On the Hokage Rock, Yami stopped speaking, giving Naruto time to process everything.
No one knew how long had passed before Naruto seemed to return to himself, and his eyes refocused.
He didn't know how to describe how he felt at that moment.
Knowing he wasn't just an abandoned orphan, and that his father was one of the village's only four Hokage, Naruto was, of course, happy.
But after the joy faded, countless questions rose in his mind.
Knowing that being a Jinchūriki would lead to rejection, why did they still seal the Nine Tails in him?
Why had Grandpa Third never told him anything about his parents?
Why did the villagers avoid him even though he had sealed the monster inside himself? Being ignored was one thing, but some even mocked him, calling him the incarnation of the demon fox.
He was himself, and the Nine Tails was the Nine Tails.
Couldn't those adults understand something so simple?
All kinds of questions flooded Naruto's already not-so-bright mind, leaving him dazed and confused.
Images of being scolded, shunned, and driven away kept surfacing.
In front of him, it felt like a twisted, demonic face loomed over the peaceful village, opening its jaws wide to devour him.
Gradually, Naruto's breathing became ragged. The whisker marks on his cheeks darkened and stretched, while a crimson chakra surged from his body, bubbling up like columns of water.
"Calm down."
Yami placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Deep within the seal, the Nine Tails snorted as its overflowing power was suppressed and pulled back without resistance.
Naruto's eyes cleared again as he looked at Yami in confusion.
"Yami-nii, what just happened...?"
"The strength of the seal depends on your willpower," Yami explained. "Just now, the Nine Tails tried to take advantage of your moment of vulnerability to seize control of your body."
Naruto instinctively touched his stomach, feeling a lingering fear.
"So what should I do?"
"Don't worry. Everything's fine. The seal is still strong. A bit of leakage like this will be restrained once you recover your senses. It's not a big deal."
Hearing Yami say that, Naruto finally relaxed.
But he immediately remembered everything he had just been thinking, and the countless emotions narrowed into one question.
"Why?"
"Why?" Yami was slightly confused by the vague question.
"Why didn't Grandpa Hokage tell me any of this? Why didn't he tell the villagers I'm the Fourth Hokage's son?"
Realizing how that sounded, Naruto hurriedly added, "I don't mean I want special treatment. I just didn't want to be discriminated against or shunned..."
"I understand."
Yami ruffled his hair. "To be honest, I don't know either."
"The reason the Third gave me was that he thought you were too young to handle the glory of being the son of a hero, and it would attract enemies of the Fourth Hokage."
"But I think that's nonsense. He didn't even hide the fact you're a demon fox, and now he says it's for your safety."
"But I won't take my guesses as fact. Only he knows the truth."
"What about the Fourth Hokage?" Naruto didn't call him 'father.' His voice was a bit low. "Didn't he know what kind of life I'd live as a Jinchūriki?"
Yami shrugged. "Maybe he thought going through hardship would help you grow stronger and more mature?"
"If you get the chance to meet him someday, you can ask him yourself."
Naruto's eyes lit up. "Yami-nii, is the Fourth Hokage still alive? What about my mom?"
Seeing Naruto's disappointed face, Yami shook his head. "They're gone. But there are all kinds of strange jutsu in the shinobi world. Some can make that wish possible."
"Well, that's enough for today."
Yami stood up. "I'll give you a small goal. When you can beat Kakashi, I'll figure out a way to let you see the Fourth Hokage."
"Kakashi…" Naruto instantly had a clear target. "I'll work hard, Yami-nii!"
[Host and Uzumaki Naruto's bond has reached Stage Three. Reward: Ashura Chakra]
[Ding... Foreign matter detected. Initiating antivirus… Antivirus complete. Host has received Ashura Chakra (pure version)]
Foreign matter?
Yami narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, many things became clearer.
"Naruto."
"Huh?" Hearing Yami call his name, Naruto looked over reflexively.
"Now that you understand everything, take some time to think about your experiences. Think about them using your own mind. Don't be influenced by anyone, including me."
After speaking, Yami used Body Flicker and went home to cuddle with Hikari and sleep.
Naruto sat alone on the Hokage Rock for a long time. Finally, he jumped down, glanced at the Fourth Hokage's statue, and disappeared into the darkness.
The next morning.
Sasuke arrived outside the Hokage building at nine. Naruto came shortly after.
Seeing how much quieter Naruto was than usual, Sasuke was surprised.
Why had Naruto's personality changed so much overnight?
He used to wear "I'm an idiot" on his face, but today he had a gloomy aura and seemed lost in thought.
With Sasuke's personality, he couldn't ask directly, so he just stood there quietly, deep in thought.
The two stood in awkward silence.
Fortunately, the deadlock didn't last long. Yami appeared with Hinata.
He hadn't meant to be late, but he was delayed at the Hyūga estate.
He thought that since Hinata was on his team, she might as well move into the Shimura residence. There were plenty of rooms, and it'd be more convenient in the future.
But Hiashi was firmly opposed, and Hanabi cried, saying she wouldn't let her sister go unless she could come too.
Hiashi was furious. In the end, neither of his two daughters were willing to stay.
Yami had to give up on bringing Hinata home.
Seeing him arrive, Naruto perked up and greeted him. "Yami-nii!"
"Let's go accept a mission."
At the mission center, the familiar scent of paperwork filled the air. This time, Yami didn't even need to ask. The diligent clerk handed him the mission log automatically.
Yami randomly picked a D-rank mission—catching a lost chicken on a farm outside the village.
Since it was their first mission, even a D-rank one didn't disappoint Naruto and Sasuke. They went off happily to catch the chicken.
But over the following days, Yami only assigned D-rank missions.
Weeding, searching for runaway cats, cleaning Konoha's sewers.
They were exhausted every day but gained no actual combat experience. Eventually, both started to complain.
"Yami-nii, don't we have any missions that involve fighting or leaving the village? I don't wanna catch any more cats!"
Naruto rolled on the ground, and Sasuke nodded silently.
"Well, wait until I disappear and ask my real body."
Yami rubbed his chin.
"What?! Yami-nii, you only sent a Shadow Clone to handle us? Is your real body out shopping with Hinata?"
"Disappointed, Naruto. Very disappointed."
The Shadow Clone looked at him sadly. "The real me is handling something extremely important. It's already respectful of him to send me to deal with you. And you still complain?"
Sasuke, tossing garbage into a bin, twitched his mouth at that.
He finally understood why Itachi never got along with Yami.
Who could get along with someone this unreasonable?
In a laboratory.
Yami did have more important things to deal with than babysitting.
Dozens of Shadow Clones were conducting research in an orderly fashion. Their focus: Yami's own cells.
Yami had discovered a very troubling issue.
His cells were far more complicated than Hashirama's.
Senju, Uchiha, Uzumaki, Ōtsutsuki.
Each of these powers was terrifying on its own—enough for Orochimaru to study obsessively for a lifetime.
But fused together, they became extremely unstable. In one experiment, just transplanting a bit of his original cells into a death row prisoner caused the man to explode within a minute from chaotic energy overload.
Considering that his entire body was made of these cells… it was honestly a miracle he was still alive.
So what Yami had to do now was refine and isolate the various energies in his body to purify them.
The approach he came up with was to activate one of the powers first, let it dominate, then extract it fully.
Among them, the Ōtsutsuki bloodline was the most troublesome. It had few outward traits, but it deeply affected the essence of life.
Every day, his Shadow Clones grumbled while firing off ninjutsu.
Meanwhile, Yami's real body focused on studying the Ashura Chakra he'd been rewarded.
Chakra, being a blend of spiritual and physical energy, could be seen as part of the soul and carried some characteristics of its owner.
Because of this, the Senju and Uchiha clans had clashed for generations. The reincarnations of Ashura and Indra were destined to conflict.
However, since the chakra reincarnates rather than the soul, there was still room for change.
Hashirama had the greatest chance of breaking the cycle as Ashura's reincarnation, but he gave his love to Konoha instead of Uchiha Madara.
The chakra granted by the system had been purified.
So what could Ashura Chakra do?
First, it unlocked the Sage Body.
Not the kind with huge chakra and vitality like the Senju or Uzumaki, but one refined through continuous training and pushing past limits.
Among the Sage of Six Paths' two sons, Indra had overwhelming talent early on. Ashura only caught up by steadily evolving his Sage Body.
This was reflected in Naruto. His jutsu had no upper limit and could keep evolving.
Second, it enabled fusion with Indra's power to awaken the "power of all things"—the Rinnegan.
Many misunderstood this. Sharingan did not evolve into Rinnegan.
The final form of Sharingan was Mangekyō Sharingan.
The Sage of Six Paths was born with the Rinnegan. It wasn't something awakened through upgrades. There was no inherent link between the two.
Sasuke's Rinnegan was a Magatama Rinnegan, which was a separate case.
After fusing Ashura Chakra, Yami tried training. He found that even abilities at the Limit Break level still improved slightly with exercise.
Unfortunately, his nearly perfected Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan didn't change at all.
"Yami-nii, what have you been doing these past few days?"
After being left alone for half a month, Naruto and Sasuke finally saw Yami again.
Naruto had returned to his usual cheerful self, at least on the surface. The moment Yami and Hinata arrived, he immediately started complaining.
Yami shook his head. "I've just been working hard for Konoha's future. Naruto, you can't slack off just because I'm gone."
Naruto gave him a look that screamed, "You think I'll buy that?" He'd known Yami long enough to understand what he was like.
Who knew? He might've just been off enjoying life with one of his future sister-in-laws.
Sasuke also looked at him with an aggrieved expression.
Facing a sensei who taught with fists, he didn't dare act like he did with Kakashi.
He could only vent his frustration through silent protest.
Seeing the two of them like that, Yami chuckled. "Alright. Things on my end are settled for now. You three have gotten used to working together. Next, it's time to boost your personal strength."
Hearing this, both Naruto and Sasuke lit up.
Yami led Team 7 to a forest training ground.
Tree climbing and water walking were unavoidable basic exercises. Both Sasuke and Naruto had good potential.
Once their foundations were solid, their growth would be insanely fast.
Though Naruto was a bit dense, his Multi Shadow Clone Technique was the best training cheat in the entire shinobi world.
When Sasuke saw dozens of Narutos climbing trees and falling at the same time, he was stunned.
(To be continued.)
Quick event this week. If we're in the T20 by the end of this week, at least 5 bonus chapters or more. Go wild xD.
***
For every 200 PS = 1 extra chapter. Support me on P/treon to read 30+ advanced chapters: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves
(Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)