Two months slipped by. Winter hung high, its gentle light spread across the land. In a forest that looked dead and cold, squirrels chased along trunks and branches, foraging and playing with absolute freedom.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Two figures blurred past and faced off atop a thick tree trunk.
A squirrel that had just scooped up a pine nut flicked its tail and shot into the shelter of the canopy. The other squirrels vanished one after another.
In the next instant the two figures lunged at each other.
Thud.
One of them was hammered out of the air and crashed to the ground.
"Damn it. My left cheek again."
The boy bounced back up with quick footwork. Crimson pupils flared in his eyes. He started a string of hand signs on pure reflex, then froze mid seal, disbelief flashing across his face as he switched to a different technique.
Boom.
A giant palm the size of a door slammed down and shattered the ground.
A few breaths later that hand shrank rapidly. A blond boy flexed his fingers and muttered, "Your Body Flicker was timely. This yang nature change is pretty interesting, though."
"What jutsu was that?"
Sharingan spinning, Sasuke stepped out from behind a tree and stared at Naruto's now normal-sized hand.
They had come to the deepest part of the Forest of Death at dawn. Sasuke threw every technique Naruto had taught him and still could not scratch him. It gnawed at him.
"Expansion Jutsu. The Akimichi clan's secret art," Naruto said, brushing dust from his palm. "Want to learn it?"
Sasuke looked at the crater underfoot and nodded, eyes bright.
"You cannot learn it now."
"Why not?"
"You already studied chakra nature. The Akimichi secret techniques need yang release," Naruto explained, pulling out a scroll. "This suits you better."
Sasuke had understood the moment Naruto mentioned nature types. He had secretly used chakra paper himself and confirmed it. Just three attributes, exactly what Naruto had said. Fire, lightning, and yin.
He unrolled the scroll with a slightly sulky look.
"Shadow Imitation Technique."
A short while later he burned the scroll with Fire Style and frowned. "This seems like a support technique."
Naruto watched his face. "You mean it looks useless."
Sasuke did not answer, but his expression said enough. Compared to that giant palm from moments ago, Shadow Imitation seemed impractical, and you had to stay still to use it.
Naruto pointed at his eyes. "This is the Nara clan's hereditary yin release. It may help your Sharingan evolve."
Sasuke's expression tightened. A new year was almost here and he still had only a single tomoe.
Naruto smoothed the wreckage with Earth Style and said, voice flat, "Itachi awakened two tomoe at eight."
Sasuke's gaze sharpened. "I will master it fast."
"That is not the point," Naruto waved him off. "You need more time in yin release. Also, this one is not easy to control."
Sasuke formed seals without another word. Three shadow clones appeared. He was about to start training when Naruto drifted through the ring like a ghost.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
All three clones burst into smoke.
Sasuke glared, Sharingan whirring. "What are you doing?"
Naruto's speed had been so sharp he had not caught a single move.
Naruto tipped his chin toward the sun. "I admire how you forget yourself when you train, but it is already noon. The school has its foundation ceremony today. The Third Hokage will be on stage with a very important speech."
A hint of embarrassment crossed Sasuke's face. He did lose himself when he trained. He swallowed it and asked, "That speed you just used?"
"Work the lightning release I gave you," Naruto said and set a hand on his shoulder. "No matter how much effort you pour into fire, you will never feel superior to Itachi in that field."
Flash.
They vanished.
"We live only once. Do not force yourselves down a path you hate. Live as you wish, even die as you wish, and that is fine.
No matter the road, do not forget to protect the people precious to you." "Only while protecting your most precious things will you understand your greatest strength. I trust that after graduation you will all..."
The Third's voice rolled across the schoolyard through the loudspeakers.
Applause crashed like thunder again and again.
Shikamaru yawned and nudged Naruto. "Are you even listening?" Naruto nodded.
"The Hokage's speech is excellent." Choji blinked, baffled. "I do not think I understood any of it." Naruto's eyes slid to a silver-haired man in a mask behind the Hokage. "Spend some time in the library.
You will get it." Choji's head started shaking like a rattle drum. Shikamaru yawned again. "Spare me the books. Classes and training are dull enough." Naruto's gaze flickered. "True." He almost forgot. In the shinobi world most ninja stopped at grade school level education.
War time or peace, six years in the academy focused on ninjutsu and taijutsu. After graduation they ran missions, killing and risking being killed. Those who lived long enough grew tired of war. They did not learn why the wheel kept turning.
The village system itself was crooked. Hidden villages stood apart from their countries. In essence they were mercenary corps.
The five great nations under their daimyos ran a feudal landlord system that squeezed the poor and controlled all means of production. Ninja produced nothing. Their income came from missions and daimyo subsidies. Weapons can glimpse the cruelty of war, yet do not grasp that they are its source.
A mass of near illiterates, obsessed with finding peace through pain. The examples were obvious. Nagato of Akatsuki wanted the world to taste suffering. Uchiha Madara had a sudden notion to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi and make everyone sleep in a dream.
Konoha's only writer famous across the shinobi world penned books adults hid under the mattress. In that light, the Third cobbling together a workable Will of Fire was already impressive.
"Naruto, can we go to the Mirror World? I cannot listen anymore." Naruto let his mind drop into the seal. Kurama was sitting with undisguised impatience. Naruto smiled. "How about I open challenge permissions for you.
The fights there feel almost real." Kurama's scarlet pupils brightened.
"Good. I need something to chew the boredom." A moment later Naruto stepped from a bout and checked the panel. Kurama had already fought several rounds. The fox was now shaping a Tailed Beast Bomb, aimed right at Uchiha Shisui. "Radiance of Kotoamatsukami."
Naruto closed the window with a flick, selected Akimichi Chōza, and his figure blinked away. "Damn Sharingan." With a feral roar, Kurama's colossal body appeared at Konoha's gate inside the simulation. Finding that Naruto was gone, he yanked open the panel again and chose Uchiha Shisui as his opponent.
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