Truth Well Hidden

Naruto's Training

Naruto has just turned five. His Jiji showed up that previous evening and told him all of a sudden that he would be moving to the ANBU base where he will train with the most skilled operatives within ANBU. He had been cornered and attacked again when he was four, however, the orphanage matron did not send him out late again these years for some reason he could not fathom.

Naruto had spent his days either doing physical training in a remote area where he had left a Hiraishin seal to get to quickly or in his mindscape learning his parents' techniques. Under their advice, Naruto mastered tree-walking and water-walking and cultivated his chakra reserves to reach easily high chūnin level chakra capacity. Even Kurama had pitched in to train him in some aspects, teaching Naruto how to control the basic chakra cloak without losing control. Naruto did benefit from this but, as of yet, had only managed up to two tails.

Hiruzen had taught him the basics of fūinjutsu and left behind fūinjutsu equipment and books of levels ranging from beginner to advanced. He comfortably mastered the art under the guidance the two seal masters sealed within him and also reached a level that the rest of the world would deem as a seal master within the past year. As his final project, Naruto developed a unique seal. It led to a personal pocket dimension of his own. While it functioned in much the same way as a storage seal, his version was closer to a space-time technique. He kept two separate dimensions, one of which had time completely halted in and another where time passed normally. They were built within the same space and had interlinked structures, a weakness that could not be easily removed. If one dimension was destroyed, the other would collapse alongside it. Thus, it was -- unfortunately enough -- not something that could casually be brought out during a fight. Naruto had used the time-halting dimension for the plain purpose of preserving his food.

Naruto had also improved and perfected the Hiraishin to a state where he could teleport to any location he desired as long as he knew the geographical coordinates of the location -- or the distance and direction from the starting point. It was one of his father's dreams and something he only worked on for his father's sake as he himself actually found it unnecessary. This was not to say that he worked on it alone. Minato was of great assistance and an invaluable mentor in Naruto's process of exploring space-time techniques, his knowledge an invaluable treasure trove enabling his son's efforts to reap fruits for his effort within such a short timeframe.

Naruto sighed as he sealed all of his items into his pocket dimension, placing the whole refrigerator into the time-halting dimension. Naruto was still working on a seal that would enable him to phase in and out of reality and enter his personal pocket dimension much like the Sharingan ability his father had described to him called Kamui. It was still highly unsuccessful and he had resorted to leaving several shadow clones in his mindscape to try and crack the code for the series of kanji required for the sealing formula.

Naruto was knocked out of his musings by a knock on his door. He opened it to see an ANBU wearing a dog mask standing stiffly. Naruto nodded to the man in greeting as he left the now-empty room.

"Your room is empty apart from those hooks in the wall," the curious silver-haired male commented.

"I sealed my items away," Naruto said curtly without elaborating further.

"Oh? I do not happen to see any storage scrolls on your person," the man failed to stop himself from stating.

Naruto ignored the comment, continuing to walk towards the exit of the orphanage.

"Stay safe, Naruto!" he heard the orphanage matron say as he walked past the reception.

He gaped at the woman. It seems he had rubbed off on her at some point? It was a childish and perhaps blind hope -- he never truly despised this orphanage matron who cared so deeply about her other wards and genuinely seemed to think he was a bad influence on the young orphans. If it was possible for them to part on better terms... He inclined his head to her, somewhat relieved deep down. He knew the matron did not hate him, but she had always been indifferent to him. It was not as though he would ever return, regardless of the bettered relationship between himself and the woman who ran this place.