"Tobirama..."
Mito Uzumaki studied the equally youthful face of Tobirama Senju. "What exactly happened to you?"
The Edo Tensei Tobirama said nothing.
"Can't talk about it?"
"It's not that. It's just... absurd." He paused. "The short version is that before this Edo Tensei revival, I'd already been brought back once before. During the Fourth Great Ninja War."
"The future?"
"Mm. Hashirama, myself, Hiruzen, and the Fourth Hokage were all resurrected by that Orochimaru. The Uchiha boy had already gone rogue by then, and his brother Itachi, just as the vision showed, died by his hand..." And then there was Uchiha Madara, strutting around with Hashirama's face literally growing out of his chest. The sheer audacity. If it hadn't been the middle of a battlefield, Tobirama would've burst out laughing at how ridiculous it looked.
"It probably wasn't Sasuke who killed him," Mito said. "Itachi's body is already in terrible shape. Two or three more years, around the time shown in the vision, he'll have burned through every last reserve he has."
"True. But Sasuke won't see it that way. He'll pin the guilt on hatred. Hatred of Konoha, or whatever else he can find..."
"Sounds like quite the ordeal." Mito fixed Tobirama with a steady gaze. "But what I actually wanted to ask is... why does Naruto carry Hashirama's chakra?"
Silence.
He didn't want to touch this subject. Was he supposed to explain that Naruto and Hashirama were both chakra reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths' sons? That from a certain angle, Hashirama was technically Madara's brother?
Out of nowhere, he'd been demoted a rank below Uchiha Izuna. What kind of nonsense was that?
Mito watched the sour expression settle across Tobirama's face. It looked more like petty irritation than anything serious, so she let it go.
"If there's nothing else, let's head back. I'll seal the cursed mark on Sasuke first." She added, "Oh, and that crow was Itachi's. He was using genjutsu to control it, watching over Sasuke."
Before they'd left, Itachi had already flown off to confirm the news of his mother Mikoto's revival.
Tobirama used Flying Thunder God to bring Mito back to the Central Tower. The vision broadcast was taking unusually long this time. Since it hadn't resumed yet, Mito began working on Sasuke's cursed mark seal.
Naruto, meanwhile, had suddenly gained family. The brief sulk from earlier had already passed, and with Mito and Sasuke gone, he drifted over to chat with Karin and Fuusou.
"Hey, hey, you're younger than me, right?" Unlike the other Uzumakis with their crimson hair and red eyes, Naruto's sky-blue eyes bored into Karin until she glanced away, a little flustered.
But despite years of being pushed around by the Grass ninja, that stubborn Uzumaki streak still ran through her bones. "I'm pretty sure I'm actually older. I mean... I'm taller than you."
Silence.
Naruto measured himself against her, then realized with creeping horror that he wasn't just shorter than that bastard Sasuke. He was shorter than Sakura. Shorter than Karin, even. Gloom descended like a storm cloud.
"Whose fault is that?" Kakashi said. "All ramen, no vegetables."
Karin watched Naruto hug his knees and wilt, and felt a twinge of pity. "Are you really twelve too?"
The wilting intensified.
Tobirama, who had just returned, did a double take. For a moment he could've sworn he was looking at a young Hashirama.
Karin, sensing she'd made things worse, tried to salvage it. "Um... when's your birthday?"
"October tenth." The day of the Nine-Tails attack. Nobody had ever celebrated it. That date was a memorial for the village's hero, the Fourth Hokage, and every civilian who'd died alongside him.
"Mine's June twentieth," Karin said. "So I am older."
If Naruto's slumped silhouette could've lost any more color, it would have gone grayscale entirely.
Watching someone mope exactly like his brother used to, Tobirama's patience snapped. "Stop sulking!"
Mito smiled, eyes crinkling with warmth. "He really does remind me of Hashirama back in the day."
Sakura, Kakashi, Iruka, and the others froze. Hashirama... the First Hokage?! Lady Mito just said Naruto reminds her of the First?! The God of Shinobi?!
But... the sulking part?
"The cursed mark seal on Sasuke will take some time," Tobirama said. "We're heading back. Continue with the Chunin Exams."
"Wait!" Naruto grabbed his arm. "You still owe me that favor! You can't go back on your word, Second Hokage bro. I've been looking forward to it!"
Tobirama seized Naruto's arm and sent a pulse of his own chakra through it, reading the results in seconds. "Before you even think about the Flying Thunder God Technique, get your chakra control sorted out."
He turned to Kakashi. "This kid. How long does it take him to walk vertically up the Hokage Monument? Has he learned water walking? What are his results?"
"Uh..."
"He's wind-natured, right? How's his Wind Release ninjutsu?" That self-created Wind Release: Rasenshuriken of his wasn't bad, but without Sage Mode training, using it would wreck his body. "He's got at least two types of chakra inside him. Without proper control, he won't be able to draw out even a tenth—no, a twentieth—of the potential of just one of those chakras..."
When Kakashi's expression only grew more strained, Tobirama, founder of the Hidden Leaf's ninja academy, raised an eyebrow. "You're his teacher and you don't know any of this? Don't tell me you've been focused entirely on the Uchiha." He'd seen it himself during the Fourth War. Sasuke's Lightning Release foundation had Kakashi's fingerprints all over it.
"No, that's not... I..." Kakashi looked like a man drowning on dry land, unable to mount a defense.
Naruto blinked, completely lost as to how Kakashi-sensei had managed to tick off the Second Hokage's bro.
"Hey, hey, Second Hokage bro, don't pick on Kakashi-sensei! I mean, sure, he reads Make-Out Paradise right in front of us, and during missions he sits around resting while making us do all the work, and he always looks half-dead, and he shows up super late every single day, but other than that he's actually great!"
Kakashi stared at him. Was this really his student?
Sakura bit her lip. Nailed it, Naruto.
The Third Hokage's expression went blank. What happened to the ANBU Kakashi I knew?
Iruka Umino could only stare. Naruto, you...
Tobirama's eye twitched. So much for all that "I respect Kakashi-sensei and the Third Hokage" talk his natural-born-airhead father spouted before he died. Apparently none of it stuck.
Obito Uchiha, watching from the shadows: That's what you get, trash Kakashi. You fake.
Tobirama sighed. "Get caught up on those fundamentals. When you do, I said I'd teach you the Flying Thunder God Technique, and I will. Whether you can learn it is on you."
"It's a promise then! Second Hokage bro!!"
"Mm." Something surfaced in Tobirama's memory. During the Fourth War, when Naruto used his own experiences to rally the Allied Shinobi Forces, there had been a teacher. One who'd died before the end...
"Hiruzen. You have a student named Jiraiya, don't you?"
"?!" Master Tobirama knows about that too?
"Ah, yes. But that brat said he was off searching for some Child of Prophecy. He hasn't been back in ages." The old Hokage's voice softened. He missed them, his students. Age did that.
"The Child of Prophecy..." Tobirama murmured.
His gaze drifted to Naruto Uzumaki. The child who would one day earn the recognition of all nine Tailed Beasts and the Sage of Six Paths himself was standing right here.
Whether Naruto was the Child of Prophecy or not, the current Jiraiya had no idea.
But somewhere out there, in a distant village, Jiraiya had seen the vision. He'd learned that Akatsuki's target was the nine Tailed Beasts, and days ago he'd already set out, racing back toward Konoha...
The Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki.
That boy was all his student had left behind. A precious, irreplaceable son.