Naruto was halfway to his apartment when a thought hit him. He stopped, turned around, and walked straight back toward the Forest of Death. No point wasting the rest of the day.
He made ten shadow clones.
Eight clones got straight to tree-climbing practice. Their goal was simple: master it by the end of the day. Yesterday's practice had yelled results, so the goal wasn't unrealistic. Heck, even the canon Naruto did it in one day... probably.
One clone was sent to the Konoha Library. Naruto wanted books on fuinjutsu. His mother was an Uzumaki, and Uzumaki were famous for sealing arts. He read somewhere that they were almost a kekkei genkai, then surely he couldn't be a total failure at it… right?
...didn't hurt to try.
"OK Boss!!"
The clone saluted, took off, and the rest went back to training. Naruto warmed up and decided to spar with one clone. Even if neither of them knew proper taijutsu, seeing his own movements from the outside would help him find flaws... or that was the plan.
Naruto didn't know how much it would help as he didn't have much confidence in his taijutsu. But regardless.
They fought for a short while. When the clone popped, the memories hit him. He saw openings, sloppy stances, wasted motion. It worked. He wasn't a genius, but he wasn't an idiot either. He could fix this! Beli- Absolutely!!
"Heh~"
Good. One more tool he could use. Naruto couldn't help but feel smug. The title of self taught genius doesn't sound bad at all~~.
But he needed to work hard for that. So hard that people will call him gifted... which he already was. But he had too much and too much of anything isn't good. He was drowning in success basically.
"Alright~~! Let's get to work everyone!!"
He made more clones and kept the cycle going — train, cancel, absorb, repeat.
Time passed. Naruto pushed through push-ups, sit-ups, running, pull-ups. Whenever he felt drained, he sat under a tree, cancelled the clones, rested, then continued.
Then a sudden rush of memory hit him — the clone at the library.
Naruto had honestly expected the clone to get thrown out. He wasn't even sure genin were allowed to borrow fuinjutsu books. And there was his reputation. But somehow the librarian gave him a few basic scrolls. Honestly, Naruto felt that the librarian was drunk for a second. But didn't think much of it. It saved him the trouble of going to Jiji.
The shadow clone read them right there in the library. And what shocked Naruto was how natural it felt. The symbols, the lines, the logic — it all clicked in a way no school subject ever had.
When the clone dispelled, Naruto felt it. Fuinjutsu made sense. His bloodline didn't betray him after all!! He felt his heart leap with excitement and doing back flips. But he grabbed his chest and put it into place.
He couldn't help but imagine all the possibilities that came with sealing arts. The things he could do. The kind of flex he could become...
He grinned for a moment… then shoved the thoughts aside. Getting ahead of himself would only mess things up. He needed to get started first. But when he thought of his calligraphy skill... Well, they are trash. No dought about it.
"Sigh~~"
Naruto couldn't help but sigh at how much work piled up even before he started. A classic self sabotage I say. But thinking about the pay offs, Naruto felt his energy spike again.
"Yosh!!! No more slaking!! It time to get strongerrrrrr!!!"
He shouted as he started running with new found determination. His whole body felt energized. Like a coce bottle ready to burst...
Tomorrow he'd make clones practice calligraphy. For now, training.
By dusk he was walking back to his apartment, shoulders slumped, breathing heavy. He felt the Chinese idiom of panting like dying dog was very apt for his current situation.
His body was fine thanks to his crazy healing. He was drained... mentally. He was still too young to be drained otherwise...
Shadow clones hit the brain, not the muscles.
He dragged himself up the stairs — then thought he was hallucinating.
'Am in love that much...?'
Someone was standing at his door.
Sakura-chan! His heart skipped a bit.
But Naruto barely had enough energy to lift his eyebrows. Sakura-chan looked at him with ambiguous expression for a second, then returned to her usual stance: hands on hips.
"Baka Naruto!! Where were you!? Why weren't you home!?"
Naruto didn't even argue. He just sighed.
"Sigh~.Sakura-chan… fancy seeing you here~. I'm guessing you didn't come to check on me, so…sigh~... why are you here?"
Sakura-chan frowned, then said,
"Kakashi-sensei told me and Sasuke-kun to tell you. We're supposed to meet in front of the Hokage building. Two days from now. After the paperwork is done. Sharp nine in the morning."
Naruto nodded slowly. His eyelids already felt like the heaviest object it the universe. Naruto even felt that his eyelids may have already developed their own gravitational pull for how much it stung hid eyes. Like dust poking. It didn't get this heavy even when he tried to study...
"Two days... nine in the morning...Got it… anything else, Sakura-chan?"
He walked past her, unlocked his door, and pushed it open.
"You wanna come in~?"
He asked weakly. Honestly he felt like he might collapse right there. But held on to dear life because he doesn't want to wake up next morning with sore body.
Sakura went quiet for a second. Then she snapped back into her usual defensive tone.
"Don't get the wrong idea Naruto!! I'm only here because Sasuke-kun wouldn't come to… this place. Kakashi-sensei told me to deliver the message. That's all!! Don't even think for a second that I like you, got it!?"
Naruto stared at her, mouth agape, then just gave her a tired thumbs-up and closed the door.
Thump~.
Sakura stood there for a moment, staring at the door like she expected it to open again.
...It didn't.
She shook her head and headed downstairs. She had noticed Naruto seemed different today. Even yesterday. He felt more... calm and mature?She didn't know. But definitely not annoying any more. When Kakashi-sensei gave her the task, she'd been scared Naruto would act weird again.
Thinking she liked him and ask her on dates.
But he didn't.
It felt strange. But also… kind of relieving. No distraction. No loud antics. She could focus on Sasuke-kun fully.
"Hehe~~"
The thought alone brought a smile to her face. She hummed softly and walked home, happy at the idea of seeing her crush again in two days.
Inside, Naruto didn't even make it to the shower. He wanted to shower but the moment he saw the bed, turned and walked toward it like he was hypnotized, fell on top of it…
…and passed out instantly.
=====
The next morning, Naruto woke up feeling refreshed and full of energy. He stretched, then took a shower. He changed into another set of his orange tracksuit, strapped on his forehead protector, and stepped outside.
"The weather is good today~~ perfect for the start of something life changing!!"
Naruto couldn't help but comment on the weather. The sky was blue and clouds floated like cotton candy.
He warmed up, then started running. His goal was to reach his training destination outside Konoha in one continuous run — three hours if he ran with his usual pace. If he made it in one go, he'd arrive earlier and have more time for training.
He picked the training ground to be that far was because of few reasons. Just reaching there is a training itself. Other was that it was far. Faaar from Konoha peoples eyes. People weren't pleased with him becoming a Shinobi.
The forest blurred as he ran. His stomach growled, reminding him that before coming here, he'd eaten instant noodles again. Malnourished as he was, he couldn't help cursing the fact that instant noodles weren't actually nourishing. Why was that!? Naruto felt very wronged. But he could do nothing about it.
And he couldn't just go shopping every time he wanted a proper meal. Transforming into someone else might work… until he got caught once. And that would be a big bruh moment. Then it'd be trouble he couldn't afford.
Though he is confident in his Jiji that he can get out with minimum problem but he wanted to avoid it if possible.
Before, he'd been just a lonely boy, desperate for attention from adults who ignored him. Now, as a shinobi, things were different. People like Danzo wouldn't approve of him growing stronger. If Danzo even felt a thread of threat, Naruto could say goodbye to any good life he had.
Naruto felt his jaws clenching thinking about that bastard. But he calmed himself down. There was nothing he could do now. But with time, fall of Danzo wouldn't be far off...
There was only one thing left to do gor proper neutrinos: hunt. And hunting in the forest had its appeal. He had experience, and he knew it wouldn't be a problem. After reaching his destination, he'd summon shadow clones and send them to hunt.
Today, he decided, he would hunt rabbits. Tender rabbit meat — he could already imagine biting into it. Naruto increased his pace.
An hour into the run, his legs gave out, and he tumbled forward and fell face flat. For ten minutes, he lay there, unmoving. Then he got up and continued. Another hour passed. His body screamed exhaustion, but he pressed on. The waterfall was close now — he could hear its roar, smell the fresh water in the air.
More then two hours have passed since he had left Konoha.
By two and a half hours, he felt like dying. Sweat soaked his clothes, his lungs burned, his heart pounded as if it would burst. He dropped to his knees, closed his eyes, tilted his head, and breathed deeply, trying to calm his burning lungs and booming heart.
Naruto opened his mouth as wide as he physically can and tried to get as much air as possible but it still wasn't enough. The suffocating feeling won't go away anytime soon.
Twenty minutes later, he felt steady enough to look around. He slowly stood up. He used his knees as support and pushed himself up.
Before, all his focus had been on just calming down. His vision was blurry from exhaustion. He had never felt this exhausted before. Even now, his ears still rang with the sound of his heartbeat.
The forest was beautiful. The waterfall even more so. The smell of fresh water hung in the air, and the sound of the waterfall created a chaotic melody that soothed his mind. Birds sang in the distance. The wind rustled the trees.
Naruto spread his arms, took a deep breath, and a white smile spread across his face. His eyes glimmered with determination.
"Yosh!! It begins now! Shadow Clone Jutsu!!"
He summoned ten shadow clones. Two would practice calligraphy. Two would go hunting. Two would work on water-walking technique. Three would practice tree-walking technique. And he himself would focus on physical training.
With his plans set, Naruto felt energy surge through him. All the shadow clones immediately started their assigned tasks, and the forest came alive with movement and determination.