Chapter 6: The Girl and the Glitch
The afternoon sun was a warm, heavy blanket over the Hidden Leaf Village, casting long shadows across the rooftops. Naruto sat perched on the railing of a bridge overlooking the stream, his legs dangling over the edge. In his hand was a small, experimental piece of equipment: a weighted kunai he had designed during one of his brief stints as Grey Matter.
He was bored. Kakashi had gone off on a short mission, leaving Naruto with the instruction to "practice control without transforming." But with the Omnitrix humming on his wrist, the temptation was like an itch he couldn't scratch.
"Maybe just a quick one," Naruto muttered. "Nothing big. Just something to help me get a better view."
He looked around. The park was mostly empty, save for a few civilians in the distance. He tapped the leather cord, his mind searching for an icon he hadn't fully tested yet—something small, agile, and suited for a peaceful afternoon.
His mind settled on a small, insectoid creature.
Lepidopteran. Stinkfly.
"No, too smelly," he whispered, scrolling past. He stopped at a small, white, humanoid figure with large headphones for ears.
Sonorosian. Echo Echo.
He pressed the dial.
In a muted burst of green light, the twelve-year-old boy vanished. Standing on the railing was a small, silicon-based lifeform no taller than a foot. He looked like a living amplifier, his skin white and sleek.
"Whoa," Naruto's voice echoed, literally. Every word he spoke vibrated with a slight harmonic resonance. "I feel... solid. And loud."
He looked at his reflection in the water. He liked this form. It was inconspicuous compared to a ten-foot Tetramand. But as he admired himself, the Omnitrix did something it hadn't done before. A surge of green static rippled across the symbol on his chest.
"Uh oh," Naruto squeaked.
Suddenly, there wasn't just one Echo Echo. With a sharp, ringing sound, a second one popped into existence right next to the first. Then a third.
"Wait, wait! I didn't mean to—" All three Narutos spoke at once, their voices creating a feedback loop that made the birds in the nearby trees take flight in a panic.
"D-D-Did I just... clone myself?"
The three Echo Echos looked at each other, their massive eyes wide. This wasn't like the Shadow Clone Jutsu. There was no puff of smoke, and no split of chakra. It was a biological duplication. He felt his consciousness stretched across three bodies—not as separate entities, but as one mind in three places.
A few yards away, tucked behind a thick oak tree, Hinata Hyuga stood frozen. She had been on her way home from a grueling training session with her father, her spirit dampened by his harsh words. She had seen Naruto sitting on the bridge and had intended to walk by—perhaps even say 'hello' if she could find the courage.
Then she had seen the green light.
Her Byakugan was active instinctively. She saw Naruto's chakra signature split into three identical, humming spheres of energy. The creatures were small and strange, but the feeling of the energy was unmistakably Naruto.
She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
The three Echo Echos spun around. "Who's there?" they yelled in perfect, terrifying harmony.
Hinata, realizing she'd been spotted, stumbled out from behind the tree. Her face was a deep shade of crimson, her fingers twiddling nervously. "N-N-Naruto-kun?"
The three small creatures froze. The one in the middle—the "original"—scrambled down from the railing. "Hinata! Uh... hey! What are you doing here? And, uh, ignore the... extra me's. It's a new jutsu! Super secret!"
Hinata knelt down so she was closer to their level. She wasn't afraid. There was something about the way the small, white creatures tilted their heads that was actually... kind of cute.
"It doesn't look like a jutsu," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "It feels... like the stars I saw before."
Naruto's three bodies stiffened. "You saw that? In the forest?"
Hinata nodded slowly. "I didn't tell anyone. I promise. I just... I wanted to know if you were okay."
Naruto felt a strange warmth in his chest that had nothing to do with the Omnitrix. Usually, people looked at him with fear or annoyance. Even Iruka and the Old Man looked at him with a sort of worried pity. But Hinata was looking at him with genuine, quiet concern.
He signaled for his clones to merge. With a shink sound, the two duplicates walked into the first one, vanishing back into his form.
"I'm okay, Hinata," Naruto said, his harmonic voice softening. "I found this thing. It lets me be whoever I need to be. For the first time, I don't feel like the 'Dead Last.' I feel like... someone who can actually do something."
"You were always someone," Hinata said, her voice gaining a tiny bit of strength. "Even before the light. You never gave up. That's why... that's why I watch you."
She immediately turned even redder, looking at her feet. "I-I mean! For inspiration! Because you're strong!"
The Omnitrix symbol on Naruto's chest began to flash red.
"Hinata, look out!"
A burst of green light returned Naruto to his human form. Because he was standing on the narrow railing of the bridge when the shift happened, his human-sized feet had no purchase. He flailed, his arms windmilling as he tipped backward toward the stream.
"Whoa—!"
Before he could splash into the water, a small, firm hand caught his jacket. Hinata had moved with a burst of speed she didn't know she possessed, bracing herself against the railing to hold him up.
For a moment, they were frozen. Naruto was leaning precariously over the water, held only by Hinata's grip. Their eyes met—his bright blue and surprised, hers pale and wide with a mix of terror and adrenaline.
"G-Got you," she whispered.
Naruto scrambled back onto the bridge, his heart racing. "Thanks, Hinata. That was a close one." He rubbed the back of his head, laughing sheepishly. "Guess I still need to work on the 'landing' part of the transformation."
Hinata stood up, smoothing her jacket, her heart hammering against her ribs. She had actually touched him. She had saved him. "Y-You should be careful, Naruto-kun. If the village sees..."
"I know," Naruto said, his expression turning uncharacteristically serious. "The Old Man said it's an S-Rank secret. But... I don't mind if you know. You're nice. You're not like the others."
Hinata felt like she might actually faint. "I-I won't tell. I promise."
"Cool!" Naruto grinned, his usual boisterous energy returning. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, dried flower he'd found while training as Wildmutt—it had a scent he knew was rare. He handed it to her. "Here. For helping me not drown."
Hinata took the flower as if it were made of glass. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."
"See ya at the Academy, Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he began to jog away, waving his left arm—the one with the inconspicuous black cord—high in the air.
Hinata stood on the bridge for a long time, clutching the flower to her chest. She looked down at the water, seeing her own reflection. For the first time in weeks, she didn't see a failure of the Hyuga clan. She saw a girl who shared a secret with the boy who carried the stars.
And as for Naruto, as he ran toward his apartment, he looked at the Omnitrix. The glitch with Echo Echo had been scary, but it had shown him something new. He wasn't just changing shape; he was evolving.
"Six months," he said to the wind. "Just wait. We're gonna show 'em all."