Naruto Repurposed

Chapter 6

Making Waves II

During dinner the night after arriving, where the ninjas were finally introduced to the whining and ungrateful Inari, Tsunami's son, Naruto asked about Uzushiogakure, and where in relation to Wave it was. Kakashi knew it was relatively nearby, but not too much having never gone there before or after it was destroyed, but Tazuna surprisingly knew quite a bit. It was actually made up of several islands to the north-northeast on the far other side of the island, and long ago controlled and protected Wave as one of the islands that were under its control. When asked if he ever knew of any Uzumaki's or ninja of Whirlpool, the elderly bridge builder could only shake his head, though did mention an elderly woman named Emiko who lived on the outskirts of the village who used to tell stories of Whirlpool Village.

Kakashi knew he would probably get chewed out by the Hokage upon their return, but gave Naruto permission to send his clones to try and find that woman and learn a little more about his Clan's history. As long as the real Naruto wasn't venturing into dangerous places, Kakashi was okay with his clones doing all the reconnaissance they wanted in and around Wave and even the surrounding islands as long as they were henged as civilians, or didn't have anything that tied them back to the Leaf. Naruto's instant agreement and excited face, should probably have been more worrisome to the jounin leader of Team 7, but he figured that the clones would disappear if they encountered any trouble, and as long as Konoha wasn't blamed, what did it matter to satisfy his cute genin's curiosity.

After dinner then, Naruto went outside to the clearing he found and trained in the other night, and spawned a large batch of 2000 more clones, all looking completely non-descript that he sent out with orders to find the Ruins or whatever remained of Whirlpool, while he sent a very small group towards the village to ask around and locate this Emiko. He then began his own physical workout that while not as intense as when he trained with the green beasts, was nonetheless very demanding and had him dripping in sweat half way through. By the time he wore himself out, it was quite late at night, but he was still somewhat hyped about his possible discovering of his Clan's history, that he ate some jerky to restore his strength a bit before spawning another large batch of clones to add to the others and returned to the house for bed.

When he woke up the next day, he again had many memories to go through from the day and night before, and was super excited that his clones located Emiko, and would make contact today. He also learned that he found the location that he thought was Zabuza's base, but managed to keep clear of it, as he didn't want to test his stealth and infiltration skills on a jounin level opponent that almost defeated Kakashi. Instead they maintained a perimeter watch on the well hidden base in the hopes of learning more and keeping tabs on the enemy until Kakashi was told and a plan could be put in place.

After another wonderful breakfast, this one much larger than previously, and helping Tsunami with preparations and cleanup, Kakashi took Sakura to the bridge for guard duty and let the boys have the day for training. Naruto actually offered to provide Sasuke a couple hundred clones if he wanted any one-hit opponents to practice with and take a break from the constant training in his water walking, which his teammate happily agreed to. He told Sasuke and his clones he left him, to not waste them on large scale ninjutsu hits, and should probably work on taijutsu as despite limited durability, having the numbers they did would give the Uchiha a nice workout and change of pace.

Leaving a smirking Sasuke, who he could tell wanted to prove his superiority by easily defeating the Naruto clones, the original blond simply laughed at how difficult his clones were going to make Sasuke work and get in a lot of practice in his new Hariken taijutsu style. That his clones would also be able to study and learn Sasuke's own Clan taijutsu style in the process, was simply a bonus that would only help the original improve on his taijutsu and overall experience. While his clones were keeping Sasuke busy, Naruto instantly followed the knowledge his clones provided to first check out that Uzushiogakure Temple and then head to Emiko's house to try and ask her about his Clan's history or anything she could remember of the Uzumaki Clan.