Disclaimer: This story is 100% AI-generated fanfiction based on the Naruto universe. Characters, settings, and lore belong to Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement intended.
Hokage Tower – Dawn
The Third Hokage's pipe smoke curled around the medical report like spectral fingers. "Ice crystals of unknown origin detected in Subject's chakra network… Residual spacetime energy consistent with forbidden-class jutsu…"
"Explain this," the Third said, sliding the report across his desk. Kakashi stood motionless, Sharingan eye masked, hands tucked in his pockets.
"Frostbite," Kakashi drawled. "Kids these days—never dress for the weather."
"Do not mock me." The Third's voice cracked like a whip. "These readings match Minato's early experiments. Experiments you oversaw."
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. "I was twelve. I followed orders."
"And now?" The Third leaned forward. "What orders do you follow as Naruto's shadow?"
"Maa, Hokage-sama… I'm just a teacher." Kakashi turned to leave. "Unless you'd like me to assign him extra homework?"
"This isn't a joke!" The Third slammed his palm on the desk. "That boy is unraveling. If the council learns what Minato buried in him—"
"They'll what?" Kakashi paused at the door, voice icy. "Lock him up? Kill him? Funny… that's what they said about the Nine-Tails too."
Hokage Monument – Midnight
Naruto's breath fogged the air as he climbed, the paint cans in his hands sloshing. He didn't remember leaving his apartment. Didn't remember mixing the garish orange paint. But the voice had whispered—Fix it. Fix the symbol.
The spiral-and-crescent mark on Minato's monument glowed faintly. Naruto dipped his brush, hands trembling.
"Almost… done…"
The paint dripped like blood, transforming the spiral into a crude fox face. But as he stepped back, the monument shifted. Minato's stone eyes blazed gold, his mouth twisting into the Ōtsutsuki creature's grin.
"Good boy," it purred through the stone. "Now let me in."
Naruto screamed, hurling a paint can. It shattered against Hashirama's cheek, orange splattering like fire.
Monument Base – Hour Later
"Naruto."
Iruka's voice cut through the haze. Naruto sat curled at the monument's base, paint streaking his clothes like war paint. The vandalized stone loomed above them—a grotesque parody of the Hokage legacy.
"I… I didn't mean to," Naruto choked, tears mixing with orange pigment. "It talked to me. It made me—"
"Shh." Iruka knelt, scrubbing Naruto's hands with a wet cloth. "We'll fix it."
"Why?!" Naruto yanked away. "Why do you always help me?!"
Iruka's smile was sad. "Because someone once gave me a second chance too."
Together, they washed the monument under the moon's judgmental gaze. Naruto's sobs echoed off the stone faces.
Naruto's Apartment – Secret Search
The Third Hokage moved silently through Naruto's cluttered room. Ramen cups, wrinkled scrolls, a cracked mirror—nothing of value until he spotted the loose floorboard.
Beneath it lay a scroll encased in ice, its edges blackened by frost. The seal read Yuki no Mōmoku (Blind Snow)—and the handwriting was unmistakably Tobirama Senju's.
"Impossible," the Third whispered. Tobirama had been dead for decades.
He broke the ice seal. The scroll unfurled, revealing a map of Konoha marked with glowing spiral symbols… and a warning:
"The rifts are doors. The Ōtsutsuki have keys."
As the Third exited, a crow pecked at Naruto's windowsill—its beak clutching a golden feather identical to the one in the Forest of Death. Inside the apartment, the vandalized mirror began to frost over.