The Hokage Tower felt strangely quiet. Naruto stood in the middle of the office, hands on his hips, chest puffed out. "And then—BOOM! I kicked him right in the face! You should've seen it, Old Man! He went flying!" Naruto demonstrated with a dramatic spin kick that nearly knocked over a chair.
Behind the desk, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched him through the smoke of his pipe. "I see," he said calmly. "So you defeated Mizuki with overwhelming numbers." "He totally underestimated me," Naruto replied. "Serves him right." But the grin didn't last long.
Silence settled. Naruto's arms slowly dropped to his sides. "...Old Man." Hiruzen didn't answer immediately. Naruto's voice lost its usual volume. "Why didn't you tell me?" The pipe paused halfway to Hiruzen's lips.
"Tell you... what, Naruto?" Naruto's fists clenched. "About the Nine-Tailed Fox." The words hung heavy in the air. For the first time since entering the room, Naruto didn't look like himself. No loud grin. No exaggerated gestures. Just a twelve-year-old boy trying to understand his own life. Hiruzen exhaled slowly.
"You were never meant to know". Naruto's eyes snapped up. "What do you mean I wasn't meant to know?! It's my body!" Hiruzen nodded. He didn't argue that. "You are right to be angry." Hiruzen placed the pipe down.
"The truth of you being the Nine-Tails' vessel was classified secret of the highest level. It was never meant to be revealed. But someone... exposed it." Naruto's jaw tightened. "So everyone knew." "Yes." "And they looked at me like that anyway." Hiruzen's eyes softened with something close to regret.
"I failed you, Naruto." That wasn't something Naruto expected to hear. "I thought keeping it hidden would protect you from enemy villages, from those who would seek the power of the Nine-Tails. You are what we call a jinchūriki."
Naruto frowned. "...What does that even mean?" Hiruzen's voice grew steady again, like he was explaining something from a textbook—but his eyes remained heavy.
"It means 'power of human sacrifice.' A human who has a tailed beast sealed inside them." Naruto went still. "Human... sacrifice?" "Yes." Silence filled the office. "So I'm just... this jinchūriki for this village?" Naruto asked quietly. Hiruzen's gaze sharpened. "No. You are Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf."
Naruto didn't respond. Hiruzen continued. "The Nine-Tails is sealed within you, but it is not you. The Fourth Hokage entrusted the village's future to you, Naruto." Naruto looked up slightly.
"The Fourth Hokage?" he asked. Hiruzen gave nothing away. "Yes. He wanted the one who carried that burden to be seen as a hero." Naruto's chest tightened. "A hero, huh..." Hiruzen stood and walked around his desk. For once, he didn't look like the all-powerful Hokage. He looked like an old man carrying too many regrets.
"I cannot undo the loneliness you experienced," he said. "For that... I am deeply sorry." Naruto stared at him part of him wanted to yell and part of him wanted to laugh it off. Instead, he asked the question that mattered most. "...Why me?"
"That is something you will understand when the time is right." Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly—but he didn't push further. Instead, Hiruzen reached into a drawer and pulled out a small sealed scroll. He held it out. "This is for you."
Naruto blinked. "Huh?" "It contains a technique that will suit you. It will require control... and discipline. But I believe you can handle it." Naruto took the scroll slowly. "...You're not just giving this to me because you feel guilty, right?" A faint smile appeared on Hiruzen's face. "No. I am giving it to you because you defeated a chūnin-level traitor with a forbidden technique in one night." Naruto's lips twitched. "Yeah... I did, didn't I?"
Hiruzen placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You are not a monster, Naruto." Naruto didn't flinch this time. "...I know that, Old Man. You know why?" "Because I'm going to become Hokage myself." Hiruzen's smile deepened. "I look forward to seeing that day."
Naruto turned toward the door, the new scroll tucked under his arm. But just before leaving, he stopped. "...Old Man." "Yes?" Naruto didn't turn around. "Next time... don't lie to me." Hiruzen closed his eyes briefly. "...Understood." The door shut softly behind Naruto.
Alone in the office, the Third Hokage looked toward the window overlooking the village.
"The Will of Fire burns strongly in him." Naruto didn't open the scroll immediately.
He waited until he was alone. The sun was high in the sky by the time he reached the edge of the training grounds. The village noise felt distant here—calmer. He sat cross-legged under a tree and untied the cord."...Alright," he muttered. "Let's see what the Old Man gave me." He unrolled the scroll. His eyes skimmed the title. Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"...Huh?" He read further. A technique that allows a thrown weapon—typically a shuriken—to multiply mid-flight into dozens, even hundreds, of tangible copies, overwhelming the opponent before they can react. Naruto's lips slowly curved. "Ohhh." He kept reading.
Unlike normal illusionary replication, these clones possess real mass and can strike with full force. Requires precise chakra control and high output to maintain structural integrity during flight.
Naruto scratched his head. "Precise control, huh..." He glanced down at his hands. He wasn't great at that. But— High output? Naruto grinned wider. "That part I've got." He imagined it. Throw one shuriken. Then—boom—an entire storm raining down. His eyes sparkled. "Wait... this is actually awesome."
It wasn't a summoning the dead nor a flashy space-time ninjutsu but a simple jutsu that can use Direct and clean. Plus devastating in the hands of someone who could make a ridiculous number of things.
Naruto leaned back against the tree. "Heh. Guess the Old Man does know me." And For a brief second, he wondered—Did Hiruzen choose this because of the Shadow Clone Jutsu? Because Naruto could multiply himself...
So why not multiply his attacks too? The thought made something click "If he could create dozens of physical clones and each clone threw a shuriken and each of those shuriken multiplied". Naruto sat upright. "...That's evil." Then he burst into laughter. "I love it!"
He pulled a few basic shuriken from his pouch. "Alright. Let's try this!" He stood, took aim at a tree trunk across the clearing, and formed the required hand signs carefully and Slower than usual as he remembered the warning in the scroll structural integrity during flight.
"...Don't explode in my face," he muttered. He hurled the shuriken. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And nothing happened. As Naruto groaned. The single shuriken stabbed into the tree. "Of course it didn't work..."
It was much harder than he thought. But he kept trying. Again. And again. The sun dipped lower, painting the clearing in orange and gold. Sweat soaked his collar. His fingers trembled slightly from chakra strain. "This is the last try," he muttered, breathing hard.
He hurled the shuriken once more. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" For a split second, naruto thought nothing happened just like the first time. But then—The single spinning blade flickered. It split into two. Then four. Eight. Finally—sixteen.
They fanned outward like a metallic bloom before slamming into the tree in a rapid series of sharp thuds. The trunk shuddered violently. Naruto stared. "...No way." Smoke drifted from the embedded metal. He looked at his hands. Then at the tree. Then back at his hands.
A slow grin spread across his face. "I didn't mess it up." Naruto's shoulders relaxed in a way they rarely did. "...He gave me something I can actually use." Naruto walked over and retrieved the shuriken, inspecting the impact marks.
"Guess I'll just have to get even better at it." His eyes lifted toward the Hokage Monument in the distance. "They'll see," he murmured. Then his grin returned—bright, stubborn, unbreakable. "If I'm gonna carry something like that inside me... then I might as well be strong enough that nobody can mess with me."
He formed the hand sign again. This time— Three shuriken flew at once. All multiplying in mid-air. The clearing filled with steel.