Following the talk, the Taboo Seal was quickly and discretely removed. It was a brief affair; baring the back of his neck to the Hokage, the man made a twisting motion with an outstretched hand. There was a flash of white pain, and then there was nothing. Immediately, Naruto could feel the difference. As if a tightly contained, dense fog had suddenly been vacuumed away, the block in his mind disappeared, revealing the large tunnel he had seen earlier.
For now, Naruto decided he would hold himself back from exploring it; the Hokage had warned him not to hurtle headfirst into the newly discovered sections of his memory. The influx of lost memories could confuse and overwhelm his brain and lead to possible complications.
It would be better for him to let them return on their own – over time, piece by piece, they would fall naturally back into place. As for the Nine-tails itself, Naruto hadn't yet decided how to more formally approach it. According to the Hokage's explanation, he should be able to access its chakra, but just from his brief impromptu interaction with it during the exam, he knew it wouldn't be easy.
The sun was just beginning to set when Naruto finally returned to his apartment and lay face down on his bed.
Contrary to the carefully composed blank mask he'd presented to the Hokage, his mind was still caught up in a whirlwind of questions and indecision. He did not know what to believe. He had accepted the Hokage's explanation as sincere, but that did not mean he had to like it. Typical of a doting father, the Hokage had tried to cover for his ignorant children's behavior, but Naruto no longer needed their approval.
Speaking of fathers...it was still hard to take in that the legendary Fourth Hokage was his. And contrary to how Naruto had perceived it as a child, it had not been his father but his mother who'd been his connection to the Uzumaki clan. He had first felt betrayed that his parents had been the ones to seal the Nine-tails inside of him, but the realization that his mother had been the jinchūriki before him took some of the sting away.
The Hokage had also said that his father had hoped he would be able to harness the Nine-tails' power for the sake of the world and by extension, the village. Whether or not that was true – the Hokage had been laying it on a bit thick near the end – he didn't care about any of that, or the will of fire. Why should he have the desire to believe, cherish and fight for the villagers when they would never do the same back for him?
Naruto shifted his grudging body around and looked up at the empty ceiling.
What he did want was to become strong, however – strong enough to be able to protect the people he did care about.
The skies outside were dark when Naruto restlessly jumped to his feet and left the apartment. Wandering about through the marketplace which bustled with activity in the dinner rush – ignoring the looks, as always, that some of the passing villagers were giving him – he found his feet automatically moving him toward the direction of Ichiraku's, from which emanated the rich, heavy smell of ramen.
Lifting the entrance flap, he saw a flash of silver as one of the sitting customers turned around to look at him. Hesitating for a brief second, Naruto made his way past a rowdy crowd and sat next to its source.
"So – a miso pork ramen, large, extra garlic? The usual?" asked Ichiraku's owner, hanging over the counter; despite the hubbub he always seemed to be able to spot Naruto's telltale red hair.
"Yes please."
"Ah that's what I forgot." From beside him, Kakashi leaned his masked face against his hand. "Extra garlic on mine too, Teuchi."
"Coming right up," said the man, returning his attention to the boiling metal pots before him.
As they waited for their food, they sat there quietly, letting the outside conversations wash over them like white noise. And when their ramen bowls were set before them, they tucked in, making sure to slurp loud enough for the Ichiraku owner to hear. Only once both bowls were cleared and their stomachs verging on the uncomfortably full, did Naruto finally speak up. "What'd you think of my final match, sensei?"
"Hm?" said Kakashi distractedly, putting his book down. "Ah yes...that was an interesting move you did back then, Naruto. You might've gotten her, too, if you didn't slip up there at the end."
"So you noticed," Naruto nodded. "I'd thought about it in theory but I hadn't actually tried it before then. It was harder than I thought it'd be. What I did was, I made my chakra – "
"You made it dense to give it power, spun it in multiple directions to give it rotation, and then merged it together to give it stability. And...you messed up at the stability step. Am I right?"
Naruto blinked, and Kakashi let out a small chuckle. "Believe it or not, you're not the first person to have thought of that, Naruto. It's called the Rasengan. I'm curious though – how did you think of it?"
"That time back in Yugakure, when you used your Raikiri, it helped me realize that there's more to jutsu than hand seals," said Naruto. "It gave me the idea of channeling a certain amount of chakra to a certain area of the body to enhance its function – and for someone like me with excessive chakra stores, I knew I could somehow utilize the destructive power of pure chakra. Though I see now that it's harder than I thought it'd be to keep it under control..."
"I can teach you how to better stabilize it," said Kakashi, looking at Naruto. "If you'll let me."
Naruto could sense the second question that lingered unspoken in the air, but he had already made up his mind. "Yes sensei."
"Alright then," said Kakashi with a nod. "We'll get started right away. Meet me at field B tomorrow at seven am. Sharp." With a clatter of his chair, Kakashi got up to leave, tucking his precious book into a pouch on his side.
Naruto regarded him skeptically. "So you mean noon."
"A ninja always keeps his word, Naruto."
Ichiraku's owner cleared his throat meaningfully.
"Is that why you're leaving me the bill?" Naruto asked dryly.
"I only treat cute little genin. You're a chūnin now – you're one of them big boys. But you know, it's interesting..." Kakashi looked thoughtful.
"What is?" he asked, despite himself.
"Did you know that the Fourth was the one who invented the Rasengan?" Through his mask, Kakashi smiled at Naruto's dumbfounded expression before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
...
It was a cold evening that day in Konoha. The last lights of the marketplace had expired, and the remaining stragglers of the night had turned in for the night. The only movements came from the moonlight reflecting off the slightly tilting masks of the ANBU that watched over the unsuspecting village from the tiled rooftops. From below their anonymous masks, their breath came out in white wisps that quickly faded in the night air.
At the base of the Hokage mountain was the Hokage's office. Heedless of the late hour, two figures stood stiffly in the dimly-lit room. One was the Hokage, dressed in the white robes of his office as usual. The other was a tall, elderly man with bandages covering half his face. The way they stood was familiar, but tense – they had known each other for a very long time now, but their relationship had grown colder over the years as the difference in their opinions of how matters should be dealt had increasingly diverged.
"So you told the jinchūriki the truth," said Danzō coolly.
Hiruzen tiredly folded his hands together. "Naruto already knew the truth. I owed him an explanation of it at the very least."
"What do you owe a jinchūriki?" Danzō scoffed. "That was foolish of you. What if he turns against us?"
"He won't," said Hiruzen.
"My sources tell me the boy isn't the type to be won over with flattery and praise."
"No...but underneath all of that, he is still just a boy." Hiruzen turned his head to look out the window at the Hokage monument. From where he stood, it was so close he could see the cracks along the carved mountainside. "He gets along with his team, and Kakashi will treat him well. That's why I put him there. And ultimately, Konoha is his home, regardless of how he has been treated. He won't so easily turn his back on it."
"We'll see." With an expressionless look on his face and a curt nod of his head, Danzō left. Hiruzen watched his departure with calculating eyes; he could tell Danzō was up to something again. He would have to keep a closer eye on him – whenever the man got that look on his face, something unexpected inevitably happened.
Folding his hands behind his back, Hiruzen slowly walked over to the window on the other side of his office. From there, he could look out over the entirety of the village. It always filled his heart with warmth to see the civilians going about their daily activities, the ninja rushing around to hand in their missions or slack off at Ichiraku's, the children at the Academy sparring with sweat on their brow...
His gaze alighted on one particular rooftop; its inhabitant was likely sleeping right now, but Hiruzen knew him to be one of the most gifted and hard-working genin – now chūnin – in the village. In any other circumstance, the boy would have been widely praised and acknowledged for his genius and resourcefulness, but fate had not been kind to him. And yet, even so, he persevered.
For the most part, Hiruzen hadn't lied to Danzō about Naruto. But there was one thing that he had said for the sole purpose of easing Danzō's paranoia – and that was that Naruto was just a boy.
But he wasn't just a boy.
Hiruzen may have been exaggerating at certain points at the time, but he hadn't been lying when he told Naruto that he saw a fire in him. At the moment, it was contained – but smoldering. Given time, he could see it turn into a great bonfire.
He wondered though – was it really the will of fire? Or was it something else?
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