Chapter 10: Training and Encouragement
Deep in the forest
"Haaaaa" Sasuke screamed as he ran up the tree,
(crkkk!) The part of the tree bark on which Sasuke stepped on, broke.
And Sasuke fell towards the ground once again, meanwhile Naruto was doing his its of exercise just a few metres away.
Sasuke watched Naruto as he trained, not wanting to be out done , he interrupted Naruto.
"Can you give me some tips" Sasuke said as he pointed to the marks he made all over the tree bark.
"umm…..Sasuke, best thing to do is to take a deep breath and a clear your mind before attempting every run. You are probably thinking of something while doing this training thus interfering with your concentration." Naruto said after which he returned to his training.
(Whoosh!) Sasuke inhaled as he looked to the top of the tree, focused his chakra.
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..
.
(wham!) Sasuke ran off like a jet stream, keeping his mind blank until he reached the absolute top.
On top of the tree, he witnessed the full moon. The full moon as he saw suddenly merged with the memory of his brother on top of a pole on a moonlit night when the tragedy took place.
Sasuke jumped of the tree top, landing softly on the ground with his legs.
"Keep running up to the top till your chakra drains out" Naruto commanded
While Sasuke ran again.
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The next morning somewhere near the edge of a pond
Two figures, one sleeping while the other one was looking over the sleeping figure.
Haku decided to cut the tape off of Zabuza's body, when a hand suddenly stopped him.
"Its all right, I'll do it…. myself…."
Zabuza got up as Haku commented "What.. You are still alive…"
"Both you and that kid are really rough" Zabuza said as he removed the needles from the neck which was fired by Haku.
"You too Zabuza, don't pull them out carelessly, you might actually end up dead..." Haku commented as Zabuza threw the needles away.
"That kid, surprised me, He is even more dangerous than Kakashi. Surely what is feared in this world is the unknown….." Zabuza said as he strained to move around.
"You are still, weak from the needles that I shot, with. A normal person would take about a week to recover, but I think you will require less than that" Haku said with a smile.
"You are so innocent, smart and untainted. That's what I like about you." Zabuza said after witnessing Haku's smile.
"I'm still a child after all" Haku commented with the smile still plastered on his face.
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Back at Tazuna's house
"You haven't left yet?" Inari asked upon seeing Naruto
"I'm a super hero, who's gonna become the no.1 Hokage some day in Future….. This Gato or Sato whoever he is, I'm not worried about those guys at all !"
"A hero? Ridiculous, there is no such thing…."
"If you don't want to die, better hurry up and go home" Inari said as he ran to his room.
Naruto did not mind as he sat down to have breakfast with the others.
"We are all going to the forest for training" Kakashi announced at the breakfast table.
After finishing the team went to the forest.
Kakashi then turned towards thr trio and said "We are going to do tree climbing without hands…"
Two hands were raised at the same time,
"Sasuke first" Kakashi said.
"Is it the one in which you focus the chakra to the feet and climb?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto and Sasuke nodded to each other tacitly as they raced to the top, leaving Sakura at the bottom.
"But I wanted to…." Kakashi stared at Sasuke, no longer surprised at Naruto while Sakura totally lost her mind.
"How about walking over water?….." Kakashi suggested to which Sasuke and Sakura agreed, while Naruto headed towards the bridge to take the first watch.
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….
….
After an hour Naruto saw Tazuna up-close as he walked with a long iron bar.
"What happened to stuck-up boy and that useless girl?" Tazuna asked.
"They are in middle of water walking training." Naruto replied with a weird expression as he thought to the question earlier.
"You don't have to do that?"
"What are you talking about old man, I defeated the guy yesterday over water…. Besides I have to guard you"
"Ah!, thats true" Tazuna remembered while he kept carrying the iron bar.
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…
"Got a minute, Tazuna" a man walked over to Tazuna.
"What is it Giichi?" Tazuna asked.
"ugh…regarding the building of this bridge, um… will you let me quit?"
"Why so suddenly? Not you too?!.." Tazuna interrupted in fear of losing his workforce.
"If we continue working on this bridge, Gato will set his sights on us, too….."
"And if you get killed, everything would be lost…." Giichi then approached closer and he asked
"Why don't you just stop building the bridge?"
"Not a chance" Tazuna replied stubbornly.
"This is our bridge, a bridge that everyone is this town has built, believing that it would generate distribution and transportation for this land that has few resources"
"But….if it goes so far as to take our lives….." Giichi hesitated.
"Its already Afternoon, Let's call it a day!" Tazuna said as he started to leave.
"Tazuna!" Giichi called out to which Tazuna turned back as he said "Giichi…. You don't have to come back tomorrow."
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Meanwhile,
Back in training Sasuke and Sakura had finally started to walk on water after getting drenched for the whole morning and noon.
"Take a break both of you, Sakura will take the 2nd watch." Kakashi said as he left.
"Sasuke" Naruto called out. "We will spar in the evening today, as I am going to do my training now."
Sasuke nodded and left the forest.
Naruto then activated sage mode to sense, confirming there was no one, he went deep into his psyche.
"Kurama, I am going to undo the seal, I want you to hold your power back."
"Sure thing" Kurama replied. While naruto undid his 8 signed seal as suddenly felt the remnant 9 tails chakra released.
Suddenly the world around him transformed and a man appeared in front of him.
"Dad he called, instinctively"
"Hello, Naruto" Minato smiled back,
"Hey" the two nine tails greeted each other, surprising Minato completely,
Naruto had tears leaking out of his eyes,
"I've always wanted to meet you again," Naruto said as he hugged his dad.
"Why did you break the seal, clearly you are not in any trouble." Minato asked curiously
"Kurama is a friend dad, and he wishes to lend me his powers which will be completely under my control."
"Ohh.....is that true" Minato asked as he looked towards Kurama.
"Hmph, not a big deal" Kurama said, clearly shy of admitting it
"hey dad could you transfer the nine tails power that you have to me," Naruto asked
"Sorry, Naruto, Kurama's other half was sealed into my body, in order to transfer that I would first have to be alive, so basically, it is impossible for now…." Minato explained.
"Dad, can you teach me the space-time jutsu of yours….."
"The flying raijin?"
"Sure," Minato said as he transferred the technique by imbuing his mental energy on to Naruto's mind.
"The third did not tell you anything about the nine tales incident, did he?"
"No, but Kurama told me everything, including how there was a masked man that tried to control him through Sharingan to attack the village"
"Don't worry dad, the village is in great hands, And I am going to become the hokage in future, just like you dad."
"Naruto…. You are hiding something from me aren't you?"
"Why do you ask?" Naruto tried avoiding a direct eye contact subconsciously.
"I have been watching the world from within you, though you have not changed, something about you has definitely changed. The past few days, you became a different person…." Minato said as he tried comforting Naruto.
Naruto took a deep breath, then told his dad about the current situation he was in, how he came from the other world, him becoming a hokage, the 4th ninja war and especially Obito and Madara, and how Kaguya and her clan had control of everything from the beginning.
Minato took a lot of time, before he could process the information. But in the end he just smiled as he looked at Naruto
"You've been through a lot already despite your age in this world being only 13, Even though I know a lot about space- time in terms of nature and formation techniques, clearly the seal that sent you here was more than just a technique, I am afraid , it truly could have rewound time back. But that does not change who you are Naruto, live life to the fullest once again and find another way to defeat the Otsutsuki, clan, I am sure you can do it" Minato said as his time ran out.
Minato slowly disappeared into the void.
"Thank You dad" Naruto said as he looked towards the sky.