New training
"Thank you."
"You really should stop thanking" With an exasperated face, Naruto growled in frustration.
"I'm sorry" Laughing softly, Tsunami continued "It comes out instinctively"
"Well, at least that only says good things about you."
Looking at Naruto, Tsunami looked up at his slightly long crimson hair and stretched her hand towards him, then grabbed one of the strands of his hair and commented "Gone are all your blonde locks."
"I feel weird every time I see my reflection" Nodding, Naruto looked up at his hair and sighed "But at least it helps me not to be recognized."
"Running away from loan sharks?" Raising her eyebrows in amusement, Tsunami asked.
"I'm sure even loan sharks would have more tact and mercy" Smiling wryly, Naruto continued "You'd really be surprised to see how I'm treated in my village."
"I honestly don't understand" Shaking her head, Tsunami continued "You're a nice guy. Attentive, helpful, kind, friendly, cordial, hardworking and much more...I can't imagine why anyone would treat you badly"
"I guess they have their reasons."
"You know?"
"Maybe."
"Why so much mystery?"
"It's a state secret"
"Oh..." Nodding with understanding, Tsunami kept walking and was silent for a moment, then looked at Naruto and asked "But it's your fault they hate you?"
"Not at all, it all happened the day I was born, so I didn't even know what was going on" Shaking his head, Naruto continued "All I know is that for as long as I can remember, everyone hates me for it."
"They're stupid."
Raising his eyebrows, Naruto chuckled "I've never heard you say a bad word before."
"It's not a bad word, it's reality" Shaking her head, Tsunami continued "What logic is that? Blaming one child for the actions of another? What is that if not stupidity?"
"Well, yes, they are idiots" Nodding with a smile, Naruto observed Tsunami's face and asked "Can I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"What do you do for fun in this place?"
"Have fun?"
"Although the town is nice and peaceful, it seems like the only thing there is to pass time is the sea, everything else is just food or clothing markets."
"Well... nothing really" Thinking for a moment, Tsunami shrugged and continued "I'm a full time mother and although I have more free time now because of your help, I'm usually busy much of the day. Laundry, shopping for household necessities, cooking, washing dishes, raising a child, nagging my silly father who spends half the day drunk and before I know it, it's already dark."
"Don't you think you should find a hobby?"
"What for?"
"What do you plan to do once Inari grows up?" looking at Tsunami seriously, Naruto continued "He'll get married, start a family and inevitably spread his wings and fly out of the nest."
"..."
"I think it would be good if for a moment you stop thinking about others and take, even if it's just a minute for yourself" Smiling slightly, Naruto continued "I wholeheartedly believe that you deserve it"
"And what could I do?" smiling bitterly, Tsunami continued "It's not that I haven't thought about it before, but it's not simple at all."
"There are many hobbies you could experience" Thinking for a moment, Naruto continued "Fishing, farming, carving, whatever."
"Farming?"
"Just an example" Laughing, Naruto continued "But what I'm getting at, is that the only limit is in your mind, so even if you don't have anything totally decided, it wouldn't hurt to occasionally do something with your happiness in mind... and even if you're not attracted to something right now, who knows, maybe your true happiness lies in cultivating... or maybe fishing... I don't know, just experiment and then decide"
"Sure it is, happiness is in potatoes" Rolling her eyes while smiling, Tsunami replied.
"Not only can you grow potatoes, you could also gather flowers from your country and grow the ones you like best yourself" Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto continued "I myself would like to have my own garden at some point, I think it would be relaxing and enjoyable"
"You say very nice words Naruto" Smiling, Tsunami continued "You've earned one more piece of rib today"
"I'm sure Tazuna-san will die of envy."
"Even more so when he sees that I'll take one from him to give it to you."
"Now I'm looking forward to lunch"
***
"Kakashi-sensei, is it really okay to keep training like this?" Sitting under the shade of a tree while resting her chin on her hands, Sakura asked towards Kakashi, who was quietly reading while in front, Naruto and Sasuke were tearing each other apart in a physical combat that long ago surpassed a mere fight with clones, if not now all the blows were received with their own bodies.
"It's okay, they won't die" Looking up and observing the bloody nose of both of them, Kakashi shook his head and replied.
"Sigh" With a bitter sigh, Sakura was silent for a moment and continued "I never thought I'd say this, but I really miss that blond midget idiot... now he's not only bigger than Sasuke, if not all his hair is red... I liked him better blond."
"..."
"Kakashi-sensei" After a few more minutes of silence, Sakura asked "Who do you think is stronger now? Naruto or Sasuke?"
"..." Looking up at the duo exchanging blows, Kakashi replied after a moment "It's hard to say. If Sasuke goes all out from the start and somehow manages to defeat Naruto quickly, then Sasuke wins. But if the fight goes on for longer, it's impossible for Sasuke to win."
"Why?" with confusion, Sakura asked.
"Sasuke is a monster when it comes to speed and precise attacks, while Naruto is a monster in stamina and chakra, so, in a long duration fight, Naruto would win hands down."
"Oh..."
"Ugh!" Seeing the kick slowly coming towards his stomach, but unable to defend himself thanks to his body still performing the blow that Sasuke dodged, Naruto grunted in pain and fell to his knees on the ground as the air rushed out of his lungs, then laughed with a reddened face and growled "You too?"
"I learned something interesting from Zabuza" With a small cocky grin, Sasuke replied as he took a shaky breath.
Shaking his head as he stands up rubbing his stomach painfully, Naruto wiped the sweat from his forehead with his t-shirt and stared at Sasuke for a moment "I think it's time to move on to a new level of physical training."
"There's another level?"
"You remember the guy I said I'd rather not face?"
"Yes."
"He has a special technique that, although I don't know how it works, I understand that it opens up body limitations and multiplies your body's strength, although obviously this has a backlash that ends up wearing you down too much."
"And how do we learn it?" totally ignoring the counterpunch part, Sasuke asked with interest.
"I don't know, but we know someone who might."
Instantly turning his gaze to Kakashi, Sasuke asked "Do you think he knows?"
"There's no harm in asking."
"Let's go."
"Let's go"
Approaching together towards Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke stood in front of him and stared at him.
"Is something wrong?" Looking up, Kakashi raised his eyebrows and asked.
"I know of a very strong person from our generation" Staring at Kakashi, Naruto continued "And I know that his master is his rival."
With quivering eyebrows, Kakashi asked "Are you talking about Might Guy?"
"He wears a green elastic training suit?"
"Yes, you're talking about him"
"We want to learn that technique they use to open the inner doors."
"How do you know about that?" raising his eyebrows, Kakashi asked.
"Once I heard weird shouts, I followed the noise and saw them training while shouting something about youth."
"Sigh" Shaking his head while sighing, Kakashi replied "Yeah, now I'm absolutely sure that's him"
"I'll be honest with you, I'm terrified of that kid with big eyebrows" Looking at Kakashi seriously, Naruto continued "But seeing that technique of his, I know how strong he is"
"But you don't know his recoil, it's really brutal."
"You think I'm afraid of brutal?" raising an eyebrow, Naruto continued "In this life I've shed more blood than tears, and believe me, I've cried a lot."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So... can you teach us that?"
"..." Staring at the duo totally ignoring the blood still flowing down their faces as bruises covered much of their bodies, Kakashi was silent for a moment and finally spoke "This technique requires the Hokage's permission to teach it to you, and even if I have his permission, honestly even I don't know how to use it, though I do have a basic knowledge of it."
"Fuck."
"sigh"
"But..." Hearing Naruto curse and Sasuke sigh heavily, Kakashi continued "You have already learned many things on your own, and it really is a fairly intuitive technique, not unlike chakra control... it wouldn't be weird for them to learn it on their own"
"Yeah, it wouldn't be weird" Nodding with a twinkle in his eye, Naruto continued "In the hypothetical case that we knew how the technique works and we know where those eight gates are... how is it that they open?"
"Well... in the hypothetical case that you know something you shouldn't know" Thinking for a few seconds, Kakashi continued "Let's say that in a river there is a dam, and in that dam water passes through small gates that are kept open so that the water keeps flowing but in a much more controlled and safe way... but it turns out that those pathways sometimes have a lot of water accumulated and cause the gates to have to widen so that the water flows faster and in a more uncontrolled way"
"The dams are great" Nodding with understanding, Naruto continued "Thanks for the talk, I think we'll continue with our training."
"Don't forget this" Staring at the duo, Kakashi continued "Every gate that is opened causes more uncontrolled river flow, so opening it requires preparing the area beforehand and even then nothing will prevent the surroundings from being damaged, so it is vital to be extremely careful about drowning... and one last piece of advice, never, but never, open the entire dam, because it will cause irreparable damage that will cause the certain death of the villagers"
"Understood" Understanding his words perfectly, Naruto smiled and turned around "We will return to our training, thank you."
With confusion, Sasuke followed Naruto and after getting far enough away, he asked "Did he teach us how to do it?"
"Yes, but technically he didn't, remember that."
"Well... then what do we do?"
"For starters, let's go to the shade, the heat is killing me" Following his path to the nearest tree, Naruto took a branch from the ground and started drawing a human silhouette on the ground, then making eight dots inside and continued "As far as I know, the eight gates are in these places."