TSoL Chapter 16 - Way to understand

"Ah! There are so many girls around my son!" Kushina held Naruto in her arms after he told her about his growing friends list.

From Kushina's tight grip, Naruto could clearly sense how happy his mother really was for him.

Finally getting out of his mother's joyful grip, Naruto, being red as boiled crayfish, replied:

"Mom! It's not like you thought! They're all just my friends! Well, at least I think so..." Naruto was still embarrassed as certain moments and conversations with Tenten and now also Hinata were definitely confusing him, and that's why, Naruto decided to talk about it with his mom, which he now regrets.

"Oooh, Naruto-kun! No need to be so embarrassed, at your age it's completely normal to think about girls," pulling her son closer to her again, Kushina added, "now, I want to hear everything, with all the details, and not even think of missing anything, do you understand me?" the latter sounded more like an order than a request.

After asking questions from his mother, and receiving several embarrassing explanations and advice from her, Naruto finally continued his training with Kushina, moving on to slightly more complex formulas and solving special exercises given by Kushina. Studying this, Naruto finally began to notice a slowdown in progress, as the complexity of the seal formulas became so high that it made his brain literally smoke from the unaccustomed load. It was for this reason that after a while, Naruto was simply stuck in place, unable to find a solution for the next equation from Kushina.

Seeing her son diligently looking for a solution in the formula given to her, Kushina smiled and said:

"Naruto, you don't have to work so hard if you can't solve this puzzle."

Looking up at her, Naruto frowned and replied:

"But then how can I solve this equation if I don't put in my best effort?"

Putting her hand on her child's head, Kushina said:

"It's easy, you just take a break and come back to the problem with a fresh mind later. Otherwise, if you keep pushing your young mind non-stop for one problem, you'll burn out sooner or later."

Blinking his eyes, Naruto decided to clarify:

"A break, in the sense from this particular exercise, or from everything in general?"

"From studying in general," Kushina replied with a slight amusement in her voice, "by the way, now, thinking about how hard it was for you to build logic for some formulas, I have a great idea how to help you improve your analytical thinking, as well as its sharpness ."

"Seriously? How?" Naruto immediately perked up in spirit and interest when he heard the opportunity to improve something.

Kushina snapped her fingers and a transparent Shogi board appeared in front of her. Seeing the uncomprehending face of her son, she grinned and replied:

"That's how. We'll play games!"

Looking doubtfully at his mother and the Shogi board hovering in front of her, Naruto asked:

"Play games? Are you sure that games can somehow help me improve my thinking?"

"Of course, not all games will be good for this. But games like Shogi, Go, or Renju are great for sharpening the mind and developing strategic and analytical thinking," here Kushina leaned towards her son with a sly squint, and added, " And I'll tell you a secret, your father once played Shogi almost at the level of people from the Nara clan."

"Nara clan?" Naruto immediately recognized the name as one of his classmates had the same last name, and it was surprising that such people could compete with his father. That's why he asked, "Are they really that smart?"

Nodding, Kushina said:

"Yes, people from the Nara clan are famous for the highest ability for strategic thinking and analysis. So in everything that concerns sharpness of mind, they should not be underestimated. Although, they have a huge drawback - their eternal laziness. I advise you to find a partner for games among them."

Thinking about it, Naruto couldn't help but think of his classmate Shikamaru again, and in particular how he constantly sleeps in all classes, yet manages to pass most of the passing tests. Looking at the Shogi board in front of him, Naruto nodded and said:

"Okay, I'm ready to try. Just... could you teach me how to play it?"

Chuckling, Kushina began to fill Naruto in on the rules of Shogi, telling him the importance of each piece and the purpose of the game itself. Thanks to his memory, remembering all this was not a problem for Naruto, so within five minutes, he was ready to play his first game against his mother.

To the surprise of the blonde, although the game was not simple, it had quite interesting sides. For example, it had a very large scope for imagination, which the fair-haired Uzumaki always had in abundance. It was for this reason that playing against his mother was incredibly exciting.

Despite the fact that he never won, he could show a very decent level of play for a beginner, which could not help but surprise Kushina, making her proud of her son. Of course, she succumbed to it in every possible way, leading more training games than competitive ones, but even so, Kushina found them very entertaining.

After six rounds of Shogi, Kushina stood up, stretched a little and said:

"Alright, Naruto. I think you're more or less comfortable with this game, so I can finally take a break and let your father take my place."

Naruto raised his eyes to his mother in surprise and asked:

"What, but we played just nothing, are you already tired?"

Patting his head, Kushina chuckled as she replied:

"Naruto, don't forget that your father and I can't stay out of the seal for too long. Besides, I can't play Shogi for as long as your father did, and now apparently you too."

Naruto smiled shyly at her words and scratched the back of his head. Kushina smiled and continued.

"Anyway, Naruto, as a more experienced player, your father is more suited to be your opponent in Shogi, so it will be much more interesting for you to play with him. Once you've played enough, don't forget to return to the last Fuin task. I think by then, you will already be able to find a solution, good luck."

With these words, Kushina disappeared back into the seal, and ten seconds later, an excited Minato appeared in front of Naruto and said:

"Naruto! I heard you and your mom started playing Shogi?"

"Yeah, she said it would help me improve my analytical skills and also, I guess, my mental acuity," Naruto replied thoughtfully, remembering his mother's words.

Nodding his head happily, Minato said:

"That's right, Naruto. Games like Shogi can really help you with that. I'm glad you decided to start playing Shogi. I don't want to brag, but your dad is kind of an expert at this game." Minato pointed his thumb proudly at himself as he spoke.

Seeing this, Naruto couldn't help but smirk, and with a slight sass in his voice, he enthusiastically replied:

"Oh yeah? Then get ready for the great Namikaze Naruto Uzumaki to defeat you in the blink of an eye!" Naruto felt surprisingly pleasant, returning to his usual cocky way of talking. Plus, he was really itching to fight his father, even if it was only in Shogi.

Flashing a confident and no less defiant look, Minato replied:

"Oh, really? Then let's see if you can back up your words with deeds!"

With these words, the same Shogi board appeared in front of Minato, with the pieces already placed, ready for the game. Sitting opposite each other, Naruto and Minato began their party.

The last few hours had been the most devastating for Naruto's pride, as not only had he not been able to win a single game against his father, he hadn't even been able to last even a few minutes, not counting his protracted contemplation of each move.

It was a real crushing defeat for the young blond. Looking at his dejected son, Minato chuckled and said:

"As you can see, I didn't lie when I called myself an expert. Although, I must admit that some of your ideas and strategies were quite entertaining. I'm sure with practice, you can definitely become a decent Shogi player, and who knows, maybe one day you'll even surpass me." Minato said the last phrase while looking at his son with a slight sly squint.

Raising his determined gaze, Naruto boldly declared:

"Of course, that's the plan! All that's left is to convince my classmate to play with me so I can practice."

Watching his son enthusiastically make plans to improve his Shogi game, Minato almost shed a tear, because he reminded him so much of himself at his age. Smiling contentedly, Minato looked towards the pile of scrolls and sheets of paper with unfinished fuin equations, and asked:

"As I understand it, you have encountered problems in constructing the seal formula. Is that why Kushina suggested that you learn how to play Shogi?"

"Um," Naruto nodded, "Mom said I shouldn't be puzzling over the same problem for so long and get distracted by something else. And Shogi was what she suggested."

Nodding, Minato said:

"Alright then, you can get back to work." I am sure that now you will definitely be able to find a solution. And I need to go back to the seal, because my time is already over."

Quickly jumping to his feet, Naruto ran to his father and cheerfully said:

"Okay, thanks for playing with me, Dad!"

Unable to hold back a happy smile, Minato rubbed his son's head and then disappeared, leaving his son to do his own fuin.

To Naruto's surprise, he was actually able to find the solution to Kushina's puzzle after taking time off to play with his parents. Filled with joy at his success, Naruto continued to delve into more formulas and increasingly difficult puzzles until he solved everything his mother had left him.

Satisfied, Naruto think:

"Great, at this rate, I'll be a master of fuinjutsu by the end of the ninja academy! Iruka-sensei will be surprised when I show him my skills."

Satisfied with himself, Naruto decided to finish his studies for today, and picking up the scroll with the sealed guitar, he went for a walk around Konoha to find a place where he could play music.

As he walked through the streets of Konoha, Naruto thought about how amazing his parents were.

He imagined what his life would be like if not for the attack of the nine-tailed fox, and while he was thinking about the possible scenarios for this matter, he suddenly realized something that he had been ignoring all this time. That's why he stopped abruptly and thought:

"Hey, that's right, there's a huge and dangerous beast inside of me. From what my parents told me, at some point I will be able to use some of his chakra as a buff in combat. I'm wondering how it works. It's unlikely that a demon will share its chakra voluntarily, right?"

While thinking about it, Naruto didn't notice how the seal under his robe started to emit a pale light. That is why he continued to think:

"I wonder what he looks like? This fox must be as big as the kage monuments, maybe even bigger." Thinking back to the old legends about tailed beasts he had read in the library, Naruto thought, "From what's written in the books, the tailed beasts vent their wrath on evil people. But then, it turns out that they are good? And if so, then why were they sealed into humans, and why did he start destroying Konoha?"

Naruto didn't want to judge the tailed beasts the way other people judged him, and that's why he tried to understand the reason behind everything that had happened in the past.

And after this thought, it was at this moment that he received a message from the system:

[New Mission Available - First Contact]

[Mission Objective - Find and make contact with the Kyuubi no Youko in the inner world.]

[Note - The host will be sent by the system to the inner world after 60 seconds. Please find a safe place.]

"W-W-WH-WHAT!!!???" Naruto literally yelled all over the street, causing many passers-by to jump on the spot in surprise.

Ignoring their displeased faces, Naruto quickly jumped onto the rooftop of the nearest building, and began galloping across the rooftops towards the nearest peaceful place he knew. As he raced like a madman, he mentally cursed his spontaneous system for constantly throwing strange tasks at him at her convenience.

Having finally reached the right place, Naruto quickly sat down with his back against the tree, and sighed in relief, as there were still ten seconds on the timer. Taking a few deep breaths to regain his breath, Naruto swallowed nervously and braced himself for what was to come.

[3… 2… 1… 0…]

[Dive activation]

After this message, Naruto lost consciousness, and if someone looked at him from the side, they would think that he just fell asleep.

Naruto himself, once inside his inner world, could not help but wonder:

"So, this place is my inner world? How bizarre..."

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Author's Note:

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