Uzumaki Naruto -v.2- Nzc [UPDATED]

Naruto's fists clenched. "You're a clone."

"Why V-2?"

V-2 smiled—Naruto's smile, but different. Gentler. "I was... made to be your shadow. But shadows only exist because of the light." They coughed, blue chakra flickering. "So... be the light, Naruto. Be the Hokage you dreamed of." Uzumaki Naruto -V.2- NZC

"I'm already pumping chakra into them," Kurama growled in his mind. "They're synthetic. I can stabilize, but not for long. You need a seal."

"What the hell...?"

He stood on the roof of the Hokage Tower, staring at the city lights. Beside him, a holo-screen flickered: .

"So let me get this straight. Someone made a darker, edgier version of me, gave them a cool mask, and now they're running around trying to prove they're the real Naruto?" Naruto's fists clenched

V-2 was waiting atop a broken tower.

V-2 stared. "You admit weakness."

"You came," V-2 said. Their voice was modulated, but underneath it, Naruto heard something unsettling: his own cadence, his own pauses.