow after a few lines.
"She wants to announce this publicly?"
"The Hokage thought you'd like this too," Kakashi replied.
Sai and Sakura exchanged glances, realizing there was something important in that scroll.
"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, although her attention remained mostly on Naruto.
She still wasn't quite sure how to act around him after everything that had happened. Things seemed a little strange now, not necessarily bad, but far too different.
The day before, Sakura had spent much of her time thinking about it, and now Kakashi had called the three of them together so they could begin reorganizing the team.
Sai also had his own thoughts about the change, but he seemed to handle it better. To him, Naruto was still his friend; he had simply returned stronger, more confident, and far more dangerous to his enemies. After seeing him face Danzou, it was impossible not to realize that. Besides, he had given him power, could this be the power of friendship?
"It's a public declaration," Kakashi explained. "The Hokage intends to officially reveal to the entire Village that Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki."
Naruto spent a few seconds staring at those words on the scroll. He wanted that. After finally meeting his parents and spending so much time beside their versions in that other world, he had learned what it was like to have a father and a mother for a while...
At the same time, he had briefly spoken with his real parents through the chakra they had left inside him. Naruto was proud to be their son and wanted that to be known. More than that, he wanted to continue living in a way that would make them proud.
"Wait a minute!" Konohamaru's voice exploded across the clearing. "You're the Fourth Hokage's son?!"
He had stopped again and was now staring at Naruto in complete shock. Moegi and Udon showed practically the same reaction, while Ebisu was the only one who remained silent, as he already knew that information.
"Yes. I hadn't told you yet," Naruto replied before sighing when he realized the training had been completely forgotten. "It was in that other world that I met Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. They were my parents there too. It was precisely because I trained with them that I came back so strong."
That was enough for Konohamaru to start firing off questions, each one coming before Naruto could even answer the previous one.
Naruto ended up staying there for a while longer talking with Kakashi, Sakura, and Sai, but the three eventually left to take care of other things before the team's official return the following day.
Naruto, for his part, continued training the children for the rest of the day. He didn't limit himself to just Konohamaru and the Rasengan, also taking the opportunity to teach Moegi some Water Style techniques, since she had that affinity, and help Udon with techniques that better suited his own abilities, while Ebisu continued participating in everything and wondering exactly when he had agreed to get involved in this mess.
By the end of that same day, however, much bigger news began spreading throughout Konoha.
By official decree of the Hokage, information that had been kept secret for nearly sixteen years was finally revealed to the entire population: Naruto Uzumaki was the son of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki.
The declaration also revealed the truth behind the Nine-Tailed Fox. Naruto hadn't simply been born carrying that creature, much less was he the fox itself, as some still insisted on seeing him. On the night of the attack, Minato had sealed the Nine-Tails inside his own son as a desperate measure to protect Konoha, entrusting Naruto with the power that might one day be needed to defend the Village.
Naruto should have been treated as a hero from the very beginning, but instead, he received nothing but the Village's hostility for much of his life.
In the Hokage's temporary office, Tsunade remained talking with Jiraiya while the effects of the declaration made that day began spreading throughout Konoha.
"How is he reacting to all of this?" Tsunade asked.
"Naruto is avoiding people," Jiraiya replied. "He hasn't shown up anywhere public since he returned from the training grounds. He seems to be avoiding any crowded places."
"Well, it's not like we should be surprised, right?" Jiraiya added after a few seconds, now with a sadder tone that even carried a certain amount of guilt.
"He should have been treated that way from the very beginning, but they preferred to treat him like a plague. All because they wanted to prevent his identity from being exposed to the public," Tsunade said, though she couldn't help grimacing when she thought about it more carefully. "Which doesn't even make that much sense. Naruto was practically known throughout the entire Village as the boy who carried the Fox. Any remotely competent spy could quickly discover that he was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. He should already have been a target for the other nations regardless of whether they knew who his father was."
Tsunade couldn't help thinking about the Third Hokage's choices regarding Naruto and how the boy had been left to suffer that way for so many years. Perhaps that was why it wasn't so surprising to learn that, in that other world, Hiruzen had eventually been removed from political power, remaining mainly as one of Konoha's great military forces, someone who could still be called upon in times of crisis, but who no longer possessed the same authority over the Village's direction.
It was a strange fate for someone like Hiruzen, but even Jiraiya and Tsunade could understand how that might have happened. And thinking about it only brought another source of guilt to the surface.
"I don't really have much right to judge him either," Jiraiya murmured. "When Minato died, I should have stayed here and taken care of Naruto. Instead, I spent years traveling and using my espionage missions as justification to stay away."
Tsunade looked at him and easily noticed the weight behind his words. "Don't put all of it on yourself, Jiraiya," she replied.
Meanwhile, atop the Hokage Monument, Naruto remained seated on the Fourth Hokage's stone head, silently watching the Village below.
His name had already been the main topic throughout Konoha over the past few days, but on that particular day, it was being spoken in a different way. Now everyone knew that Naruto Uzumaki was the son of the man whose statue was directly beneath him. The son of the Fourth Hokage. The son of the hero who had saved Konoha from the Nine-Tails.
Naruto still didn't know exactly what to think about it.
On one hand, he was happy. He felt proud to finally be able to openly carry his parents' names, and he no longer needed to hide from anyone that he was the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. On the other hand, there was something about that sudden change that bothered him far more than he had expected.
The same people who had treated him like a plague for years were now commenting in the streets that they had always known there was something special about him. Some said they regretted what they had done, others suddenly seemed proud to have watched the Fourth's son grow up, and there were even those who acted as if they had never done anything against him.
Naruto couldn't simply forget.
He remembered how Konohamaru had been treated as a child simply because he was the Third Hokage's grandson. Even when the boy caused trouble, there was always someone following after him, someone concerned about his safety, and people who treated him with respect because of his family.
Naruto had envied that many times. While Konohamaru openly carried his grandfather's name, Naruto didn't even know who his own parents were back then.
And now, after spending much of his life being ignored, despised, or treated like something that should be kept at a distance, those same people wanted to see him as the son of a hero.
Naruto wanted to believe he was happy about it.
But he couldn't help feeling a certain apprehension because of a question that remained in his mind: were those people finally acknowledging Naruto Uzumaki, or had they merely begun to see the Fourth Hokage's son?
At least before, people had seemed genuine. Naruto knew when someone didn't like him, knew when they wanted him to stay away, and as painful as it was, there had never been any doubt about what they felt.
Now those same people wore smiles, treated him even better than they treated Konohamaru, with respect and an admiration bordering on worship, but Naruto had already seen those same faces darkened by anger. He had already faced the malice in their hearts when he was still just a child who didn't even understand why everyone seemed to hate him simply for existing.
It was impossible to separate one thing from the other. Even so, Naruto still felt that he should protect that place and those people, even if many of them perhaps didn't deserve it.
No, it was more than that. He needed to protect that world, because he knew about the dangers that would arise in the future and that they were far greater than any resentment he might hold against some people in the Village.
There were already far too many manipulations taking place at that time, beginning with Black Zetsu manipulating Madara, Madara manipulating Obito, Obito manipulating Nagato and, through him, the other members of the Akatsuki. It was practically a cycle of people being used without even realizing who was truly moving the pieces.
Either way, Naruto had absolutely no intention of going down there to meet those people who were now cheering for him as a hero, saying things they had never said before, with some even claiming they had always believed in him. Only a portion of them seemed ashamed enough to admit that they had mistreated him in the past.
The worst part was remembering that, even after Tsunade's declaration a few days earlier revealing that Naruto had mastered the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox, many of those people had still remained cautious and distrustful around him. All it took was for them to discover that he was the Fourth Hokage's son for their opinions to begin changing completely.
Naruto sensed someone approaching and slightly turned his head to find Jiraiya walking toward him.
"I imagine you noticed my arrival long before I appeared," Jiraiya commented with a smile.
Naruto gave a small smile. "Just like I can also sense two ANBU standing there watching us."
Two figures disappeared in flashes some distance away, making Jiraiya smile.
"They didn't mean anything bad by it."
"I know. I sensed their curiosity," Naruto replied.
It was still strange to think that he could now automatically perceive any chakra signature within approximately fifty meters around him without even needing to concentrate. That awareness had become another one of his senses.
Naruto then looked at Jiraiya's hand and recognized the popsicle with two sticks that he had brought.
"Ah..." It immediately brought back memories of the three years he had spent traveling and training with his master.
Jiraiya sat beside him, split the popsicle in half, and held out one of the pieces to Naruto, who accepted it with a small smile. For a few moments, neither of them said anything, simply watching Konoha from atop the Hokage Monument.
"Naruto... I think I owe you an apology," Jiraiya finally said.
"Because of my parents?" Naruto asked almost immediately.
After all, Jiraiya had been Minato's sensei long before Naruto had even discovered who his parents were. He had already known that since their Rasengan training.
"Yes... and also because I wasn't here during the beginning of your childhood."
"..." Naruto remained silent, looking at the popsicle in his hand.
Of course, if he could go back in time and choose someone to take care of him after his parents' deaths, he would have preferred to have Jiraiya around. He knew the man would have been a good guardian and certainly would have protected him, but that already belonged to the past. Naruto wished his master had been there back then, but what could they do about it now?
"We can't change what already happened, Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto murmured.
Jiraiya nodded slowly. "I know."
"Besides, you showed up years later. You trained me, traveled with me, and always accepted me for who I am. I can't help but be grateful for all of that, sensei," Naruto said before taking another bite of the popsicle.
Jiraiya stared at the boy for a few seconds before letting out a small laugh. That eased some of the weight he carried, even though he knew his regret would probably never disappear completely.
"So, sensei, what happens now?" Naruto asked after some time.
The two had remained in a comfortable silence as they watched night slowly fall over Konoha, neither of them feeling the need to fill it until that moment.
"Well, you can probably already imagine what comes next. I have a former disciple who is currently the nominal leader of the Akatsuki, even though we know Pain is also being manipulated by that masked man," Jiraiya replied, now in a much more serious tone.
"Then we'll deal with all of them, sensei. I think we might even be able to bring your former disciple over to our side. Besides, those eyes..."
"Yeah, I know," Jiraiya interrupted, narrowing his eyes. "Those eyes weren't Nagato's from birth. They were implanted in him. The Rinnegan belongs to Madara Uchiha."
Naruto nodded as his expression also grew more serious. They had spent the last few days reacting to the consequences of the information brought back from the other world, but they couldn't continue simply waiting for problems to appear before them.
It was time for them to start dealing with the first major threats of that future.
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