爆発！« explosion »

V

Oops... Is She Broken?

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the redhead who continued to stare at him expectantly.

"Are you sure you want me to summon as many clones as my reserves would allow?" Naruto asked dubiously.

Kushina paused, wondering how many the boy would be able to summon. She decided that sating her curiosity was of greater concern than avoiding dealing with explaining why Konoha was overrun by Naruto clones. Besides, it would not be to that sort of extent. How many clones can one child make anyway?

Naruto noticed Kushina's train of thought and sighed, deciding to make a few hundred to satisfy her curiosity. He could make more with little to no difficulty, but then he would have to deal with her asking more questions that he was unable to answer without revealing that he knew of his true heritage and telling her about his clan. It would have been far too troublesome, especially since the council was likely to force him into the Clan Restoration Act — also known as the CRA.

He made exactly one thousand clones without breaking a sweat. They were all over the rather large private training ground that had a diameter of about thirty metres and was a circular clearing in a forested part of the Uzumaki-Namikaze compound. Kushina frowned at the boy. She had instructed him to make as many as he could, but he only made an amount that did not seem to faze him. Although a thousand shadow clones was an impossible number for practically all shinobi to make at once, she knew that it was not Naruto's limit.

Kushina decided against pushing it. There were already more than enough clones for her to work with. She did not want to upset him too much. It might result in him accidentally drawing on the Kyūbi's power before he was ready which would cause him to find out about his status as jinchūriki, which she did not feel he was ready for until he had been enrolled in the academy.

Naruto heard her thoughts and almost snorted at the decision she made and the rationale behind it. They were purely selfish. She only wished to retain his innocence. Of course, it was not wrong for a parent to do that for their child. However, she did not notice that the child no longer possessed that innocence for her to protect.

'She only wants to baby me and keep me from the horrors of the world, since she does not know that I still remember being exposed to them on the day of my parents' deaths. She even thinks I didn't notice the other chakra present in my body. How foolish,' Naruto could not help but think snidely.

"Now, each group of one hundred clones is going to focus on one type of nature transformation. Since you have so many, it only makes sense to train all of them to a certain extent so that you will have no weaknesses. You may decide to specialise in one or two of your affinities later on. For now, let's just train in everything," Kushina explained, pulling the blond from his thoughts.

Naruto nodded.

"I'll teach you how to draw out each type of chakra first, the knowledge of which you will transfer to your clones. Unfortunately, I can only help you with wind and water as I only have those chakra natures. You will have to just try out the exercises with the others, though I can show you a bit of fire. Okay, now let's start with wind," Kushina decided on her own.

Kushina picked up a leaf from the ground and showed it to Naruto. It was a normal leaf, with no scratches on its surface and not unnaturally dry. Naruto discreetly activated his Byakugan and Sharingan at the same time, hid them with his kekkei-genkai and watched as the woman converted her chakra to wind as she released it from her fingers, causing the leaf to split into two perfect slices.

Naruto bent down and picked up his own leaf, slicing it perfectly into two with his chakra. Kushina whistled, impressed. To think that anyone — a mere four-year-old, no less — would manage to convert their chakra into their elemental affinity and complete the exercise on their first attempt was unthinkable. Much less with a chakra type as unstable and difficult to control as wind.