Time slipped by. The war of words between Kiri and Konoha, fierce at first, gradually leveled out.
Neither side showed any sign of stopping.
Until Kakashi woke, the Third Hokage wouldn't let Konoha make any extra moves.
What puzzled Hiruzen was Kiri's stance this time—unyielding, yet without any concrete action.
That was what truly made him uneasy.
If Kiri had put forward some excessive demand, Hiruzen would actually be less worried than he was now.
He rubbed his temples, fatigue on his face. The situation with Kiri had left its mark on the village.
Still—
A faint glint flashed in Hiruzen's eyes. The Chūnin Shiken (Chūnin Exams) were about to begin.
Through the Exams, Konoha could showcase stability and strength from another angle—maybe even wash away some of the fallout.
A forest clearing.
Worry flickered in Iruka's eyes as he watched the three below gathering herbs.
Their problems seemed worse than before.
You could glean plenty just from where they stood.
Sakura kept to Sasuke's side. She'd always done that, but this time, she was consciously avoiding Naruto's direction.
After what happened with Naruto's bijū-ka (Tailed Beast Transformation), there was no way it didn't leave a mark. Still, compared to the other two, hers was the easiest to resolve.
Given time, Sakura's issue would likely untangle itself.
Sasuke—
Iruka frowned. He looked like he was diligently picking herbs, but his mind was clearly elsewhere.
His current state felt both inside and outside the team at once.
Sasuke didn't seem to hold much feeling for this three-man cell. That was bad.
For a mundane herb-gathering mission, fine. But if it were combat, there'd be no teamwork from him as he was now.
As for Naruto—
Concern crept across Iruka's face. Naruto still looked the same on the surface—loud, carefree, grinning.
But as one of the few in Konoha who really understood him, Iruka could faintly sense something fogging Naruto's heart.
Was it because of Kakashi? Or the Kyūbi (Nine-Tails)?
Iruka could only guess. Either way, those weren't topics he could broach right now. All he could do was encourage Naruto from another angle.
And even that would only go so far.
"Once we finish the mission, ramen's on me," Iruka said, warm smile in place as he looked down at them.
"Really?!"
Naruto, crouched by a tree trunk, froze, then whooped with delight.
Sakura, on the other hand, didn't seem into it, though she gave a token reply.
"I'll pass. I'm training tonight."
Sasuke glanced at Iruka, voice flat, then turned and kept searching for the herbs they needed.
His fists clenched tight. From the corner of his eye he shot a look at Naruto—and that overwhelming chakra surged back into his mind.
That dead-last had power like that in his body?
Frustration darkened Sasuke's gaze. He stared at the ground. He needed to get stronger—fast—and not waste time on this mind-numbing work.
"Alright. That's a shame. Just don't overdo it when you train," Iruka said, scratching his head.
He needed something that would draw all three in—something that would force them to understand each other and work as a team.
He watched them, thinking.
Night.
Naruto let himself into his place, alone. At Ichiraku, Iruka-sensei had talked a lot, but Naruto had absorbed little.
He wanted to ask Iruka-sensei about his parents. Or about that "demon fox" inside him—what it really was.
But in the end, he'd held it back. How could Iruka-sensei know?
If he knew, he would've told me long ago.
Naruto had seen the Kyūbi several times recently. That mountain-sized body, the enormous iron bars—it shocked him, but he was starting to put a few things together.
Too bad that every time he saw the Kyūbi, for some reason the giant fox was asleep.
So all he could do was look—do nothing—and leave.
What Naruto didn't know was that the reason he'd been "running into" the Kyūbi so often was because the Kyūbi had arranged it.
The Kyūbi couldn't beat Yuto, and didn't know why Yuto was sniffing around Naruto—but if he could disgust Yuto even a little, that alone felt great.
Unfortunately for him, back when Yuto ripped chakra out of the Kyūbi, he'd planted a special seal on the fox.
It was a Fūinjutsu (Sealing Technique) from the Warring States era Yuto had hunted down to keep himself from being hijacked by Genjutsu (Illusion Technique). It had cost him a lot of time back then.
When he finally used it, he discovered it wasn't as good against Genjutsu as he'd hoped. But it had one very handy effect: it crushed anything like a consciousness intrusion.
In short, only one will could dominate inside a body at a time. With that seal stamped on the Kyūbi, the result was this:
whenever Naruto's consciousness entered his inner mindscape, the seal on the Kyūbi would forcibly trigger—putting the fox straight to sleep.
That was why the Kyūbi was always snoozing whenever Naruto showed up.
Once Naruto left, the seal released on its own and the Kyūbi woke up again.
Result: Kyūbi awake — Naruto out — Naruto in — Kyūbi asleep… an endless loop.
At first, the Kyūbi thought he'd misremembered. After a few cycles, he finally realized what was happening.
Now, just thinking "Yuto" made the Kyūbi grind his fangs.
Even so, Naruto noticed something else these days: for reasons he couldn't explain, his chakra flowed faster than before—and it was easier to control.
His worst technique, Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique), came to him on command.
He didn't know why. But for Naruto, it was a win.
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