"Damn it!" Naruto was sopping wet, having fallen in yet again into the pond. They were just on Nara property, so they were in private as they practiced.

Ino was laughing as she carefully walked around on the pond's surface. "Come on, Naruto! You know how to do this, you have to execute!"

Naruto knew she was right, but it wasn't that easy. A week ago they had spoke to Inoichi and convinced him to help Naruto in his quest to control his chakra and master the Bunshin. Ino had come along for the ride, and Inoichi had put them to work in water walking. He had explained in detail on how to do it, and after the first day of training had expected them to buddy up and learn it for themselves.

They were training with whatever spare time they had, but with the Academy and flower shop duty it wasn't as much as they would like. Still, it was three days ago that Ino had gotten water walking down. Right now she was trying to get used to running, which was another harder test in skill.

As for Naruto, he just wasn't getting it. He could half walk on the water, but his feet were usually submerged at least partially. He also could only get so far walking, sometimes a few steps and other times twenty or more yards but in the end, he would fall through and gasp for air.

"I don't get why I can't do it! Tree-walking wasn't this hard. And I have been practicing a ton!" Naruto grumbled as he swam back to shore.

"Dad says practice doesn't make perfect. He says perfect practice makes perfect. So you have to try and do it right before you can practice it." Ino tried to drill into his head.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Naruto moaned as he pulled himself out of the water. It actually did, but it was easier to complain. It was like taijutsu training. If you were using the wrong form, no matter how much you practiced it wouldn't help you get better at fighting.

"It would if you weren't a big baka! Mom is getting annoyed about drying all your clothes every day, so you need to figure it out soon. And if you don't get this, you might not ever get good enough with Bunshin to pass." Ino brought up the sore matter of the exam in five months, that led to a grunt from Naruto.

"Fine, fine then! Auntie doesn't want having wet clothes, then I won't wear any when I train!" Naruto began to strip off his wet undershirt and shorts off of his body.

Ino covered her eyes in disgust. "Come on, I don't wanna see your boy junk, bro!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I won't take off my boxers, you idiot. I'm not that dumb." He shimmied off his shorts leaving his black and orange striped boxers being the only thing he was wearing.

Ino paused, looked from behind her hands to check, and let out a sigh. "Don't ever say something like that again. I really thought you were about to strip down in front of me."

Naruto began focusing his chakra for his next water walking attempt before he made his comeback. "Yeah, yeah. I bet if it was Sasuke you would have been drooling at the thought of it!"

Ino turned red in a giant blush. She struggled to stop herself from sinking under, having to pull her calves out from under the surface. "W-w-what! Sasuke would never be that pervy like you."

Naruto had his eyes clothes to focus as he took his first steps on the water. "That wasn't a denial." He told her in a sing-song tone.

Ino glared at him. "Of course I wouldn't! I'm not a perv like you. I'd bet you would stare if it was Anko or Shikamaru's cousin who was stripping!" She began to chuckle when she noticed something odd around Naruto's belly button.

Naruto had been doing the best yet in keeping his feet over water, but being reminded of Inoichi's co-worker who liked to tease him when she came over or the girl Ino had caught him staring at was enough to break all concentration. Naruto's blush was quickly submerged under the gentle ripples of the pond.

Ino jogged over to him and reached her hand down. Naruto looked up at her confused from beneath the waves, but accepted the help. He tried to control his chakra perfectly as he was pulled out of the water and up to his feet. They were still partially submerged, but he was standing. He was about to ask why she had helped him, but she explained for him.

"Naruto, what the hell is going on with your stomach?"

He was confused by what she was saying, so he looked down. He was unnerved to see his stomach covered in black markings. "What the hell is that?" He cried out.

Ino examined his stomach. "It kinda looks like a seal. But I've seen you without your shirt before, and it wasn't there before. And it looks like you haven't seen it either. So what is it?"

Naruto looked at his stomach even more, poking it. "I have no idea. Why would there be a seal on me?"

"Could it be the one the Hokage used to keep you silent about you know who?" Ino was referencing their father the Yondaime.

Naruto shook his head. "No, that one is on my tongue. I don't know what this one is."

Ino looked at the seal and back to Naruto. "I think we should ask mom and dad about it."

Naruto nodded. "I think you are right. Uncle Inoichi probably knows more about it since seals are ninja stuff though."

With that, they returned to shore where Ino had an astute observation. "Hey, you didn't fall that time! I think you are getting better." She also noticed that once they stopped water walking and were on land, the seal vanished from his stomach. She pointed it out to Naruto by pointing.

He looked down and raised an eyebrow. "That's weird. I stopped using chakra, and it vanished. Maybe it has to do with chakra?" Naruto looked up to see his sister's opinion.

Ino nodded in agreement. "I guess that makes sense. And remember to put on your clothes, you can't go around Konoha in your boxers."

She made sure to ignore Naruto's comment about how 'he bet she wished Sasuke would go around Konoha in his boxers.'

After Naruto changed into dry clothes at their home, they confronted Inoichi in the kitchen. He didn't realize the tension at first.

"So, how is Naruto doing with water walking? Any progress? And how is my princess doing with with running on water?" He liked to embarrass Ino by giving her titles like princess, but she didn't take notice.

"Better, but we wanted to talk to you about something important." Ino began speaking to her father.

Inoichi caught on to the tension in the room finally and adapted accordingly. "Well what is it then? Nothing bad, I hope."

"Well, Ino was complaining about how Auntie Nikko was getting annoyed about drying my clothes, so I decided to practice in my boxers."

Inoichi stayed the impulse to berate a boy for stripping around his girl since it was her brother and simply chided him. "I know that seems like a good idea, but how would you explain to someone who finds you about being in your boxers? And stripping in front of your sister is hardly appropiate behavior."

Naruto shrugged. "Well, my clothes were wet and only holding me back. But that isn't the important part. The important part is that Ino noticed something weird on my stomach when I started water-walking."

Inoichi froze. This was not good. Ino continued. "Yeah, we looked at it for a bit and we think it is some sort of seal. But why would there be a seal on Naruto's stomach? And I don't know much about fuinjutsu, but it was pretty big and looked complicated. What is it doing there?"

Inoichi lied. "I don't know. I don't really know much about what happened in the past with you Naruto before you moved in, but I will check with the Hokage to see what he knows. He'll probably want to see it as well to make sure it is nothing dangerous. I'll talk to him tomorrow. Alright guys?"

The two of them accepted his answer, but later that night they were talking in Naruto's bedroom.

"He totally knows. I know when Dad lies and he was lying big time. And I bet the Hokage knows too."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, your dad is bad lying to you. He can lie to Auntie or Shikaku and Chouza, but he does that weird thing with the thumb in his fist. And he had his thumb in his fist the entire time."

Ino pouted. "But why would Dad lie to us about that?" She didn't like it one bit.

Naruto didn't either. "Well, it has to be a secret. Maybe it is about our dad or something?" He speculated to Ino.

She mulled it over before nodding. "Maybe, but what secret could it be... Other Dad was a seal master. So maybe it is his seal? It does look complicated, and only a few people know complicated seals in the village."

"Maybe Pervy Godfather did it? I mean, dad died the day I was born fighting the Kyuubi. I doubt he had much time to put some seal on me." Naruto pointed out.

The two of them were stumped. What was going on here?

The Next Day:

"Hokage, I come looking for you help." Inoichi bowed to his Hokage, making sure it was when the two of them were alone.

Sarutobi did not like the tone of Inoichi's request. "What sort of help?" He was hoping it wasn't about Minato.

"Naruto and Ino have discovered the seal on Naruto's stomach." Inoichi told him.

Sarutobi sighed. It wasn't technically about Minato, but just as bad. "How did they discover it?"

"Naruto went shirtless practicing water walking and it was seen by Ino."

The Hokage was surprised. "Water walking? They were still in the academy, Inoichi. Is that better suited for once they are genin?"

Inoichi shook his head. "Naruto had horrible chakra control, due to his capacities. So, in order to garner enough control for the Bunshin Jutsu, Naruto is seeking to gain better control anyway he can."

The Hokage nodded. Of course the boy would have such issues with the jutsu. But, the struggle of gaining enough chakra control to master it would be well worth the effort long term for the boy. However, there was the matter at hand.

"Well, what did you tell them?"

"I said I would ask you for answers, and that you might want to see it for yourself."

Hokage nodded. "Sounds like a reasonable response."

"They didn't buy it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really, how do you know?"

Inoichi explained. "I overheard them talking last night about it. Apparently I have a bad habit when I lie to Ino that they caught on to. They have suspicions that it was given to Naruto by either Jiraiya or Minato himself. I'm not sure what to do."

Sarutobi let out a long sigh. This was indeed troublesome. He should have known better than thinking this could be kept as one giant secret. He had controlled the verbal aspect of the secret quite well with his edict, but the physical sign on Naruto's body was one he could not hide. He had foolishly relied on the fact that the chances of Naruto finding out about the seal before he felt he was ready to know were slim. The boy knew about his father, and even his sister. It was time the boy learned about his burden.

"Bring them into the office later today one they return from the Academy. I will inform Naruto and Ino about the truth then. There is no point in hiding the truth from him any longer, and Ino will know soon enough afterwards that we should save him the trouble from explaining it to her."

Inoichi paused at this reveal, and looked back intently at the Hokage. "Are you sure, sir? That they are ready?"

"Ready or not, it is time." He responded, wondering how they would take the news later the day.

…

"- Minato would look at how the village has treated you and he would have been angry at them. He loved this village, but he had wanted you to be seen as a hero. But they betrayed that hope of his, and have given you a life that you did not deserve. But you have found friends and family. I know he is looking down on you and smiling." The Hokage finished explaining the situation to Naruto and Ino.

Naruto looked shocked, and it was Ino had her hands on his shoulder comforting him. She was hiding it, but this news stunned her.

The Kyuubi! The seal was holding back the Kyuubi! She guessed it made sense since it was made up of pure chakra, but it was still unbelievable. Of all the answers she thought they would get, this was the last one on the list.

She could only imagine what Naruto was thinking. She knew people weren't nice to him generally, and now he knew why. Plus, their dad did it to him! Their own father! Thinking about it, she didn't think she could easily forgive her dad or her father if she found out about it. So she did what she could, and made sure that he knew she was there, and that she wasn't afraid of the fox inside of him.

She saw Naruto's fist clenched very tightly before nodding. "I get it Old Man. I do. I got that bastard fox in me, and dad wants me to make sure it stays that way." He looked up with a determined expression. "And I'll do just that! It is just some big dumb fox, thinking it could go up against Konoha and win. And I'll make sure that it never gets the chance to try and attack ever again."

Ino nodded. "Yeah, and I'll help you if it tries anything!"

Naruto looked at her, slightly surprised. "Really?" She understood his point. It was the Kyuubi.

Ino nodded. "Of course, that is what big sister's do! And if he wanted you to keep it locked up, I bet he would have wanted me to help."

Naruto stared at her for a moment before breaking out into a huge grin. He suddenly wrapped her up in a giant hug. "Thanks, Ino."

Ino paused before hugging him back. "Of course, Naruto."

The Hokage watched their heart-warming scene with a smile. He let them have their moment before going on. "As I mentioned, there is the law preventing people from discussing the truth. While Ino can not talk about it, if you choose to tell anyone Naruto you are free too. Though I might advise waiting on that, but that is just an old man talking."

Naruto let go of Ino from the hug and turned to the Hokage. "I understand, old man. And you don't have to worry about it. Me talking about it, or the Kyuubi. Just keep doing your job and make sure to give me that hat once I'm good and ready." He frowned at Sarutobi's hearty chuckle or Ino laughing off the comment. "Hey, I am going to be Hokage! Ino, stop laughing or I'll make you have the worst missions I can find once I get the hat!"

Ino mimed wiping a tear from her eye from laughing so hard. "Alright alright Hokage, sir. I'll stop laughing once you master the Bunshin."

Naruto frowned at that comment. "Watch me." It wasn't the appropiate time, but he wasn't one to back down from a comment like that. He quickly put his hands together in the proper seal, and focused on putting just enough chakra into the bunshin so it wouldn't get wonky. "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The room filled with a puff of smoke. The Hokage and Ino waved it off, and were mildly surprised to see what was beneath the smoke.

There were four Naruto's in the room, but it was obvious to tell which was the real one. The three clones were all pale, but they were relatively stable and standing up right. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best attempt Naruto had ever done.

He looked at the clones and began whooping in joy, something the clones mimicked. "See, I can do it!" He began to brag to Ino.

Ino scoffed. "Come on, they are far from perfect. I was making that kind of clone almost two years ago." But then she gave him a smile. "But it is close, and a lot better than next time. So maybe you being Hokage isn't the most ridiculous thing I've heard."

Naruto rolled his eyes and the clones dispelled. "Just wait until I get my hat, sis."

The Hokage was amused and pleased to see Naruto's progress, but he was still the leader of this village and had his duties to attend to. "Well then, I'm glad to see you have handled the information alright and doing well in your studies. Remember Naruto what I have told you, and to both of you, good luck. I can not wait until you become some of the finest genin our village has to offer. Have a good day"

Naruto and Ino beamed. "Of course!" Ino exclaimed, and Naruto agreed. They left the office with smiles on their faces.

The Hokage sat back, and let out a sigh. He was glad they hadn't asked more questions, like where the Kyuubi had come from or why Minato knew a sealing jutsu like that in the first place. One day Naruto and his sister would be ready for the whole truth, but not today. They didn't need to have that burden, Sarutobi thought to himself. Let them be kids.

…..

Author's Notes:

I hope you enjoyed my latest update, and my reasoning as to why they only get the partial truth that we first see in the original series. Sarutobi didn't tell him the first time, why would he now? While this maybe isn't the best idea, it is the most realistic so I went with it. I only bring that up since I know it is the kind of thing people can complain about.

Drop a review and I'll see you next time!