Chapter 7

'Sorry,' Naru-nii sympathetically expresses. 'But the reason why I asked if you love her was because I already know you do-' "Then why-" Naruto interrupts but is quickly interrupted himself. 'Because I'm going to ask you to do something you won't like but will be better for her.'

"Huh?" he tilts his head, lost as to what he means.

'Naruto, I want you to love her enough to help her get strong rather than trying to impress her to be your girlfriend or go on dates. Right now, she doesn't know how strong she can really be because she's doing everything for Sasuke. It's like trying to study when you can only think about ramen.'

"Ahh!" Naruto quickly understands. "It's impossible to learn anything like that."

'Right now, she barely trains, spends most of her time on her looks, or studying topics she thinks Sasuke would like. It would be better if she were training to get strong so she can protect those she cares about, but she's just not there yet, so we have to help her realize that quicker. Trust me. You think she's the best now, wait till you see her destroy a cliff with her fist!'

"Uwwahhhh, that sounds absolutely perfect! She already has a wicked strong punch," Naruto happily says. "So how do we get her there?"

'I have a plan, but it all depends on you not pushing her with dates and stuff. I know that'll be hard since we've always loved Sakura-chan, but I promise you it's going to make her better. And later, when you see how proud she is of how awesome she is, you'll be happy you did this for her.'

"...If it's for Sakura-chan, I think I can do it," Naruto confidently states. "If it'll make her strong, I'll do anything."

'Hell yeah we will,' the voice eagerly agrees. 'Alright, now let's get back to training. We got a long way to go and I don't have much time left.'

"Can you at least tell me how you're talking to me from the future?" Naruto asks.

'You believe me now?' Naru-nii jokingly asks.

"No! I just... want to hear your explanation, is all," Naruto slowly reasons.

'Fine, but remember to keep this to yourself,' Naru-nii ardently suggests. 'You go telling people you're talking to a voice in your head that's from the future, they'll call you crazy and commit you to the insane ward... if you're lucky.'

"Got it," Naruto nods apprehensively. "They probably wouldn't believe me anyway."

'Well, remember the unbreakable genjutsu I mentioned before?' Naru-nii asks to which Naruto tilts his head to try and recall. 'You know, the one that has everyone trapped? It's called Infinite Tsukuyomi and it enslaves everyone in the entire world in a dream-state, feeding off their chakra.'

Naruto's face crunches as if tasking something horrible before asking, "so why aren't you trapped in the genjutsu too?"

'It's not enough to close your eyes or cover your ears. If your body receives any sensory information—sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, than that the illusion has you. I'm pretty good at Fūinjutsu and I trapped myself in a sealed expanse—a dimensional pocket—completely cut off from the outside world,' he explains. Though Naruto doesn't completely get it, Naru-nii continues. 'Where I am now, everything is white and I can move around but I can't get out. I spent... well, I don't know how long it's been, but I tried to figure out a way to stop the Infinite Tsukuyomi before I get myself out of this seal, but I couldn't think of anything. That's how I started looking into traveling back in time. I felt confident I could do it but that equation is so complex, I could inscribe it on the white floor perfectly for a whole year and it still wouldn't be enough. Not to mention I probably wouldn't have the chakra necessary to actually power something like that.'

"So how'd you do it," Naruto can't help but ask, as he watches his clones struggle with the first three steps of the bark. "How did you get your voice to travel back?"

'Mnn, I didn't... well, not really,' Naru-nii quasi-answers. 'Kurama and I figured-"

"Kurama?" Naruto breaks in curiously.

'A friend keeping me from going insane,' he easily answers before moving on. 'We figure the only ones who were probably not affected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi, or heck, even time, was Kami-sama himself.'

"Are you Kami-sama!" Naruto whirls around asking to no one around. "Am I going to be Kami?!"

'No!' Naru-nii quickly calls. 'Will you just listen, sheesh. I'm not Kami and I wouldn't know where to begin to try and find one to even ask for help. But it didn't have to just be Kami. We figured it could be a shinigami as well, and I knew exactly how to get close to one. Our family has a really nasty sealing jutsu that calls on a shinigami. It has this tanto in its jaws, two red horns popping out of its long white hair, and prayer beads in its left hand. The problem with using this nasty technique is that you have to sacrifice your life for it.'

"Are you-" Naruto gulps. "…You're not dead are you?"

'It takes a hell of a lot more than a Shinigami to kill me, don't ya know,' he asserts with glee. 'I sort of tricked it, actually. If the Shinigami isn't affected by the illusion, and more than likely time because they're eternal, chances were good I could figure out some way to ask for help. But the more we thought about it, the less confident I was that we could convince it. But you know what? You and I have prayed occasionally, usually for amazing stuff like more ramen and fancy shinobi tools. Other people pray for all sorts of things. That's when I realized shinigami's prayer beads might be able to hear all prayer and if the prayer beads receive wishes from people, than it might also be able to send as well. It was the biggest gamble of my life and I don't care for gambling, but I went for it, and here I am. I summoned him, I stole his prayer beads, and told shinigami-sama I'd give it back to him after I was done using it.'

"You pranked the shinigami?!" Naruto yells. "Uwaahhh, he must've been pissed at you. Wait! Does that mean he's pissed at me too! You've doomed my soul to hell!"

'Calm down, you're not doomed. He wasn't really all that pissed, actually,' Naru-nii chuckles as he said. 'He agreed and I've been struggling to use this thing ever since. Like I said when we first talked, it takes all of my concentration and effort. That's why I can only do this for twenty or so minutes a day... or at least until I get better it.'

"Wow," Naruto says. "You're crazy man... awesome, but definitely crazy."

'Thanks, but for my loved ones, I'll fight anybody.'

"Hell yeah," Naruto calls with a clenched fist.

'Yosh! Lets master tree walking,' Naru-nii challenges good-naturedly. 'I'm thinking we can get to water walking before you meet Team Seven next week!'

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