Naruto woke up the morning of his planned fight against a chunin of Konohagakure with a spring in his step, and a lightness on his heart that wasn't there yesterday. Kakashi had kept true to his words, and after their afternoon mission, cleaning the Inuzuka kennels, took Naruto to a ninja bar where the young blonde got his first taste of sake and the promised stories of his mother. He learned a bit about her history, and about the village she came from Uzushiogakure, who also happened to provide the First Hokage's wife Mito Uzumaki, and the first jinkurichi of the Kyuubi.
He learned that Kushina Uzumaki was very loud and brash, much like him, with an equally uncontrollable verbal tick and more energy than any two people combined. She loved ramen and pulling pranks, was a serious sword mistress, and not someone people ever wanted to mess with, earning herself two very distinguishable and accurate nicknames; "The Red-Hot Habanero" and "The Red Death." She was an above average Fuinjutsu user, as most Uzumaki's are naturally, and had a very unique bloodline that allowed her to use Adamantium Sealing Chains she sprouted from her back that were strong enough to actually hold down the Kyuubi in a limited fashion.
That last part about her bloodline was somewhat shocking, and it made Naruto wonder if he could ever activate the Adamantium Sealing Chains, and resolved himself to getting even better at Fuinjutsu to give him the best possible chance to succeed. He was also pretty sure his clan did in fact have another bloodline, as they seemed to be the only family used to seal the Kyuubi, and he wondered if that had to do with the potent chakra and longevity of life that Guy mentioned ran in his clan. Just more things to look up and research to determine the truth, and now with the added knowledge of Kushina, he was even more motivated to get started.
But first, he needed to prepare for a fight against a chunin opponent he hadn't yet been introduced to, and for what purpose exactly he wasn't completely sure but trusted Kakashi enough. Getting up and spamming his usual mass of over 1500 clones, he set them about their usual training tasks with the added instructions to prioritize learning about Kushina, the Uzumaki Clan, and Uzushiogakure. Since the Green Beasts were still currently out of the village on their C-Rank mission, Naruto didn't have to meet up with anyone and started his usual morning workout knowing it was really helping him improve and get stronger.
By the time he ate breakfast, and made his way towards Training Ground 7, Naruto could already see several people present including to his absolute shock, the perpetually late Kakashi and the Hokage himself, Sarutobi Hiruzen. He also recognized Kurenai Yuhi and Sarutobi Asuma, the jounin leaders of Teams 8 and 10 respectively, fortunately without their students since it was still pretty early. The other group of unknowns contained five people; an attractive and half-naked purple haired woman in fishnets and a trench coat, another attractive dark brown haired feral looking young woman with red Inuzuka Clan markings on her cheeks that looked a bit like Kiba, a tall slender ninja in all dark blue almost black clothes and bandana with silly round sunglasses on his uptight looking face, and finally a pair of goof offs Naruto knew as the "Gate Guards" Izumo and Kotetsu.
He knew both chunin "Gate Guards" relatively well, having often been the subjects of one of Naruto's many pranks over the years, and were two of the more relaxed and laid back of his usual chunin pursuers, often finding his pranks really funny. He could tell just from looking though, that one of them was going to be his opponent today, as none of the other observers seemed to be getting ready for a fight, and was somewhat apprehensive about fighting a known chunin. He knew Kotetsu was the lazier of the pair, but was also the stronger Genjutsu user, one of his untested weaknesses and wondered if he was going to be testing his Blood Clones re-spawning ability to truly keep Genjutsu from invading his ever changing chakra system.
"Ah Naruto," spoke the Hokage loudly, once he saw the approaching genin and getting everyone to turn their attention to the young blond, and causing most of them who hadn't seen him in weeks to do a double take thinking they were seeing the Fourth Hokage in front of them. "Glad you made it on time," he continued with a pointed look at a suddenly sheepish looking Kakashi, who just bowed his head and pretended to disappear.
"Let me guess, he was going to be late," replied Naruto with a laugh as he nodded towards Kakashi, "and you made sure he was here on time?"
"Can't have him miss his student's first triumph against a superior opponent," came the quick response from the village leader, "especially when he was the one to offer the challenge."
"Dattebayo Jiji," shouted Naruto with a fist pump, happy for the encouragement from the old man, and hoping to show everyone just what he was already capable of. "So which is it going to be," he continued as he turned towards the two "Gate Guards" with a wide grin on his whiskered face and saw them both looking at him in a little shock and starting to feel excited about the upcoming fight, "...Izumo? ...Kotetsu? ...both?"
"BOTH?" shouted Ebisu incredulously, before he began mock laughing in a very condescending way, "please ...this useless genin has no chance against either of them ...let alone BOTH!"
Naruto had in fact had similar doubts himself just this morning, wondering why he was fighting against a chunin already, not thinking he was anywhere near ready, but after seeing the two "Gate Guards" he knew relatively well, he was less worried about being beaten and growing more excited for the chance to go up against a strong opponent and leave it all on the line. For some uptight prick to laugh and insult him like that however, really upset him and had him narrowing his eyes and growling at the sunglasses wearing idiot he was about to make eat his words, as he started gathering chakra at levels few of those present had witnessed first hand.
"Why shouldn't the two of them fight together?" started Naruto in a slow grinding voice as more and more chakra gathered around him, now visibly glowing to the stunned and wide eyed spectators, as even more chakra was still building at unheard of levels for any genin. "I'll be fighting with my friends," continued Naruto as he brought his hands together in the cross seal in preparation for a mass shadow clone summon and just held them there as he continued to pump even more chakra, now reaching beyond kage levels and still growing.
"Holy Shit," came the fearful voice of the purple haired observer, as she and the female Inuzuka both retreated several hundred yards further away from Izumo and Kotetsu, not wanting to be anywhere near whatever was about to go down, but also not even blinking, in fear that they would miss this epic moment.
"Number One unpredictable ninja, indeed," came the softly spoken words of the Hokage, as he and Kakashi both retreated as well to a safer distance from the center of Naruto's mass Shadow Clone explosion to come, both grinning in excitement at their young friend's growing skill and power.
"Uhhhh …," came the mumbled and shocked monosyllabic response to the largest amount of chakra Ebisu had ever witnessed being gathered, as he stood wide eyed staring at the small blond kid that better resembled the Yellow Flash at this moment than anything he had ever seen. Ebisu only had time to cringe in the next moment as an explosion of chakra that would probably be felt in the Fire Country Capital saturated everything in a two mile radius and filled everyone's vision with the thickest smoke imaginable. Time seemed to freeze as the chakra saturated and settled over everything within the blast radius, and for several moments nobody moved or knew what exactly had happened, all except for one young blond ninja who could only smirk at what he had managed to accomplish.
It took almost ten seconds for the wind the completely clear away the dense smoke that filled every inch of the Training Ground, and in its place left no square inch uncovered in the clones of one Naruto Uzumaki, all of whom had their eyes focused on the two shivering chunin practically hugging one another in support. Without being able to actually count, Naruto guessed that he had almost doubled his largest ever spamming of clones, as he had to be close to having 3000 clones filling up every square inch of Training Ground Seven. With the two chunin on the back foot, and still in shock from the massive amount of chakra used, Naruto was able to quickly attack them both with the nearest two dozen clones, and quickly had them both overwhelmed and tied up with their chakra sealed in under five seconds.
"That takes care of the chunin ...want to see how I fare against a jounin?" asked the closest Naruto to the still wide eyed and open mouthed Ebisu, as he watched in shock as the blond demon easily dispatched the two chunin like it wasn't even a challenge, and wondered how the hell Naruto grew so strong so quickly, having been the laughing stock Dead last barely over a month ago.
Ebisu wasn't however given much time to understand what was happening next, as he was instantly being set upon by a horde of blondes for the next five minutes. Ebisu could barely breath as he fought off wave after wave of Naruto clones, coming at him in small coordinated groups with attacking taijutsu and ninjutsu in support and in very large continuous numbers. The older sunglasses wearing ninja then tried similar tactics that Kakashi had used during the bell test, first using shunshin which didn't escape the notice of so many Naruto clones filling the entirety of the Training Ground they were using, and then trying to combat shadow clones with elemental and a single shadow clones of his own while the original Ebisu went underground to recover. He was therefore not at all prepared for the Echolocation jutsu Naruto used to continually harass and hound him every time he stopped to take a breath and gave him no rest anywhere in the Training Ground.
Ebisu was then forced to keep fighting as continuous waves of Naruto attackers kept coming, and knew he was quickly running out of energy and wouldn't be able to last much longer. He knew he needed to come up with something to combat the young stamina freak, or he would never live down the humiliation of this defeat, and therefore decided to try his favorite larger scale jutsu. Hoping the Fire Dragon Bullets he was most comfortable using, would cut down the overwhelming numbers Naruto still had to his advantage, but wasn't sure if he would have the chakra to outlast everyone of the demon's infernal clones. For the next ten minutes, Ebisu was able to slowly start taking out small groups of clones with his Fire technique, but Naruto was smart enough to keep his clones farther apart and in smaller more manageable groups so he never lost too many too quickly, all the while continuously hounding Ebisu and keeping him on the back foot.
At the half hour mark from the start, Naruto's clones had been reduced down to almost 1000 remaining, but Ebisu was at that point on his last leg chakra and endurance wise and was really struggling to keep the latest waves of Naruto clones from overwhelming him. In a last ditch effort to protect himself, he created a ten foot dome of solid earth, and tried to hunker down to outlast the continuous waves of clone fighters. The older Tokubetsu Jounin, couldn't actually believe it, that the Dead Last Demon container had grown so strong so quickly, but the proof was in front of him and his spamming of shadow clones was obviously the reason for the accelerated growth and just hoped his Earth Dome would hold out for a few minutes to catch his breath and come up with something else to turn this fight to his advantage.
Naruto, however, was not going to waste any time or give the older ninja any chance to rest, and started sending explosive clones armed with homemade explosive notes, completely covering the dome before detonating. Destroying the Earth Chakra construct protecting his opponent in a concussive explosion that instantly knocked out Ebisu, caused all those watching to realize that Naruto just beat a Tokubetsu Jounin, who while not known as super elite himself, was no pushover. They also realized that had Naruto used the Clone Great Explosion at the start with his 3000 plus clones, he could have leveled half of Konoha, and that he definitely needed to be taken seriously as an up and coming ninja of great promise, just as the Third Hokage predicted.
"Very well done, Naruto," praised Hiruzen with an affectionate smile directed towards the young blond bundle of energy, whose clones were already cleaning up all the weapons and putting the training ground back to normal before they disappeared into the surrounding wooded area to continue with whatever they did all day. "It's not every day a new genin can take on and defeat a pair of chunin or a tokubetsu jounin ...even if it was in a controlled friendly spar."
"Not every day?!" came the sarcastic reply from the purple haired woman, as she eyed the younger blond like a piece of meat, "with that chakra and those shadow clones ...he could probably take on a few jounin and walk away."
"With those shadow clones …," came the low and almost quiet reply from the stunned Inuzuka girl, who was still wide eyed and staring at the impossible feat she just witnessed, "he could do anything, learn everything, become unstoppable."
Her gaze sort of blanked out at that point as she imagined all the things someone with that much chakra and that many shadow clones could accomplish. He was a literal one man army, an unrivaled communication center, an infiltrator's or scout's dream, and with the time divided by thousands ...he could accomplish anything he dedicated his time or clones to. The fact that he was pretty damn hot too didn't hurt, she thought to herself before she realized what she was thinking and began blushing slightly as impure thoughts went through her mind about the young ninja her brother's age.
"I just wonder if that stamina translates to the bedroom?" came the somewhat lecherous question from her purple haired friend next to her, and making her choke at the bluntness of Anko, "and all those expendable clones ...talk about a fascinating fucktoy."
"Anko," half growled half groaned Hana Inuzuka, well used to the other woman's overly sexual behavior and mouth, but at the moment not helping her remove the previous images she had of the young blond ninja that only increased her blush and imagination, and had her purple haired friend laughing at her embarrassment.
"Can someone untie us?" came a shout from the almost forgotten about Kotetsu, as he remained hogtied on the ground next to his best friend with chakra seals closing them off to their chakra and any way to escape.
"And get rid of these fucking seals?" came Izumo's frustrated yell right afterwards. "They're messing with my chakra and making my skin itch!"
"Oh ...haha ...um ...that's actually the itching powder I put on those seals," chuckled Naruto with a sheepish grin directed at the two tied up and twitching chunin, making several of the watching ninja double over in laughter.
"Sorry, let me get rid of those for you," continued Naruto as a pair of shadow clones appeared in front of each of the "Gate Guards" and quickly had the seals removed from their necks, and after a small application of chakra had them recharged and were pocketing them when Izumo asked him something.
"Wait ...did you make those seals?" asked the older dark haired chunin with a slight gleam in his eye as he thought of how nice it would be to be able to seal off someone's chakra so completely they were practically useless.
"Sure did," replied Naruto quickly and with a pleased smile. "Here," he added, having the clones hold out the recharged seals to their victims, "you can have them as an apology for the itching powder ...and no hard feelings right?"
"Not at all my man," responded Izumo giddily as he stared wide eyed at the chakra seal in utter fascination.
"I can make more if you're willing to pay?" added Naruto, seeing an easy returning customer in front of him, and just genuinely liking the pair, "and explosive notes, and storage scrolls for now."
"Really?" asked Kotetsu, who while not as expressive over the chakra seals, was still very much excited for the chance to get good sealing stuff at probably much more reasonable prices than they overcharged at any of the stores in the village, and was pleased when the blond haired kid nodded.
"I bet you could sell those seals for some serious money kid," came the impressed sounding deep voice of Asuma Sarutobi, "I know Itoi Higurashi is always looking for explosive notes and storage seals to sell in his store."
"Hmm," came Naruto's thoughtful hum as he thought about how many seals he could make and sell to really build up a nice savings, "that could definitely work ...thanks Asuma-sensei."
Naruto had quickly come to realize that with hundreds of clones running around all the time, that he went through resources very quickly even with the shadow clones replicating with the same storage scrolls and gear on them as the original. While they didn't need to eat, several of his clones had to last for long periods of time, either henged as others or as himself, that he often found his clones eating and trying different restaurants around the village. Naruto knew that most of his infiltration clones he had around the village, acting as civilians with regular jobs and frequent trips to the library, had to maintain their cover, and therefore didn't bother with the added meal expenses but it was definitely putting pressure on his finances even with all the extra D-Rank missions and training ground clearing of forgotten weapons.
If he could start mass producing his seals for reselling, then he could really start putting away some money for some of his more expensive desires and dreams. His newest one came in just the last day, after learning about his mother and her Clan, something he now felt was his responsibility to continue and grow. If he wanted to do that, he would need some serious money to get a Clan compound and start building wealth to be better prepared for everything that would entail.
What exactly that would entail however, did not bear thinking about at this moment, as while now legally considered an adult as a ninja, he knew he wasn't ready for relationships and especially marriage or kids. But, that didn't mean he couldn't start planning for that eventual inevitability by gathering resources to himself, and he realized that those resources needed to be more than just money. Clans had libraries of knowledge and techniques, vaults filled with valuables and weaponry, and all seemed to do or provide some service back to the village.
"You still with us Naruto?" asked the kind voice of the Third Hokage, interrupting the young blond's thoughts and reminding him that he wasn't alone.
"Ha ha ...um ...yeah, sorry Jiji," responded Naruto sheepishly, "what was the question?"
"Ms. Yuhi asked how many clones do you usually train with per day?" came the smiling voice of the Village leader, curious himself having watched his favorite blond on occasion but not fully keeping track of his complete movements.
"Um ...just train with ...probably three to four thousand a day," came the honest response after the young ninja thought about his average day as of late, and completely missing the complete shock of everyone present and the curious looks from the Hokage and Kakashi who both noticed the unusually specific wording Naruto used.
"And how many total shadow clones do you make a day?" asked the Hokage once everyone else settled down, and had the others realize what was being asked and quickly understood what it meant by asking a very similar but differently worded question.
"Ummm," came Naruto's somewhat far away voice, as he both contemplated telling the truth or maybe using a technicality in the wording as he did in the first instance to not mention the blood clones level of clone production as well.
"Is this a conversation you would be more comfortable having in my office?" came the knowledgeable question from the Hokage, having successfully read that something more than what was on the surface was happening here, and wanted to get to the bottom of whatever was going on in Naruto's life. "Kakashi, maybe you could join us if that's okay with you Naruto?" and after a look shared between the two mentioned got a nod in reply. "Good. Then, the rest of you are responsible for getting Ebisu checked out at the hospital before returning to your scheduled duties."
"Yes sir," "Yes Hokage," came the numerous replies of everyone present, before they were left in Training Ground Seven with an unconscious and most likely inconsolable Tokubetsu Jounin to take to hospital, and an incredibly talented blond genin to gossip about.
Naruto appeared in a shunshin right in front of the Hokage's desk, before collapsing in the chair he usually occupied when visiting with his favorite person in Konoha and watched as his jounin sensei arrived right behind him and stood at attention in front of the Village leader's desk. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the elderly Third Hokage appeared behind his desk, and like Naruto was quick to sit in his chair, but obviously with a lot more dignity than the young ninja used. He motioned Kakashi to sit and relax, as with most things related to Naruto, there was no formality and Kakashi wasn't surprised in the least.
"Now Naruto," came the inquiring voice of the elderly Hokage as he looked at the slightly guilty or maybe apprehensive looking Naruto, "tell me what's going on?"
"Well …" he started uneasily with glances towards the old man and his silver haired sensei, "I am using a LOT more clones, but I wasn't lying about me only training myself with about 3 to 4 thousand."
"Ok," answered the Hokage slowly, trying to piece together that statement, "so then, how many clones are you creating every day and what are you having the non-training ones doing?"
"Hehe ...um, I spam about 1500 clones every two to three hours all day every day, minus the five hours of sleep I need ...so between 9000 to 14,000 a day then. But, ...um, I also created four Fuinjutsu reinforced blood clones from a scroll I found hidden in the chunin library awhile ago, and they have been maintaining a slightly slower pace but still anywhere between 5000 to 10,000 a day," replied Naruto, who stopped at that point as both the Hokage and Kakashi were looking at him in absolute wide-eyed shock.
"You are the new civilian labor force that has shown up in the village over the last two weeks?" asked the elderly Hokage after a moment of silence where he realized what exactly Naruto was telling him, and was blown away, that the civilian labor force that recently showed up in town and his Civilian Council had been loudly complaining about their undercutting the established prices and businesses, was in fact his favorite unpredictable ninja doing something thought impossible.
"Well, I needed to start making money, and have excuses and backgrounds so I could visit the Civilian Library and learn the things I wanted," replied Naruto. "I originally was trying to use the blood clones as a way to maintain a constant flux of my chakra so that I would always be able to disrupt any genjutsu as that was definitely my biggest weakness after having that painfully pointed out by Iruka. But once they were created and performing that function, I didn't want them just sitting around constantly respawning clones to keep my chakra in constant flux, so I gave them all different roles to perform. Blood Clone 1 (BC1) is responsible for my underground training facility, basic training and research and development, while BC2 runs the civilian side of things and our finances. BC3 and BC4 are running my library infiltration projects, and will eventually grow into my information gathering network, and those two are the ones responsible for maintaining my chakra in flux."
"Holy shit," came Kakashi's stunned exclamation, finally starting to see how much Naruto had been growing, and wondering how good he could become with a little more direction or training, and deciding that he would be the one to help with that training.
"I assume your permanent henge is responsible for the thousands of new civilians that nobody recognizes, and who successfully infiltrated one of the five Great Ninja Villages," questioned Hiruzen with a hard look at the young blond ninja, wanting to show him the importance of something like this being made aware to him. "I have three teams of ANBU currently trying to spy on several of these unknown new civilians that have started jobs in more sensitive areas of the village's civilian government and main businesses ...maybe I should turn that assignment over to you."
"Yeah ...Squirrel, Crane, and Boar are useless at maintaining their secrecy or distance. I've got them and their teams all tagged with chakra sealing scripts and Naruto Clone bugs," laughed Naruto openly, and missing the look shared between Hokage and his former ANBU Commander and current jounin sensei to said blond headache. "Cat is the only one who sometimes surprises me anymore," he added offhandedly, which made his sensei straighten proudly, and said Cat ANBU currently hiding in the Hokage's office to smile proudly, though nobody witnessed it.
"And how long are these clones operating at all of these locations?" asked the Hokage, still trying to get a full picture of how much Naruto had accomplished in just over a month and a half of real training.
"Until they run out of chakra," he answered easily, "then they get reinforcements ...so most civilian clones can go a few days without needing to respawn ...I usually end up sending most clones to Research and Development and the Library Infiltration project at least until I get all the information I want."
"Yes, let's talk about that 'Library Infiltration Project' as you called it," continued the Hokage with a hard look at the blond ninja of his village that could easily be killed for spying and accessing areas he was not allowed, namely the chunin library he 'found' that blood clone scroll that actually happened to belong to his family, as the leading fuinjutsu clan in the Elemental Nations. "I assume that permanent henge of yours is what allows you to enter unnoticed?"
"Hehe ...yeah," added Naruto, knowing he wouldn't lie to the Hokage, having too much love and respect for one of the only people who had always tried to be there for him. "At first, I was just trying to catch up to everything I never learned at the Academy and I just kept learning more and getting better, and thought it was very helpful in my growth so I just continued with it. I was actually hoping to talk to you about whether I would be allowed to create my own Clan Library, now that I know a little about my Uzumaki heritage."
"You do?" asked a somewhat shocked Hokage, as he looked over at the silver haired ninja and received a quick no, "how?"
"Sensei Guy gave me his scrolls on the Hariken he learned from my mother," replied Naruto evenly and with a penetrating look at the elderly Hokage who always put off in answering any questions raised about his parents, "he also confirmed the burden I share with her, and another Uzumaki that is very important to this village's history ...though I would never have known based on anything I learned in the Academy about the First's wife or the sister Clan of the Senju."
"I see," replied Hiruzen with a bit of a defeated sigh, knowing how much the young man in front of him wanted to know about his parents all his life, and realizing that by not telling him, he had hurt the trust said young blond had in him and didn't like it in the least. "Naruto ...I am sorry for not telling you about your parents ...my only excuse is that I was trying to protect you and thought by keeping the truth from you I was doing just that. I in no way was trying to lie to you or keep those things from you for any reason other than your safety."
"Will you tell me about them now?" came the small voice of the twelve year old ninja, that really reminded the two older men in the room, that he was still a very young man with all the questions and insecurities that came with it.
"Yes," answered the old hokage honestly and with a small but genuine smile directed at the young ninja. "I think that would be really nice ...but I would also like to continue talking to you about all your clones, and even meet with these Blood Clones so I can get a better idea of your organization and what exactly you have already accomplished and hope to accomplish in the future. I'd also like to check out this underground training facility and I have some ideas and thoughts to discuss with you about your civilian infiltration."
"Okay Jiji," answered Naruto easily, "let's go check out my underground facility, you can meet all the blood clones and see everything for yourself ...and while we are there, maybe you can tell me a little bit more about my mom and my Clan?"
The three ninjas spent the next several hours together, and Naruto learned several facts and stories about his mother, her former village, and her Clan that filled him with wonder and a strong desire to restore and protect their memory and legacy. He was not told about the actual identity of his father, but was told that both the Hokage and Kakashi knew him well and respected him, and Naruto got a slight feeling that if he really thought about it for a bit, he could discover that information soon. Either way, the Hokage promised to tell him everything before the next scheduled chunin exams in about four month's time, of which he hinted that the young blond might be competing if his team was ready.
Naruto instantly promised that he would ensure that his team was ready for those exams, as he was ready to keep growing and pushing himself to get better, and knew challenging oneself was one of the best ways to really improve. That improvement he was already showing however, was readily apparent to the two senior ninjas as they were lead through a hidden underground entrance not too far at all from the Hokage Tower that stretched under Konoha and through a series of branching and reconnecting tunnels that seemingly went on for miles in almost every direction.
"My clones have mapped out almost 85% of these tunnels, there is one area in the northwest corner of Konoha that I haven't tried to penetrate due to all the protection seals but I know the tunnels continue through there," spoke Naruto at the time, "and I think the majority of these tunnels were part of Orochimaru's labs, as I've encountered several cleaned out and gutted old labs of questionable means. I left them alone and just cleaned out other areas for my own training areas."
That led to a quick detour through those old labs for Hiruzen to confirm they did in fact belong to his former student, and after getting that confirmation decided to have Naruto's clones tag and clean everything out. He would then have them write up a detailed report of all their findings as he couldn't afford to bring in too many people to these tunnels and it would act as a great test of Naruto's growing skills in other areas of espionage and information gathering needed to be a chunin. They then made it to the main underground training facility BC1 controlled, and even after hearing about the amount of Naruto clones created in a day, it wasn't anywhere as impactful as seeing nothing but Naruto in every direction for as far as they could see, working on every aspect of ninja life and all trying to improve with Naruto's boundless energy and determination to succeed in every single one of them.
"Hokage-sama," came a strong voice shortly after they arrived at the underground facility, where they all saw a kneeling Naruto that looked distinctly different from the original with a crew cut, but was still Naruto in every way. "It is our pleasure sir to welcome you to the Facility," he continued before rising back up, saluting his hokage, and introducing himself, "Blood Clone One at your service sir."
"Hehe ...the blood clones have all sort of adapted their personalities a bit to better take control of their respective duties," came the original Naruto's reply to the questioning looks from both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kakashi, after looking at the overly militaristic version of Naruto before them. "We call him the General."
That introduction was followed with a quick tour of the many different areas of Naruto clones working on different skills, or perfecting those he already knew, and researching new things to incorporate into his fighting style. They saw the taijutsu teams, the ninjutsu teams, those working on hand seals, those dealing with all five elemental exercises, even a large group just getting started on sword training and handling. As they went further into the 'Facility' the groups of Naruto clones were working on less and less physical things, and were soon checking out the clones working on genjutsu, then Fuinjutsu which had its own little wing of the Facility dedicated to learning, practicing, and even researching and testing areas.
After the Fuinjutsu wing, as it was referred to by Naruto, they reached the Civilian Center as it was called, where there was much less movement overall, but still a large room with several workstations set up around the outside edges like booths at the market, to replicate different functions and jobs he had seen throughout the village. There were stations set up for tailors, shoe cobblers, fabric weavers, embroidery, pottery, cashiers, bakers, cooks, waiters, and laborers of almost every kind, it was it's own miniature version of the Konoha Market, manned completely by Naruto clones learning their trades and jobs in a "real life" training simulation. When they met BC2, they were reminded again of the very different personalities the blood clones exhibited that spoke to some aspect of Naruto's own personality.
"Welcome Hokage-sama and Hatake-san to the Civilian Learning Center, where we prepare clones for the jobs they will experience and also provide extra goods for our stores or to resell," came the flat voice of a smartly dressed Naruto blood clone, looking every bit the responsible civilian.
"Hello …," started the Hokage, before realizing he didn't know this clone's 'name' and just trailed off until it was filled in.
"This is C.C.," replied the original Naruto, "short for Civilian Commander."
"Very good, tell me C.C.," responded the Hokage with a focused gaze on both the original Naruto and this Blood Clone 2, better known as C.C. "how many of the clones are currently working civilian jobs inside Konoha?"
"We currently have 438 'civilian' clones employed to various civilian businesses throughout Konoha," he answered after checking a thick book he had on the desk next to him. "Another 355 exclusively working at the Facility here just making additional products for later resale, 250 more are currently in the training program to learn the skills needed to apply for more positions we've been scouting, 312 clones work for our new company Konoha Cleaners, 187 clones work for our relatively new Konoha Delivery Company, and 14 clones now work for members of the Civilian Council in some fashion, four of which you are currently spying on with your ANBU."
"That's about 1500 civilian clones?" came the gobsmacked reply from Kakashi as he was adding up all the numbers during C.C.'s explanation.
"I know your henge is an actual transformation, and civilian jobs are much less physically demanding than ninja ones, but how do you prevent some of those clones from dispelling when they bump into something?" came a pretty insightful question from the Hokage, wondering how Naruto would get around that particular problem.
"We have pin-clone on every civilian clone in case of dispelling, there is a replacement ready to take over immediately, and we just explain any disbursed smoke away as a smoke pellet we carry for emergencies going off by accident," came the calm reply from C.C.
"Pin-clones?" came the question from Sarutobi in confusion, though he understood that every civilian clone had a replacement at hand, and found himself really impressed with that level of thought and planning.
"This pin," replied C.C. showing a small bronze looking pin with the spiral of the Leaf (and Uzumaki Clan Symbol) stamped on it, which he had attached to the collar of his shirt, "is actually another Naruto clone under henge."
"Holy Shit," exclaimed Kakashi in disbelief, as he quickly pulled up his hitai-ate to look at the pin clones under his Sharingan, and could only detect the smallest prick of chakra on a seemingly normal pin, not unlike what he saw when looking at ninja weapons and their chakra residue from being handled by ninja. "Even knowing it's a clone, I can't tell at all ...it just looks like a pin that was maybe handled by a ninja at some point, but not even enough to notice unless focusing directly on it."
"Yeah, it's kind of a weird experience," answered the original Naruto who has had to assimilate the memory of the pin clones a few times. "Your awareness of what is happening isn't great, but you definitely notice the clones dispelling and it kind of just wakes you up at that moment, usually with the dispelled clones memories freshly playing out in your mind as you adjust accordingly and replace them."
"Ingenious," came the fascinated reply from the Hokage. "Is the chakra drain to make them the same as combat clones?"
"Oh no, not at all," came C.C.'s reply. "They only take maybe 2-5% of the chakra needed to make a standard ninja shadow clone. The cost keeps lessening as we continue to train our chakra control"
"Have you had to send any outside of Konoha?" asked the Hokage as his eyes had lit up during this discussion as an idea was growing in his mind.
"We currently have one clone and pin-clone currently on a merchant caravan that left Konoha yesterday for Tanzaku Quarters," came C.C.'s response, "we didn't find out about the trip until this morning when the clone didn't check in, and are sending a small team of clones to follow and catch up to provide added protection to our clone's identity in case they encounter anything physical, but should be fine as we learned they have a ninja escort."
"Well," came the Hokage's voice, "when you learn how it works at range we are going to have a discussion on how to equip all my ninja with a clone pin so any emergencies could be instantly reported back to you, so action could be taken much quicker."
"Yes," said the original Naruto, "how about a Blood Clone to act as a personal secretary for you? Their only job would be to produce and keep track of the pin-clones, and likewise all the teams in the field. That way if anything came up, you would have instant knowledge of it, and eventually we could relay any new orders directly into the field if we told at least the jounin about them."
"Do we know how well the pin-clones hold up to basic ninja maneuvers, they are a lot rougher than any civilians?" asked Kakashi hoping to clarify just how durable these pin-clones could be.
"We'll run some more tests on that and get back to you," answered C.C. while making a small note about it in the book he carried, knowing that in seconds this memory would be shared by every Naruto and had no real need to write anything down, but liked the process of it to help him come up with ideas. "We had thought about trying insects, but didn't want to run into any problems with the Aburame Clan ...though it would probably be a better way to have more aware clones ...but we haven't had much luck on sustaining the bugs over longer periods of time and rough treatment?"
"I really like the idea of all my ninjas having a clone-pin in case they have an emergency and need to contact me instantly out in the field, but we would need to run some durability tests," contemplated the Hokage out loud as he thought through the implications. "I think we should schedule a meeting in the next few days to discuss how to strengthen and implement the pin-clone idea Naruto."
"Sounds good Jiji," answered Naruto, "I'll create your Blood Clone secretary tonight and put them in charge of the pin-clone project, so they will always be nearby for emergencies and can always get in touch with me for a meeting or any issues that arise."
The conversation after that quickly went back to the original purpose of this visit, which was the amount of civilian clones running around Konoha and all of what they were doing. C.C. explained their new Konoha Cleaning Company which wasn't much different from some of the D-Rank genin missions, but were all exclusively for civilian clients and smaller jobs that probably wouldn't be made missions anyway. It was mostly cleaning small apartments, kitchens, and bathrooms and was pretty new with only a handful of jobs completed at this point, but looked to be relatively profitable due to their free labor force.
The Konoha Delivery Company was really just a food delivery service they started after working for the Civilian Council Member, Saidu Misoribo for one day and realizing the man was blatantly overcharging for his services and then ripping off his delivery employees. They still had six clone employees working in his operation, all trying to find dirt and gather evidence against the arrogant and pretty nasty man, while subtly dropping off business cards of his own company at every delivery. It was also through Misoribo that Naruto encountered the other three Council Members he now had clones working for.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was very excited to finally be able to do something about the clandestine meetings behind closed doors between the four mentioned Council Members, as he was now being put in a position to finally get some dirt on each of them. He tasked Naruto with trying to get a clone in on any of those meetings and to continue looking into each of the Council Members and gathering evidence of their deeds. And in a somewhat shocking move, he also gave Naruto carte blanche to continue infiltrating the civilian sectors of Konoha as long as he thoroughly investigated all the places he worked and wrote up reports on all the businesses and people he encountered to finally do a full accounting of their village.
He was not blind to some of the darker elements and growing resentment building among the civilian populace, and even with some of the ninja who continued to hang on and harp on to the past and not trying to make their Konoha better. God knows he fights enough with Danzo and his former teammates and now advisors, to know that there are many unhappy with him and his continued rule over the Leaf. One such group was the Civilian Council, and Naruto just handed him all the tools he would need to bring them all to heel or at least know what the hell they were all trying to accomplish. That Naruto was even undercutting some of them and opening rival businesses, was icing on the cake as it reduced their power and influence in the village, both financially and in their weakening social standing while simultaneously increasing Naruto's.
They briefly went over the other many jobs the Naruto clones had taken in almost every sector of the village, and in every type of trade available. They were mainly used to help provide and teach himself those services and learn those skills that would eventually allow him to go around any vendor that gave him trouble or refused to serve the real him. He was learning loads of trade skills, the ins and outs of running a business, supply trains and manufacturing of goods, all the while slowly stockpiling skills and resources for himself and his future Clan.
After their relatively long conversation with C.C., the three continued to the last part of the tour. The final area in the Facility was dedicated to BC3 & BC4, better known as the Genjutsu Twins, who were responsible for continually spawning and dispelling clones every few seconds to keep the original Naruto and all his clones' chakra in a constant state of flux. This both made Genjutsu impossible to latch on to any of them, and also constantly refreshed all of their memories with the most recent information allowing for instant communication and coordination between the thousands of clones running around.
"Well Naruto," started the Hokage after they had spoken of everything they could think of and seen all the areas of the Facility, "I am going to return to my office and start scheduling a few meetings, and deal with all the paperwork that has no doubt flooded my desk since I've been down here. Bring your Blood Clone to my office tomorrow and we can get them set up as one of my secretaries, and let me know what you find out about strengthening your pin-clones so we can start getting a plan up and running to provide one to every ninja in our employ."
"Sure thing boss," replied Naruto easily, "but, you should probably use some shadow clones yourself to take care of your paperwork in order to focus on the more important things."
"Son of a bitch," came the unusual cursing from the old village leader, as he smacked himself upside his own head, "that's how he did it. Damn you Minato, you were right ...I do want to kick myself now."
"Um ...Jiji?" asked Naruto in shock, having never seen the kind old man cursing and hitting himself, while Kakashi was trying to control his laughter as he understood what just happened and couldn't believe the Hokage known as the Professor hadn't thought of it before now.
"Sorry Naruto," grumbled Sarutobi Hiruzen, "The Fourth was never seemingly working on paperwork when I visited with him, and told me if I ever figured out his secret why ...that I would kick myself for not thinking of it myself."
"Shadow Clones," came Kakashi's almost giggling reply to Naruto's still somewhat concerned and confused face, as his laughter only got harder to conceal as the Third continued to shake his head in disbelief and berate himself under his breath.
"You will be handsomely rewarded when we meet tomorrow Naruto," spoke the Hokage after a moment to collect himself and realize the gift his favorite young blond just gave him, "until then."
"Nice work Naruto," came the still somewhat giggling voice of Kakashi, "you just indebted yourself to your Hokage ...and I am blown away at all you've accomplished here."
"Thanks Kakashi-sensei," came Naruto's somewhat bashful reply, unused to receiving such praise.
"Now, It's almost noon and time for Team Training," returned Kakashi, ignoring Naruto's snort of disbelief at the usual lateness of his sensei, but couldn't actually fault him this time as they were busy with the Hokage. "So let's head out and go knock that out, but in the meantime ...I am going to leave you a pair of shadow clones to help with your training."
"Awesome," exclaimed Naruto with stars in his eyes, as he watched his sensei create a pair of clones "what are you going to teach my clones?"
"I was thinking they could start your clones off with some wind elemental jutsus I know, and then go from there," replied the silver haired older ninja with his customary eye smile. "Now ...last one to Training Ground 7 has to listen to Sakura yell at them ...wait ...I didn't say go," he finished to an empty space as Naruto had already shunshined out of the Facility after the words "listen to Sakura yell" and now resigned himself to the banshee screech before following the younger ninja in a shunshin of his own.