Once confirmed that she wouldn't mind going home with Sakumo, Naruto was given a checkup, proven bafflingly healthy as can be. The little blonde was given a plain off white cloak to shield her stump from the open air outside, and a pat on the head from the Third Hokage. The kind Sarutobi sent both the blonde and Hatake on their way with a gentle wave.
It was half past noon, and the weather was neither hot nor cold, a simple mild tone that allowed the citizens of Konoha to bustle about through the marketplace as usual.
Many of the landmarks were familiar, but then again, many of them were not.
Naruto trailed slightly behind Sakumo, smaller hand safely held by his warm, and much larger one. Periodically the blonde would skip to catch up from falling behind, even though the Hatake was being considerate and using a slow pace to accommodate Naruto's short legs. The blonde tried not to pout, because as a man, the last check up he'd had with Granny Tsunade predicted he'd hit six feet at least.
Now he had to go through puberty all over again, and there's no telling what horrors he'd experience as an adolescent in a girl body. Repressing a shudder, Naruto turned to other thoughts.
Being small again, only reminded Naruto that she'd been quite unfortunate as a young child. Even being a girl this time around, she had the terrible speech impairment that had caused her countless grief at the Academy in her time. Obviously she had worked and grown out of it, but it was still a great cause of some of her worst memories.
Kurama sighed. 'Stop moping and do something useful for us.'
'Ugh. Fine.'
With that, the blonde made a show of looking at everything with wide, awed, and curious eyes. She knew Jiji was watching her behavior through his crystal ball, and that Sakumo was assigned to care for the blonde for more then the reason that the man seemed strangely attached to her. Naruto knew Sakumo would be watching her very closely, and that she really had to act as if she had amnesia.
Though, if Naruto went back to her previous youth, she had been quite the prankster. If she just thought of her situation as an elaborate prank, she would reveal nothing, as she had rarely gotten caught when she really hadn't wanted to. It would be trying on Naruto's already short fuse, but the blonde knew she could be worse off.
Naruto looked up at the White Fang of Konoha, knowing that the man was Kakashi-sensei's father, and that she was going to have to face her old sensei. Her sensei that was only five in the time she'd fallen into. Her sensei that had no idea she existed.
'Foolish mortal.' Kurama growled. 'If you keep down that road of thought, you will only cause yourself more pain.'
'And whose fault is that?' Naruto snarked, feeling somewhat spiteful. 'You should have just left me to bleed out. Now I have a whole new war to end, and I somehow need to find Zetsu and kill him before he revives Kaguya.'
'Hmph!' The Bijuu huffed. 'Blaming me will bring you no closure, Naruto. As I said, you will have to make due.'
Thinking about that, instead of lashing out like she usually would, the blonde deflated. If war taught the Uzumaki anything, it was that out of control emotions lead to death. Specifically the deaths of her precious people.
'Yeah,' Naruto mentally mumbled. 'You're right... I'm sorry, Kurama. It's not your fault, you were just trying to help...'
'I place no blame on you, Naruto.' Kurama said. 'Your feelings are... understandable.'
'Thanks Kurama.' Naruto said, feeling her heart warming.
'Just remember.' The Bijuu said, making her perk up. 'You may have knowledge, but you are, in every sense of the word, a five year old girl. You hold so much power, but your body is too weak to properly manipulate it. You will have to relearn everything physical.'
'So basically, I've got all of my techniques, I just can't use them because my body has no muscle to withstand the power.' Naruto uttered flatly.
'Yes, so that means...'
'Got it. Train like my life and everyone else's depends on it.' The blonde finished.
'Which it does.' The fox reminded. 'Also, in this body, your reserves are much smaller. It is still a lot for someone your age, but I do not recommend long periods of sage mode. Or any at all. Your war techniques will cause you to overload and die.'
'Crap, that doesn't sound fun.' Naruto inwardly winced. 'This sucks! My chakra network shrunk?'
'Yes. It will take rigorous training like originally to reach your previous inhuman levels.'
Naruto tried not to preen, knowing if a Bijuu admitted to one being powerful, they really were powerful.
'So, how am I gonna do that?' Naruto asked, and then, 'I can feel it... ANBU eyes watching me at every turn...'
'Wait until your are deemed truly trustworthy to train more seriously.' The fox suggested. 'And perhaps you should tell someone the truth of your appearance in this period. Someone you know you can trust.'
'Wait,' Naruto deadpanned. 'You say that as if I have time for that. Zetsu is manipulating the lands and Madara as we speak.'
'Why do you think I suggested you tell someone?' Kurama huffed. 'It will grant you the excuse later to leave and train more seriously. An increase in skills could easily be explained away by you spending time with someone already powerful. Also, this saves you from a visit to Ibiki's predecessor.'
Naruto withheld a wince. 'Touché.'
'Fool.' Kurama snorted.
Naruto smiled, and tugged slightly at Sakumo's hand. The silver haired Hatake looked down at the tiny blonde, eyes and lips tilting kindly. "Yes sweetheart?"
'Damnit I wish he would stop calling me that. I'm a man 'ttebayo!'
'Not anymore.' Kurama grinned. 'You're a cute little doe eyed girl.'
Kurama ignored their connection, before he was subjected to an atrocious explosion of profanity.
Outwardly, Naruto grinned, showing off the left missing front tooth in her mouth. The blonde would never know Sakumo flushed because of her utter adorableness.
"I neber asked, but, what's your name mister?"
"Sakumo Hatake." He smiled, the mask he wore around his face on missions absent.
'Kakashi-sensei has his dad's eyes.' Naruto noted absently.
"'Akumo." Naruto repeated, her nose wrinkling in distaste at how badly she butchered the poor man's name.
The silver haired man chuckled, earning amused looks from the people shuffling by, and shop keepers posted outside their establishments.
"It's okay sweetheart, you'll get it."
"No!" Naruto pouted, to her inner horror. "Not "weetheart". Nawuto. Na-wu-to."
"Aw," Sakumo cooed, sweeping the little blonde into his arms. "Your so sweet and cute I just can't help myself!"
Naruto's face fell at being called "cute", and being so easily lifted. As if... as if she were a child!
'You are a child.' Kurama deadpanned. 'And you better get used to it, because you're stuck like this. You can't even control your emotions properly! Not that you ever really could...' He mumbled towards the end.
'Shut up you gargantuan rabbit!'
'Excuse me!?' The Nine Tails roared. 'I will rip your intestines from your weak little fleshbag body and feed them to y-'
It was Naruto's turn to ignore their mental connection to instead focus on Sakumo.
"M'not cute." She pouted, flushing bright red when the White Fang of Konoha set her on his hip.
"Tell you what," Sakumo began, grinning down at her. "Since I know that I won't be able to stop calling you that, you can come up with your own nickname for me. Hows that sound Naru-chan?"
A bit of Naruto died at the second demeaning nickname from the Hatake, before being resurrected by a long forgotten prankster side.
"Saki-chan!" She chirped, grinning evilly when Sakumo paled drastically, and began sputtering.
The living legend then blushed crimson, slapping an embarrassed hand over his face when people looked over. Naruto, feeling particularly spiteful, began continuously singing "Saki-chan Saki-chan!".
Sakumo lifted the little blonde from his hip, and held her under her arms so they were face to face. He shushed her in extreme mortification.
"Shhhh! No no Naruto please anything but that!" He cried. "No one will ever take me seriously again! I'm a grown man!"
"Old man?" Naruto asked, purposely getting it wrong.
Holding in a devious smirk, Naruto cocked her head to the side innocently.
"'Akumo-ojii?" She tried.
"Gah!" Sakumo choked. "I'm not old!"
His face shifted beet red when a few women began giggling at his expense. Though Naruto, was inwardly rolling around in glee.
'What an awkward turtle.' She snickered.
"Naruto," Sakumo called, trying to distract her. "How about we fly? You're not afraid of heights are you?"
"Fly?" Naruto repeated, before nodding and cheering. "Cool! Let's fly Saki-chan!"
Sakumo sighed in resignation, knowing he failed to distract Naruto from the horrid nickname. Shaking his head in despair, the silver haired Hatake swung a giggling blonde onto his shoulders, and took a great leap to the rooftops above, his embarrassed expression melting into a fond one when Naruto shrieked in joy, little fingers of her remaining hand gently grabbing his ponytail.
"I didn't say anything before, but, I've got a little boy about your age at home, Naruto." Sakumo said, scaling over the tiled rooftops. They both enjoyed the crisp wind sliding over their faces and through their hair.
"Your son?" Naruto asked after calming down.
"Mhmm." The Hatake hummed. "He doesn't act much like someone your age though. He's a Genin now, and says I have to treat him like an adult because we're both shinobi."
"Genin?" Naruto said. "So small... He must be strwong."
"Yes," Sakumo grinned proudly. "My boy is a genius. I just wish he wouldn't try to grow up so fast..."
"Hm." Naruto mumbled. "What's 'is name?"
"Kakashi." Sakumo said, unknowingly sending pangs through Naruto's heart. "His name is Hatake Kakashi."
"'Kashi." Naruto said, patting Sakumo's head comfortingly. "Nawuto is sure 'Kashi loves Saki-chan, eben though 'Kashi wants to be a big boy. He wants to make Saki-chan pwoud."
Sakumo stopped, quickly pulling Naruto down from his shoulders and once again, holding her under her arms before his face. Sadly, the blonde was already used to being toted around like a stuffed toy.
The Hatake studied her large, sparkling blue eyes, clearly startled by the wise gleam they held.
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Sakumo smiled.
"Thank you Naruto." He said. "I'm sure Kakashi will love you too."
Sakumo set Naruto down on his home's porch. It was a modest, and traditional styled Japanese home, with a garden out front and a koi pond out back. The Hatake Compound didn't get many visitors, as it was built to the right of Konoha's infamous Forest of Death, a place no one went near unless absolutely necessary, or they were ANBU trainees.
The Hatake carefully watched Naruto's reaction, noting her awe was not staged, and she was really impressed by his home. Sakumo grimly wondered what kind of dark hole Naruto lived in as a child soldier. It was different with Kakashi... because his boy wouldn't be sent on assassinations until he was a Chunin. There was no telling how much blood Naruto's remaining little hand was bathed in.
"So big." The blonde said, looking up at him, and pulling him from his inner gloom. "Do lotsa peoples live here?"
"Not anymore." Sakumo shook his head. "They all passed away. It's just me and Kakashi now."
The man almost flinched at the wounded look in Naruto's eyes. "At least you still gots each other..." She mumbled glumy. Because I've got no one, Sakumo heard, even though Naruto didn't dare say it.
He found his heart aching for the girl again, and bent slightly to pat her soft tufts of shining hair. He wanted to say that she had him now, and his boy, but he couldn't. Despite how much it irked him, Sakumo couldn't make that call without the possibility of him making a liar of himself. There was a chance Naruto wouldn't be able to stay in Konoha freely.
She was an outsider, with unknown abilities and chakra that manipulated itself even when she was unconscious. It was chakra that fixed a broken neck as soon as it had broken, and healed bruises as soon as they blossomed. Chakra that protected her. It was... Dangerous chakra.
Sakumo had been assigned to monitor Naruto, and the White Fang knew it was only a matter of time before people began asking questions. He was not arrogant, but the Hatake knew he was a legend among men, and he knew the advisors of the Hokage, as well as the shinobi council, would find out about Naruto sooner rather then later. There was no way he could keep Naruto staying with him under wraps. Sakumo was too well known.
And there was also something that made him want to growl and snap his jaws. The possibility that the council would want Naruto's power. She would be forced to be tested on, or locked away to breed offspring for future wars. It was disgusting, and Sakumo would be damned before he let that happen to Naruto. He'd fight tooth and nail for the little blonde.
He looked down at her smiling face, and just knew. He knew there was no way Naruto would ever harm Konoha.
Sakumo ruffled Naruto's bangs, earning an indignant pout that made him grin, and then he finally pulled out his keys. Entering his home, Sakumo was pleased to see Naruto toeing off her tiny hospital issued slippers without any instruction.
"Dad?" A call came from the dinning room, and Sakumo smiled at the sound of his cute little boy's voice.
"Yes son, it's me." He called back. "Come out here, I've got someone with me I want you to meet."
Naruto forced her breathing to remain normal. She stuffed her suddenly sweaty hand in the pocket of her hospital gown beneath her cloak.
'Oh jeez Kurama it's Kakashi-sensei!' She shrieked, annoying her Bijuu. 'Did you hear him? Did you? He sounds so young!'
'Will you calm down? You're so noisy.' The fox huffed.
'B-but it's Kakashi-sensei!' Naruto wailed, eyes wide. 'What if he hates me?' She asked in horror.
'Ugh.' Kurama exhaled explosively. 'I'm sure it will be fine. When has someone disliking you ever stopped you before?'
Instead of answering, Naruto squeaked like a complete girl, and hid behind Sakumo's legs, peeking out as she heard light steps on the polished wooden floors.
Her eyes widened at Kakashi standing in the foyer entrance in all his silver haired glory. He was normal in stature for someone his age, a dark blue mask covering the lower half of his face, attached to the short sleeved shirt he wore. His pants were the same deep blue, and his feet were bare. Though, the most alarming thing was the two perceptive dark gray eyes boring into Naruto's own terrified blue.
"Maa Dad," Kakashi drawled. "Who's that?"
'How can he be that small and still be so cool?' Naruto baffled.
Sakumo chuckled sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck. He placed his other hand atop Naruto's head, and guided her around himself from hiding.
"This son, is Naruto. She'll be staying with us for a while."
"Hm." Kakashi crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side, intently studying the little blonde.
'Oh god.' Naruto panicked. 'He knows! Kurama he knows I time traveled and I don't belong here!'
'Would you shut up?' The Bijuu growled. 'There is no way he could possibly know that! He's FIVE. And YOU'RE being ridiculous!'
'But-'
'You're really starting to annoy me!' Kurama huffed, retreating into Naruto's subconscious for a long deserved nap, leaving the blonde to the dogs.
As Naruto inwardly collapsed, outwardly, she seemed only slightly unnerved by Kakashi's intent studying.
"Hey, I'm Kakashi." The little Hatake finally said.
"And...?" Sakumo input, trying to get his son to welcome Naruto into their home.
"Oh! Right," Kakashi said after raising a brow, looking back at Naruto. "I'm Kakashi, and you're short."
There was a long pause.
Sakumo's mouth dropped open, and a vein began pulsing on the side of Naruto's head.
'He's... he's...' Naruto grit her teeth. 'He's not cute at all!'
"M'not short!" She huffed.
"Yes you are." He said flatly. "And what's with that pronunciation? You sound like a baby."
Sakumo was appalled by the choice of words Naruto decided to use in response.
"Naruto!" He sputtered, beet red. "That is- you can not say that! Where did you even learn such... such...!"
"Hmmm," Kakashi rubbed his masked chin. "I don't think that's physically possible. Perhaps if there was a jutsu that could ram live ducks up there...?"
"KAKASHI!" Sakumo wailed.
"You're da worst!" The blonde huffed, bottom lip jutting out as she fought back tears. The stupid little girl body Naruto was forced in had her emotions running rampant. Pretty much anything could set her off.
"Awww," Sakumo swept the little blonde into his arms, petting her hair as he shushed her. He shot a disapproving glare at his nonchalant son over Naruto's little shoulder.
"Not just a baby huh?" Kakashi drawled. "Even worse. She's a crybaby."
"Kakashi, apologize right now! That was uncalled for." Sakumo said firmly.
"Maa," The little Hatake mumbled, unmoved at being scolded. "Sorry Naruto."
'He totally doesn't mean it!' Naruto raged. 'What a jerk!'
"Whateber." Naruto wiggled in Sakumo's arms to glare at Kakashi with teary, yet stubborn eyes. Her tears, to both Hatake's surprise, did not fall. She blinked them away, whiskered cheeks flushed with fury.
"M'not not a crybaby. An' it's a speech im-pair-ment... I can't help it!"
Sakumo blinked, obviously not knowing that. He set Naruto on her little feet when asked, and watched Naruto blow his son a raspberry with no small amount of amusement.
"Saki-chan, can I look awound?" She asked.
Dumbly, Sakumo nodded, watching Naruto huffily breeze past his son, chin held high.
"Stay in the front of the house. I'll show you everywhere else in a bit." He called.
"'Kay!" Naruto chirped.
Sakumo looked back at Kakashi, and couldn't stop the laughter at the absolute baffled expression on his son's face. Kakashi was used to strangers falling to his feet in admiration and praising him for his genius status. And even if the boy didn't like it, he pretty much expected such behavior. And here was Naruto, blowing him a raspberry, and then leaving without so much as a blink in his direction.
Sakumo couldn't stop grinning.
'She is a little fireball, isn't she?' He chuckled. 'I have a feeling things are going to be changing around here...'
Though, his amusement was quickly cut down when his son looked at him and asked flatly, "Saki-chan?"
Sakumo had given Naruto some hand-me-downs of Kakashi's five hours after her arrival. After a bath, she was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt and mask combo, her legs in a pair of knee length gray shorts. Her stump was wrapped in fresh bandages, and her hair was pulled back in a lazy ponytail.
The little blonde sat on one of the large rocks bordering the edge of the Hatake compound's elegant koi pond. Her legs were folded beneath her, and a breeze ruffled the long bangs framing her round face. She stared down, into the clear waters, absently watching the large colorful fish dance lazily about in the shallow depths.
'Who do you think I should tell about the future, Kurama?' Naruto suddenly asked.
The grand Bijuu roused from his comfortable doze, black lips flattening as his eyes narrowed in thought.
'I think you should decide that for yourself, Naruto.' Kurama finally said.
Naruto visibly frowned, lifting her stump and staring at it. She shook her head, dropping it back at her side.
'The future is grim, and I didn't help the nations alone. No one I knew is around to stand beside me anymore.' She thought. 'If I knew who to tell, would I be asking you?'
Kurama sighed loudly. 'Naruto, as corny as it sounds, I want you to choose someone you trust. If I choose for you, there will be room for doubt, which we have no time for. You must be firm and strong in your decisions for the future.'
'If you're my partner, your supposed to help me.' Naruto complained. 'Not give me riddles that make my brain hurt!'
'Riddles are good for your puny brain.' Kurama grinned. 'Also, rarely when you put thought into something, do you make the wrong decision. So just think, Naruto. Who do you know you can trust, and will not stand in your way for the good of the future?'
'That's a tough call...' Naruto admitted. ''There's a few people I can choose now.'
'Which is why I'm telling you to think.' Kurama said. 'For now, there's no rush. Wait until the ANBU watch ceases to make your final decision.'
'Okay.' The blonde agreed.
"Naruto!" Sakumo called from out the back door. "Dinner's ready!"
"'Kay!" She called back, turning around and hopping off her perch on the rock.
When she entered the dinning room, Kakashi was already seated at the kitchen's wide square wooden table. Naruto nearly began salivating at the assortment of foods laid across the polished surface. A bowl of steaming white rice centered the assortment, followed by a plate of fried shrimp, a tray of fatty tuna sushi, and a plate of small square cut omelettes. There was also a bowl of what looked like salad, but Naruto wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole.
'Naruto,' Kurama said, exasperated. 'That pitiful body of yours will never become strong if you don't feed it the necessary nutrients to become so.'
'Don't give me that bull.' Naruto replied huffily, climbing with effort into the very high chair presented beside Sakumo, and pouting when the man decided to lift her and set her in the evil chair.
'What bull?' Kurama deadpanned.
'I would've been six, or over six feet, and I didn't eat vegetables until my sage training.' Naruto replied huffily, before she mentally shuddered. 'Ma didn't have anything on Mount Miyoboku but worms and plants anyways. I had no choice... And she was so happy to feed me...'
The fox snorted. 'Never mind that. If you actually did get that tall, it would've been a miracle. Eat the salad.'
'Never!' Naruto yelled. 'Why are you so persistent about this?'
'You'll be a runt again.' Kurama said mercilessly. 'And I refuse to be housed inside someone who looks so weak.'
'You're being ridiculous.'
'That's rich coming from you.'
'Oh whatever.'
Both Naruto and Kakashi thanked Sakumo for the food, and the littlest Hatake began putting shrimp and rice on his plate with his chopsticks.
Naruto swore she would find a way to get the fox back when two glowing chakra arms spilled from her sides, stretching out and reaching for the giant vegetable bowl.
'Kurama you better stop screwing around.' Naruto gritted. 'I don't want any of that nasty junk!'
'Better play along Naruto.' The Bijuu snickered. 'If not, they'll figure out these aren't your chakra arms...'
'You sonofa-'
"You can control them?" Sakumo asked, eyes wide as the clawed hands served a hefty amount of salad onto Naruto's empty plate.
"Yeah." Naruto chirped, trying not to grumble as the crunchy leaves were shoved into her mouth with Kurama's left chopstick equipped chakra hand.
'You're dead.' Naruto growled, chewing up the greens, and withholding a wince at the rich, almost harsh flavor. 'You are so dead Kurama.'
'What's that?' The Bijuu cackled, 'More salad? Why Naruto, of course you can have more!'
More salad was shoveled into her mouth, and Naruto endured, not wanting Sakumo to notice she was not the one controlling the arms, and that she held within her a powerful entity. Of course, she could play innocent and say she didn't know telling about Kurama was essential, but then again, if she claimed suspicion from Jiji and Sakumo now, she would never be trusted. And there was no way she or Kurama could block out any hardcore mind probing if she was caught.
The only reason no one had found Kurama yet was because no one thought to check Naruto for being a Jinchuuriki. She and Kurama's chakra had reached a sort of symbiosis, working so seemlessly together the two sources were practically one.
"You must really like salad..." Sakumo said carefully.
"Mhm~" Naruto lied. 'So freaking dead...'
Kurama continued to torture her with the healthy food, having the time of his life.
Kakashi, obviously didn't know what to make of the situation. When he first noticed Naruto had one arm, the boy had used all the self restraint he had not to stare at the blonde's stump, and here she was, sprouting arms like it was normal.
The little Hatake just knew his peaceful home life was about to change drastically.
And Naruto, well, she got full her first night at the Hatake compound on salad.
Hours later, it was half past eleven at night, Sakumo gone on a last minute mission, summoned by one of the Hokage's messenger monkeys three hours earlier.
Sakumo's bedroom was the first door after the back door facing the Hatake koi pond, Kakashi's the second, and Naruto's, was now the third. There were more empty rooms left behind from the passed clan members. The Hatake compound was a strangely shaped house, like an L, with the rest of the open space beyond the koi garden and pond neatly gated off.
Naruto felt the compound was sort of lonely. But, it was much better then the dingy apartment from her original youth.
Instead of laying down, sleeping as she felt Kakashi doing in the next room, Naruto sat in her new room's doorway, watching the night dusting over the Hatake koi garden. The moonlight lit the cherry blossom tree looming over the koi pond in an ethereal glow.
'It's such a small piece of the world I'm seeing right now, but even so, the beauty makes me want to protect everyone in this village, and everywhere else, from Zetsu and Kaguya...' Naruto thought. 'But, I need someone to help me protect everyone...'
The little blonde still had Kakashi's old shirt and mask on, and surprisingly, she found the soft fabric comforting. Like she was protected, and her face wasn't naked to the perceptive ANBU eyes she felt watching her.
'Someone who won't stand in my way,' Naruto thought. 'Someone who will stand beside me, and is strong, and wise, and not quick to violence. Someone who wants peace as much as I do...'
The little blonde suppressed a flinch, feeling Kurama gathering Sage Chakra into her coils. It was very subtle, and instead of Toad Sage chakra, it was Six Paths Sage chakra. It was not enough to harm Naruto, and she only felt it in a specific set of chakra coils. The coils remaining in her right arm's stump.
'Kurama what are you doing?' Naruto asked, trying to tone down her rising panic. 'The ANBU will sense this! You'll get us caught!'
'You said it yourself, Naruto. We are practically one these days,'
'So what!?'
'They will just think my gathering chakra, is you gathering chakra.'
'I know that, but when they take me in, which they WILL, Jiji will recognize the type of chakra you're using!'
'But isn't that what you want?' Kurama grinned. 'Don't think I haven't noticed, Naruto.'
'What?' She deflated slightly.
'You've made your decision.'
'What about mom?' Naruto huffed, allowing her indignant pout to show even as a whole squad of ANBU flickered before her sitting form. 'You've been flinging your chakra arms around all day!'
'Again,' Kurama deadpanned. 'Symbiosis. The only one who will recognize me in this village, is my other self. As long as you stay away from Kushina, everything will be fine.'
"You child," One of the silent warriors finally intoned. "Come with us now."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the masked, but still so obviously smiling little blonde girl across his office, four fully grown ANBU not so subtly pointing weapons at her vitals.
Naruto stood before the God of Shinobi as if she weren't possibly facing a death sentence for using chakra in the wee hours of the night. Chakra usage that could be taken as an assasssnation attempt on Sakumo's son. She stood as if she wasn't currently using some unknown sage chakra. She stood before him as if she didn't have a grotesque, blood dripping lump of new arm healing itself right before his eyes.
Watching those twinkling blue eyes, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew.
He knew he was about to experience something he had never experienced in all of his years.
"Hey Jiji!" Naruto chirped. "Can you keep a secret?"
Chapter 2 End