Nindō 0043: Finally Leaving
[You may not have lied to the girl about the tailed beasts communicating that way, but you didn't tell her the truth about your telepathy either.] Kurama spoke in Naruto's head as he walked home.
[It's best to keep the information about the dominion mark to myself for now. At least until I understand what it truly is. Until then, I will maintain a web of lies with everyone regarding any ability relating to the mark.]
[When do you plan to go to Uzu?]
[Once I'm done stabilizing Sarada's position as my disciple. I also need to give her the training regime before I can take the trip there. No, wait, I also need to handle the wealth that those two elders left. No way in hell am I letting their extended descendants see a single ryo of their inheritance.]
[Just say that you're reluctant to leave Konoha for a whole day with your real body.]
[Well, what if Hima misses me? What if my Hinata is horny? What if Sarada gets another panic attack? Hell, Shikamaru might need a drinking buddy after all the domestic spats that he's been going through with Temari recently. Just today, he told me that they fought again last night. Then what? I can't leave those things to clones.]
[Do you hear yourself right now? It's not even going to take a full day for you to go there and see what that seal is that requires your blood. The text has already been deciphered by the research department and you're still delaying the trip.]
[You seem awfully similar to a cat right now, Kurama.]
[Matatabi is running around in the hills a couple of miles away from me.]
[I was talking about the phrase, 'curiosity killed the cat' before you ruined my punchline.]
[It wasn't a funny punchline. Stop delaying meaninglessly and get ready to go to Uzu, I'm curious.]
[Fine. I'll go there tomorrow night. I need to set Sarada up with her training regime and see the decoded information from the research department. Then we can leave. As for hijacking the elders' money, I'll leave it to my shadow clones.]
Kurama snorted without saying anything further.
…
"Good morning, my disciple," Naruto said cheerily to Sarada at five in the morning. The sun was barely above the horizon, leaving most of the area dimly lit.
"Good morning, Seve— Master," Sarada seemed a little sleepy and sad as she greeted Naruto in the training ground that he'd called her to.
"Sad that your dad's gone?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah," She said with little energy. "What are we going to do today?"
"Many things. I'm going to be training you today, but you will be doing these exercises by yourself after I explain them to you. Our usual evening ramen time will now be two hours long instead of the usual one hour. That's when I will help you recover from the exhaustion of your training regimen.
When Sarada realized that she would Naruto's help to recover from her exhaustion, she realized that the exercises were going to be brutal. And indeed, they were brutal. By the time two hours were over, she was dead tired, too tired to even pant while spread apart on the grass as Naruto sat beside her.
"You have an hour to recover before you have to go meet Konohamaru at eight for your daily missions. Once you are done, meet me at my office. I'll continue your exercises at that time." Naruto told her while waiting for her to recover as she barely raised her arm in response to his words. "Also, you don't need to go this far regularly. I'm taking things this far because I can help you recover with my chakra right now."
Once Sarada recovered sufficiently, Naruto left for his office and she left to go to Team Seven's usual meeting spot.
The afternoon went by in a similar manner. When Sarada came to meet him, Naruto brought her to the training ground and rigorously trained her until sundown, at which point the girl was completely exhausted, unable to even move by herself due to how sore everything felt.
"I feel dizzy …" Sarada said after recovering enough to speak.
"That's because you are suffering from chakra deprivation at this moment," Naruto told her. "Come, rest your head on my lap," Sarada weakly scooted closer to Naruto, rested her head on his thigh, and essentially hugged his leg.
"Better …" She said as the dizziness seemed to disappear instantly once she came into contact with Naruto.
"I need you to do this every single day, okay? Obviously, you don't need to go as hard as I pushed you, but you should push yourself sufficiently to exhaust yourself before coming to meet me. I can help you recover by using my own chakra during our daily ramen time." Naruto said as Sarada hummed, turning around and burying her face in his stomach. He gently combed her hair while passing his chakra through her body and refilling her reserves.
"After you get used to these two sessions of daily exercise, I'll add a third session that will come after your evening recovery. After that exercise, you can recover overnight by sleeping instead of me hastening your natural healing. Recovering in that manner will have its own benefits in terms of enhancing your natural recovery ability." He told her. Sarada didn't even have the energy to express her disbelief and groaned. "Be good, okay," Naruto said. "One doesn't just become a kage-level powerhouse without training. And I plan to bring you one step beyond even that."
Once Naruto took care of Sarada and sent her home, he went to the Research Department to collect the decoded character to understand what exactly was needed. The last thing to do was to go home to have dinner with his family, after which he informed Hinata about his trip and left the house.
His next destination? Karin's place. On the way, Naruto created multiple shadow clones to manage the village in his absence.
[What do you think the significance of that character is?] Kurama asked on the way.
[I assume that it tests the bloodline traits of the person, which tells me that I might not be enough. I don't have the adamantine chains, nor do I have the kind of immense talent in sealing that is inherent in my blood.]
[So having Uzumaki blood isn't enough … The character on the seal reads SENSE. Which means some kind of sensory trait that is inherited by one with Uzumaki blood.]
[That's why I'm getting Karin to come with me to Uzu. While I have a talent for sensory techniques in general, I haven't inherited the Eye of the Kagura ability. Since Karin has it, we might as well try to use her blood in case mine doesn't work.]
[That girl is the Uzumaki jackpot. Even if there are further tests that examine the adamantine chains or the healing ability, that girl has them all. I can only assume she got everything in exchange for sealing talent.]
[Still doesn't tell me why I seem to have received no ability from my blood. From what I know, my mother had both the Eye of the Kagura and immense talent in sealing. And I'm sure that you are intimately familiar with her adamantine chains.]
[That accursed suppression ability of the Uzumaki. I hate not only your mother but also Mito Uzumaki for putting me through those damnable chains.]
[All right, stop cursing my mother and clan. Instead hope that the SENSE seal is the only thing that we need to take care of.]
Kurama snorted and lay down again as Naruto reached Karin's door and entered the house.
"Hokage-sama?" The girl looked up at Naruto from the couch. She was curled up under a blanket and was eating chips from a huge bag.
"Are you using the adamantine chains like a … cup holder?" Naruto raised a brow as he saw the illusory chain having been wrapped around a cup that was floating mid-air.
"I am," She said, "Why are you here, Hokage-sama?"
"Do you want to leave this place for a while?" Naruto asked. "I have a mission that I need you to accompany me on."
"Do I have to?" Karin asked reluctantly. "I'm pretty comfortable here."
"I'll cut off your electricity and food supply if you are too comfortable. I'll also stop sending my clone every morning with whom you so happily flirt to get things."
The man's flat threat worked wonders as Karin pouted at Naruto. "Fine." She agreed, throwing off the blanket and standing up from the couch. She was wearing a skimpy sleeveless top and shorts, both of which left a good chunk of her skin visible. "Let's go," She raised her arms up and stretched, pushing her chest forward and straining the fabric of the top.
"We're going on a mission, put on the uniform of the Anbu that I sent to you this morning. Make sure to hide your hair. The mask won't be very useful when you're one of the only few kunoichi in the world with the signature crimson red hair of the Uzumaki who is also alive."
"Fine …" Karin pouted. "I didn't want to cover myself up," She mumbled while walking to her bedroom. "This one, right?" She asked as Naruto nodded. The girl took off her nightwear in the straight line of sight of Naruto and started arranging her armor. "Like what you see, Hokage-sama?" Karin made a pose by raising her arm to grab her hair and pushing her curves out, blatantly seducing Naruto.
"I could definitely get used to that view," Naruto said, not taking his eyes off of her. "You could even make dressing up a show just for your Hokage."
"Well, you do so much for the village, it's only natural that I show you my appreciation," She met his eyes with an amorous expression on her face.
***
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