Flashback Continued
Naruto got her training up by a notch. She used Shadow clones extensively, and tried to reduce the use of Henge, replacing it with costumes, wigs and make-up. She visited the library frequently in disguises, and had her own apartment by the time she was 6 years old. She had conveniently forgotten to tell the Hokage of her expulsion from the orphanage till then.
Naruto learnt that Kage Bunshin were solid clones that can transfer memories to the user upon dispelling. The day she managed to learn them from a forbidden scroll in Jiji's Hokage library, she managed 50 clones. By the time she was 5, she was at 100 Kage Bunshin. At the age of 6, she planned to take it to 200.
She tried to act as much boyish as possible with her feminine body and got it almost perfect. Almost since regular practice was required for a growing body. Sigh... Physical problems... She put on weights, heavy enough to keep average kids down, but not too much to stunt her growth. Her elemental training started at the age of 5, and got as many elemental jutsus as possible in her archive. And yes, that includes Rasengan or Spiralling Sphere, and no, that does not include the Hiraishin or the Flying Thunder God technique.
Her elemental affinities were Wind-major (surprise-surprise!), water, lightning and... fire? Fire must've come from Kushina's hot personality. Kurama said that it can be because of him as they were synched since birth, and her mother had also been his Jinchuriki. The second reason, according to him, was also why she had whisker marks, that she found so cute that she wanted to cuddle her own reflection, and the annoyed and amused Biju smacked her out of her stupor.
She upgraded, adjusted and improved her training while watching various shinobi train in Konoha. She knew most of them, but they don't know her. Naruto's mind focussed on 3 things:
1) Deception is a shinobi's greatest tool
2) Look underneath the underneath
3) Shinobi can have feelings, but given her condition, it is best for her to mask them.
Hence, she put up a mask of a loudmouth, idiotic, sunshine of a boy. However, Kurama believed that she was a natural ball of sunshine, brightening lives even in her henges. She had him mellowed within 5 years, while he wanted her to wait for 1000 years.
Kurama observed that Naruto was more like Minato, with little traits of Kushina, though her primary mask was more like Kushina, loudmouth and brash.
Speaking of similarities with Minato, Naruto had started the arts of sealing since around 4 ½ years (Why not 4? Because she had hard time sneaking without Henges). Kage Bunshin helped her rapidly increase her progress in not only sealing, but also in other arts.
Speaking of Kage Bunshin- Nidaime Sama: Naruto learnt the history of Konoha and each Hokage of the leaf, trying to dig through their personal and professional lives. Personal accounts were not stored for public to read, thus, she tried to decipher their personalities from their scrolls, with an open mind. The Sandaime had only showed his 'Old Father of a Hokage' personality in front of the Naruto and the village. His 'Shrewd personality of a Hokage' was hidden since it has been a while since a war, and based on his attitude before the council, he seemed to lost the touch of seriousness. The Yondaime had his journals to express glimpses of his personal life. She discovered that many actions of the Nidaime Hokage have been misinterpreted- like the Uchiha Clan and the Civilian Council (don't even get her started there). His plans and thoughts have impressed her a lot
She idolized 4 people: Nidaime Hokage Senju Tobirama above all. Next came Uchiha Madara (Surprise surprise!). Thankfully, Kurama snapped her out of their fangirl phase. (Phew- Kurama, thanks from Author-chan). The other two were her parents, the Yellow Flash and the Red-Hot Habanero.
Her interest in the warring era heroes began when she learnt of their feats. She tried to reduce the deep hatred of Kurama for the Uchiha leader to dislike with... yes, the 'Talk no Jutsu', as Kurama named it while grumbling annoyed. But he loved his Kit- his baby Kitsune- like a daughter and sister. He didn't know which role to settle for, but found them both similar in aspect. Both father and brother train their relation, and are over-protective. He also had the distinctive brotherly and fatherly qualities... but, he resigned himself the question for another eternity and went with the flow. The Kit always managed to baffle him. The great Kyuubi no Kitsune was over-thinking over a trivial matter!
Tobirama's rational thinking, creation of jutsus, policies, support to his Anija, dedication to his brother's dreams, ideals and the Konoha, perfection, masking his emotions like a true shinobi... a long list of qualities literally made him a God in her eyes. He created the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Hiraishin no Jutsu.
Back to Kage Bunshin, the technique helped her learn many things, from household work to shinobi arts to deception work. She believed herself to be a jack of all, while Kurama believed her to be a master- not that he would ever complement her to her face. Nevertheless, she always strove for perfection.
Flashback end (Finally!)
Naruto was sitting on his- no, her- father's head on the Hokage mountain, contemplating over things. She was of the size of an average boy, instead of a bigger size, since girls were generally shorter than boys, though the difference is more prominent in adults. She had been thinking of a way to repay her saviour she encountered 2 years ago, since she had understood the fact that she was almost raped, not to mention an 'S-rank secret of her gender' was almost out. She found a great but very tricky way to do so, a couple of days back. She had been trying to scare the Hokage by entering his office, completely masking her chakra. She had finally learnt the trick to the masking technique. However, she had been wondering how to exactly help the boy with minimal damage, since it also concerned the safety of many lives...