Naruto: Legacy Undone

"I wasn't aware we were racing them."

"Of course we are. Its in the rule book." She grinned.

Naruto laughed head looking out to Konoha in the waning sun. Day was just beginning to slip into dusk. "Wanna get something to eat?"

"Nah." Ryoko waved her off. "After this long, even my parents have to have noticed I wasn't exactly around. I...guess I should go see them." She was reluctant, it was no secret her home was hardly what one would call idyllic. But it did have its good moments. Clearly, she was hoping after a nearly two months this might be one of the days the exception beat out the norm. "I'll see you guys around."

Kyofu shook her head as well, smiling sadly at him. "Sorry Naruto-kun. But I'd like to go home too for now. How bout tomorrow?"

He smiled in understanding. "Sure."

The purple haired girl knelt and offered him a kiss on the cheek. "Bye."

The blond waved watching her go.

He understood, even felt happy for them.

That didn't change the fact that it still stung knowing that they had someone waiting at home and...he didn't.

Not even his friends...not for now...not for a while.

He moved to leave when a hand fell over his shoulder.

"Might I be invited?"

He turned, blinking in surprised curiosity. "Dan?"

The familiar silver haired man smiled gently. "We heard you came back. Tsunade went to get Shizune."

He blinked "For what?"

Dan gave him a look, as though this should be obvious. "To celebrate you coming back of course."

The child felt the wind knocked out of him, emotion building up from his chest and building an apple in his throat.

Dan frowned. "Are you alright kiddo?"

Naruto turned. "Y-yeah." He swallows then sharply turns around "Just...some dust in my eye."

Dan, mercifully, makes nothing of it. Just grips his shoulder. "Come on kid. Lets go celebrate and you can tell us all about the exam."

-0-

"The Rasengan?"

"It was unmistakeable." Orochimaru drawled. "I'd recognize that technique anywhere."

"And then he..."

"Used the theoretical version Minato had only started to experiment with. He infused the Rasengan with his wind element."

Sarutobi shook his head. "You're wrong."

"I'm not."

"You must be Orochimaru. The technique is a dead one and to not only use it but use its perfected form is-"

"I'm not wrong I know exactly what I saw."

Sarutobi was, in short, reeling. The Rasengan was Minato's personal technique. No one, not even his last remaining student, knew how to pull it off and without at least a rudimentary idea of how to make it function, all they had to go on was "spinning chakra ball" it sounds simplistic but the technique was absurdly complex given its pure chakra manipulation based execution. Orochimaru hadn't figured it out on his own quite yet, though supposedly with persistence and trial and error, he was getting close, same with Kakashi. Sarutobi hadn't even bothered.

So the suggestion that a boy, who'd barely learned to even manipulate chakra two years earlier was pulling it off but even pulling off a form that Minato himself hadn't been able to achieve, was understandably, a rather thick pill to swallow.

He was half tempted to call the child back and demand a demonstration. He stopped himself only because he, ultimately knew it'd be merely an exercise in redundancy.

Orochimaru would recognize that technique anywhere and despite his protests the chances that his student was genuinely wrong was so close to zero it shouldn't even be worth considering.

"Who taught him?" He asked.

Orochimaru's lips turned down in a severe frown. "He claims it was Jiraiya."

Sarutobi blinked.

Slowly, he leaned back in his chair, a creaking groan marking the motion as the weight shifted the old oaken seat.

"Jiraiya's dead." He finally says, for sheer lack of anything better.

Orochimaru remains quiet, giving him a moment to gather his thoughts.

At length, the older man sighs, removing his hat to rub at the back of his head, then the front, temples throbbing with a quickly approaching headache.

"I thought we were past this." His groan is a miserable thing. A man bemoaning yet another burden to an already heavy weight that's already threatening to buckle him.

Orochimaru's brows knit together, frowning. But still he asks-

"Your orders?"

Sarutobi opens his eyes and like molten steel poured into a mold, fire takes shape behind his eyes again. "I assume you already investigated yourself. Your findings?"

"Inoichi's assertion that his old memories would reassert themselves, or that the fabrications would fade in time has clearly been wrong." The man answers crisply. "If anything, they've solidified and are threatening his sanity. When I spoke to him after the exam he was disoriented, delusional, didn't register pain. Clearly something is very wrong."

Sarutobi rubbed his head again making a valiant effort to dismiss the pain portion of the explanation. "Your recommendation?"

"Have Inoichi seal away all of these false memories."

The Sandaime sat up a little straighter.

Memory sealing by the Yamanaka was a drastic action taken only by the highest ranking Anbu or hunter nin going into deep cover. Everything that could be a threat to the village, every secret, every technique, every password every known official.

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