Chapter 9

Naru-nii pushed him, not cruelly but because he cared, and it was worth it. Even when Naru-nii was resting from using the prayer beads and couldn't coach him, Naruto gave it his all. He may not have experienced the things his older counterpart had, but thinking about Iruka-sensei, it wasn't hard to imagine. By the end of the week, Naruto definitely believed Naru-nii. He believed that this was his future-self talking to him, training him, as well as the story he told. It also meant that something stronger than even his future-self would be coming in a few years, and he absolutely needed to be the one to stop it.

It wasn't all doom, however. Naru-nii would tell him other interesting things; how he has really high chakra reserves, tenketsu points that were larger than normal, followed promptly by what tenketsus points are, his elemental affinity type and how it's used. As a physical learner, Naruto has yet to fully grasp most of the information explained to him, but Naru-nii doesn't seem to have a problem repeating something or trying to make it easier to understand.

'Yeah, I wasn't a fan, at all.' Naru-nii responded.

'How long are we suppose to do D-Ranks for?' Naruto mentally asks him as he and the rest of Team 7 exit the Hokage Tower.

'A heck of a lot longer than you'll like,' the older version answers. 'Have you been dismissed yet?'

Tilting his head to look at his Jōnin-sensei reading his little orange book, Naruto mentally answers, 'nearly.'

'Don't forget the plan,' Naru-nii maintains.

'I won't,' Naruto sternly declares. 'If it involves tricking people, I'm pretty good at that. Though, usually it's to get back at someone or make myself laugh.'

'Now we use that talent for a little bit of good,' Naru-nii happily asserts.

'Yeah, yeah,' Naruto groans, unhappily about the plan, and physically shrugging. 'Hey, how come you didn't tell me Kakashi-sensei was going to be three hours late!'

'Hahaha,' Naruto heard Naru-nii laugh.

"That's not cool man!" Naruto yells at him, looking and pointing upward.

"Na, Naruto?" Kakashi calls curiously. "What's not cool? And who are you talking to?"

Naruto whirled around in panic before quickly trying to school his features, failing miserably at it. "Aha... well, uh, I only meant, if we're done for the day, that- that stupid cat scratched us up pretty good, right?" Sasuke and Naruto did most of the engagement, while Kakashi coordinated, and Sakura provided support. But since Sasuke doesn't heal as fast as Naruto, Sasuke was the only one with plenty of red claw marks on his arms and face.

"I'm going to shave that stupid cat's hair off and skin him alive," Sakura angrily announces. "No one does that to Sasuke-kun and gets away with it!"

"Na, na, I was scratched too Sakura-chan," Naruto weakly offers.

"So," she hurls back at the blond before moving to Sasuke's side.

"I think we're done for the day," Kakashi tells his team. "You all did fine work. We'll meet tomorrow by the bridge, seven am. Don't be late."

"That goes double for you!" Naruto yells at his sensei but Kakashi had already shinshin'ed away. 'Don't worry, I got something you can do while you wait,' Naru-nii tells his younger self. 'And it's totally going blow his mind when he sees.'

'Cool,' Naruto responds, almost missing Sakura ask Sasuke if he wanted to train, or eat, or take a stroll, or shop together, all of which he ignored with a barely concealed scowl as he started walking toward his home. Sakura stood deflated sniffing her wrists, askingherself, "maybe I didn't use enough?"

Besides smelling really nice, and admiring her long pretty pink hair, Naruto didn't know what to make of her efforts in relation to what he was prepared to do for her. It's not every day you give up the girl of your dreams so she can grow strong and in exchange for your sacrifice, she likely ends up with another man. It's a lopsided sinking feeling that drags his feet and slumps his shoulder, but, he wanted—more than anything—for her to be happy and strong, and Naru-nii did tell him they'd be really good friends in the future and even better teammates, so that was a positive in his book.

"Ne, Sakura-chan-" Naruto starts but is quickly interrupted by an ill-tempered Sakura.

"If you even think of asking me out on a date, I'll hit you so hard you'll land on the other side of the village!" Sakura's murderous green eyes and lethal tone made Naruto take a cautious step back, putting his palms up to show he's not a threat.

She spins around to head home when Naru-nii tells him, 'I know it's hard but, remember, you're doing this for her—for the girl we both love.' Taking a moment to gather up some courage, he runs after her, calling out, "Sakura-chan!" She hadn't gotten very far but as she turned to the call of her name, she's already raising a fist to carry through on her threat. "Wait! Wait! I'm not trying to ask you out!"

Her fist still up and clearly in a bad mood, she hollers back, "than what?!"

Splitting his attention between her clenched fist and her beautiful green eyes, he nervously answers, "I- …I want to help you."

She stares suspiciously for several long seconds before finally lowering her fist and irately asking, "how?"

Taking in a quick breath, and relaxing some of the tension in his shoulder, he clarifies for her precisely how he and Naru-nii had planned it the last two days. "I thought of a good idea to h-help you... get closer to... Sasuke-teme." That was far harder to say than Naruto was expecting—he spent many grueling hours obsessing over it—and somehow the stomach churning and choking chest feels worse than he imagined. Worse still, his knees felt weak, and his eyes started to grow hot with prickly moisture.

This was the love of his life he was helping set up with not just another boy, but his eternal rival. The aching strain in his chest was partially ignored in favor of answering her question.

"What? What do you mean? How?" She took a step forward, forgetting her earlier agitation for the possibility this could mean for the future she imagined with her love. She was fully expecting to be a snarky brat for the day and drive her parents crazy after the perfume seemed to fail, but maybe there was hope of turning her day around... even if Naruto-baka was the reason for it.

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