Konohagakure No Sato :
Uzumaki estate : ( 4 days later )
The September sun was surprisingly kind, casting a warm, breezy glow over the Uzumaki estate as Naruto went through his morning motions. He stood in front of his bathroom mirror, toothbrush in hand, staring blankly at his reflection.
It had been four days since he'd returned to the village, and while his nights were spent in the cold, silent depths of his bunker mastering the Mangekyou, his days were being filled with a rather unexpected development.
Even If Naruto has been busy with mastering the Kamui , He still sents Shadow clones to the Third Training Ground for the Training of various other things . But from shadow Clones memory Naruto found an interesting development .
Through the shared senses of his shadow clones at Training Ground 3, Naruto had been watching the "rebirth" of Hatake Kakashi.
The most jarring change was the man's face. The tilted forehead protector was gone, pulled straight to reveal a perfectly normal, black eye.
The village had obviously pulled some strings to get a high-priority transplant for their elite Jonin, but the shock wasn't the medical side of it—it was Kakashi's willingness to move on. For a man who had spent a decade clinging to a ghost's memento, accepting a mundane replacement was a loud, silent declaration.
( To think he will replave Obito's eye so decisively ...And then there was the sword )
Kakashi hadn't been hiding his training. He stood in the center of the clearing, a short-blade in hand, moving with a lethal, fluid grace that Naruto hadn't seen in him before.
Drawing from his Sharp mind Skill and fragments of his previous life's knowledge, Naruto had quickly put the pieces together. This wasn't standard Academy kenjutsu; these were strikes of the White Fang—the legendary style of Hatake Sakumo.
( To think Kakashi will pick up White fang's sword and swordmanship )
The Most important part was not just this but when Kakashi had even approached one of the clones, offering to teach him.
"My main body is focused on the Hiraishin," Naruto had the clone reply, keeping his voice filled with disappointement "I don't have time for distractions."
It wasn't a total lie, but it was a bit cold. Still, Naruto wasn't about to pass up free data. He left two clones with the man to "study" the style. He watched as Kakashi struggled with the wind-nature forms, his movements sharp but clearly rusty. It was fascinating to see a genius falter, even if only slightly.
But the real surprise was Kakashi's shift from a detached observer to an actual teacher.
Over the last few days, the man had started hovering around Naruto's other clones—the ones practicing Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. He didn't drop new scrolls or demand they start from scratch. Instead, he watched, analyzed, and then offered surgical tips.
"Shift your weight an inch to the left."
"Pulse your chakra at the start of the seal, not the end."
The tips were small, but they transformed the efficiency of the techniques. This was obvious with the renewed exp. gain in the Jutsus.
Naruto finally understood why the world feared the "Copy Ninja." It wasn't just that he knew a thousand jutsu; it was that he understood the mechanical soul of every single one of them. For the first time, Naruto truly felt the weight of having a "Sensei."
But it didn't stop at the training ground. Using his Kagura's Mind Eye from the peace of his own home, Naruto had tracked Kakashi's chakra signature in the evenings. The man wasn't going home to read his smutty novels. He was spending hours in the Uchiha district with Sasuke.
Naruto rinsed his mouth and dried his face, the realization settling in clearly.
(He's trying to buy back our trust,) Naruto thought.
It was an objective reality. On their very first mission together, Kakashi had nearly died, lost his trump card, and had effectively been "saved" by his students. In the brutal logic of the shinobi world, he had lost his dependability.
Sasuke looked at him with something bordering on contempt especially since Kakashi lost Sharingan , and Naruto… well, Naruto looked at him as a 'variable Sensei' he couldn't quite rely on.
So, here was Kakashi, sweating through his father's old sword arts and spending his nights trying to reconnect with a traumatized Uchiha. He was trying to prove he was still a dependable Captain and Sensei.
The vacation was officially over today. Team 7 was supposed to gather for their first post-mission debrief.
Naruto stepped out of the steam-filled bathroom, a towel draped loosely around his waist. Water droplets still clung to his skin, a testament to a long, hot bath that had finally washed away the lingering mental fatigue of the last four days.
He moved toward his bedroom, quickly dressing in his usual gear before heading downstairs.
The Uzumaki estate was, as always, a hive of activity. A small army of Shadow Clones bustled through the halls. Two were busy with the morning chores, another was currently wrestling with Simba—a energetic pup who had become the house's unofficial mascot—and a few others were outside tending to the sprawling gardens.
Having such a massive estate would have been an administrative nightmare for anyone else, but for Naruto, it was just a matter of chakra management.
Naruto sat down at the dining table, where a feast of a breakfast had already been prepared by the kitchen clones. Between bites, Naruto pulled out his pocket watch:
8:10 AM.
Naruto closed his eyes for a second, mentally activating the Diagnosis Jutsu. He ran a sweep over his ocular nerves and chakra pathways. Since today was the scheduled team meeting, he had performed the final eye transplant late last night, just before the Great Sage buff had flickered out.
He needed his original blue eyes for the public eye, but the progress he'd made during those high-intensity nights was staggering.
Beyond the spatial leaps in his Hiraishin and the evolution of his ocular System skills, his general Ninjutsu and Taijutsu had seen a sharp uptick in efficiency.
Even Genjutsu, a field he'd originally planned to ignore, was becoming a viable weapon. His progress with the Spirit Transformation Technique over the last year had proven his Yin talent was actually brilliant.
With the Mangekyou now in his arsenal, he'd decided it was only logical to have a few mental traps ready, just in case.
Plus, the fact that Shadow Clones could grind the fundamentals of Genjutsu meant he didn't even have to waste his main body's time. He'd already used his hard-earned merits to pull a few basic illusion scrolls from the archives for his clones to digest.
Seeing he still had a bit of time before the 9:00 AM deadline, Naruto spent a few quiet moments with Simba. When it was finally time to leave, he walked out the door with the pup perched comfortably on his shoulders and his Ravens circling in the sky above.
Naruto reached the Hokage Tower early, finding himself the first to arrive. It wasn't long before he spotted Sakura jogging toward him. He watched her approach and felt a small, inward sigh escape him.
(Kakashi spent days focused on Sasuke and my clones, but he did absolutely nothing for her,) Naruto noted.
(Then again, it doesn't look like she spent a single second in a training ground anyway.)
Through his sensory pings over the last few days, he'd tracked Sakura's chakra. She had treated the post-mission break as a literal vacation.
After the second day, he'd stopped checking on her entirely. There was no point in playing the "supportive teammate" yet; at this stage, Sakura only had ears for Sasuke. She wouldn't even listen to her parents, let alone Naruto.
"Naruto!" she called out, waving.
"Hey, Sakura," he replied with a casual smile. "How was the break? Get some good rest?"
"Of course! I totally relaxed after that stupidly stressful mission," she said, stretching her arms.
"Haha, good to hear," Naruto replied, though his internal voice was a bit drier.
( you didn't actually do anything in that Mission though )
Naruto kept the conversation light and casual. He knew that until Sakura hit a wall and realized her own weakness, any advice from him would be white noise. For now, he'd play the part of the friendly, teammate.
A moment later, Naruto picked up Sasuke's chakra signature. The Uchiha was moving with impressive speed, closing the distance before leaping into a nearby tree with a flourish. Naruto shook his head inwardly—Sasuke was definitely feeling himself after the Wave mission .
( Or maybe he still doesn't want to bother with Sakura )
Finally, at exactly 9:00 AM, Kakashi appeared. He wasn't late today. Naruto's eyes immediately went to the short sword strapped to the man's lower back. The "White Fang" was starting to peek through the "Copy Ninja" exterior.
"Alright, assemble," Kakashi commanded.
Sasuke dropped from the tree, landing near Naruto and Sakura.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura chirped, her eyes sparkling.
"Ahem." Kakashi coughed, interrupting her before she could launch into a monologue. "Alright. Today, I'm going to teach you a new exercise. No missions today."
"Training?" Sakura blinked. Sasuke just narrowed his eyes, clearly interested.
The team followed Kakashi to Training Ground 3. As they walked through the clearing, Sasuke's eyes twitched. He was looking at the dozen or so Shadow Clones Naruto had left there to grind Taijutsu and Ninjutsu.
The sheer volume of work Naruto put in was starting to grate on Sasuke. Over the break, Sasuke had even tried to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu from Kakashi.
But He'd only managed to manifest a single clone, but the mental feedback and chakra drain after just two hours had left him with a Headache that lasted all day. It was a bitter pill to swallow: Because of this , Sauke came to understand that Shadow Clone Jutsu was an exclusive advantage of Naruto.
(But now I have these eyes,) Sasuke thought, his hand instinctively twitching toward his face. (The gap has to be closing.)
Despite awakening his Sharingan, Sasuke wasn't arrogant enough to think he'd surpassed Naruto yet, but he was dying for a spar to see just how much the distance had shortened.
They reached a clearing surrounded by ancient, towering trees. Kakashi turned to face them.
"Now, I'm going to teach you a fundamental chakra control exercise: Tree Walking."
"Tree walking?" Sakura asked, tilting her head in confusion. Naruto and Sasuke remained silent, though Naruto made sure to mirror Sasuke's look of focused curiosity.
"Watch closely," Kakashi said.
Without using his hands, Kakashi walked straight up the trunk of a cedar tree. He moved as if gravity were a mere suggestion, eventually stopping on the underside of a high branch, hanging upside down like a bat.
"Woah..." Sakura gasped.
"You learned the leaf-sticking exercise at the Academy," Kakashi explained, looking down at them. "The principle is the same. You need to emit a precise, constant stream of chakra from the soles of your feet to 'stick' to the surface."
Then, Kakashi simply let go.
"Kyaa! Sensei!" Sakura screamed.
Kakashi flipped mid-air, landing gracefully on his feet. He glanced at the frantic Sakura. "Sakura, a shinobi needs to remain calm in every situation. Also, have a little faith in me."
Sakura blushed, looking down at her sandals.
"Use the chakra on the soles of your feet," Kakashi continued. "Equal distribution is key. Use your kunai to mark your progress. Now, begin."
The three of them grabbed their kunai and headed for the trees. At first, it was a mess of running starts and sliding back down. Kakashi leaned against a nearby tree, watching them.
"This exercise helps with chakra management," he called out. "If you want to learn powerful jutsu, you need the control to handle them. It's especially vital for those with smaller reserves who depend on efficiency—"
"Sensei! I did it!"
Kakashi was cut off mid-sentence. He looked up to see Sakura perched comfortably on a high branch. She had reached the mark in only four tries.
Naruto and Sasuke stopped and stared. Naruto dialed up his 'astonished' face, while Sasuke looked like he'd been slapped. He couldn't believe it. Of all people, the "pink nuisance" had mastered it first.
( Not Naruto but Sakura of all things ??? )
"Woah! Awesome, Sakura!" Naruto cheered, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Hehehe!" Sakura beamed, practically glowing under the praise.
Naruto watched her, perched easily above them. If he weren't committed to his "secretly elite" persona, he could have walked up the tree with his hands in his pockets. He'd actually mastered tree walking—and even water walking—in his own bathroom over two years ago.
But his public identity hadn't 'learned' this yet, and he had the convenient excuse of the Kyuubi's chakra interfering with his control. He decided that "completing" the exercise in about twenty minutes would be the perfect middle ground—fast enough to show talent, but slow enough to be believable.
"Good job, Sakura," Kakashi said, a hint of genuine surprise in his voice. "Now, try to move around. Go up, down, left, right. Try jumping from one branch to another while staying stuck."
"Eh? Is that possible?"
"Come on, Sakura, show us what you've got," Naruto encouraged.
As Naruto went back to his "struggle," he kept an eye on Sasuke. The Uchiha was in a state of shock. He was failing repeatedly, hitting the trunk and falling back into the dirt, while Sakura performed acrobatics above him.
About twenty-two minutes in, Naruto finally 'made it' to the top.
"Good job, Naruto," Kakashi noted. "Now, join Sakura and start moving."
"Osu!" Naruto nodded and began the next phase.
He glanced down at Sasuke. The Uchiha was bruised, dusty, and clearly frustrated. He was trying so hard, but he was hitting the tree with too much force or not enough. Naruto couldn't help but wonder:
(Why doesn't he just use the Sharingan?).
In the original timeline, it had taken them days, but Naruto still doesn't understand why Sasuke was not just copying it here with sharingan.
( Does he want to do it in the same condition as us or is it somethingelse )
Still, the stubbornness was the same. Naruto watched as Kakashi began practicing his own kenjutsu katas nearby, intentionally leaving Sasuke to figure it out on his own.
Looking at everything , Naruto decided to see how much time will it take for sasuke to do this exercise and also the future Arrangements .
( If this is our schedule for the next few days ) Naruto thought.
(I'll have to ask Kakashi tomorrow if he'll let me send clones for these team sessions,)
Naruto decided, his gaze lingering on his sensei.
(I can use the "wake-up call" excuse—tell him that after nearly losing my head in the Land of Waves, I've realized I need to stop messing around and master the Hiraishin once and for all. It's a perfectly logical reaction to a near-death mission. If he gives me the green light, I won't have to waste my main body's time here; I can retreat to the bunker and spend every waking second syncing the Hiraishin with Kamui's spatial perception.)
The day dragged on. Sasuke refused to quit, even as the sun began to dip. Eventually, Naruto and Sakura were training with asymmetrical weights attached to their limbs to make the tree-walking harder. Finally, Kakashi dismissed the team for the day.
Sasuke walked away in stony silence, his fists clenched tight. When Sakura tried to offer him some pointers, he snapped at her, leaving the girl sulking by the road.
Naruto walked up to her as she stared at the dirt. "You know, if you talk to him like that, he's just going to misunderstand."
"Misunderstand?" Sakura looked up, confused.
"Yeah. Sasuke probably thinks you're looking down on him," Naruto said, his tone casual. "He's a proud guy. He thinks you're calling him weak."
"WHAT? But I just wanted to help him!"
"Sasuke doesn't see it that way, Sakura. You should let him come to you. Let him ask. It might be more helpful in the long run."
Sakura went quiet, looking toward the street where Sasuke had disappeared. "...Is that so?"
"Well, I'm starving. I'm heading to Ichiraku. You coming?"
"Ehh, my mom is probably waiting with dinner. Maybe later, Naruto."
"No worries. See ya."
Naruto watched her walk away, knowing she'd decline. He only invited her to maintain the "good teammate" image. He turned and started walking toward his estate—not the ramen shop. His clones would have a massive feast waiting for him, and he had a long night of spatial training ahead of him.
As Naruto walked through the quiet streets of Konoha, his mind drifted back to the Land of Waves.
(Now that I think about it... I wonder what's happening with Haku and Zabuza ?)
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Author's note :
A change in title to the previous chapter .
Chunin arc to start from next chapter
Is Anyone interested In Haku or Zabuza's fate
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