It didn't take long for Naruto to utilize his clones in his training. He was repeatedly knocked flat on his back by them, however, since he would spar with no less than three clones at a time. It was impossible to fight off an uncoordinated taijutsu attack by three clones no matter how little technique and strategy they used, so he hit the floor often, but Naruto didn't have it in him to give up here—not with so much on the line. He hadn't made any progress all afternoon, as all three clones looked down on him relatively clean and amused. It annoyed him but he wouldn't have it any other way.
It was the Voice—Naru-nii for lack of a better name—that helped finally knock one of his clones on their back. Facing off against the clone in front of him, doing his best to match, block, or parry strikes, but leaving his back wide open to attack, he hears a, 'hey,' that seemed to be behind him. Naruto blocks the clone in front with a tense forearm, while sending a blind kick behind him. At the solid contact, Naruto counters the clone in front of him in a grapple before dispersing all three clones.
"Naru-nii?" Naruto calls out slightly out of breath to his surroundings, before recalling that the Voice is in his head. Still, to the energetic blond, it feels far more normal talking aloud than it does thinking conversation between himself and his future self. "You back?"
'Haha, Naru-nii, huh?' the voice in his head laughs. Now that Naruto hears it, the Voice's voice does ring fairly close to his own. It's deeper, more mature, yet with a hint of playfulness. 'So I take it you believe me?'
"Nope," Naruto flat out states. "But I don't think you want to hurt me, and I wanna know more jutsu and stuff. So, what else ya' got?"
'Haha, I can get behind that,' Naru-nii remarks, no less amused. 'We don't have a lot of time, so I'll explain your training first. After that, if there's enough time, I'll tell you more about what happened.'
"Mn-hmn," Naruto sounds in complete approval. "This is going to be sweet! I can't wait to burn Sasuke-teme to a crisp with fire-jutsu! The look on his face," Naruto calls out laughing at the pranksters vivid imagination.
'Huh, I can almost see it,' Naru-nii comments. 'Well, listen up because every second counts.'
"Hai!" Naruto yells enthusiastically.
'The most important thing you'll ever learn is chakra control,' Naru-nii asserts. 'Now before you start complaining, you need to understand that this is like the backbone of every awesome jutsu you use. Think about Ramen without the delicious broth—it's like that. Kakashi-sensei is going to teach you chakra control in... let's see... have you guys started your first D-rank mission yet?'
"No," Naruto answers. "After we passed the bell test, he said we'll start in a week, so mnn," quickly checking his fingers, "six days from now."
'Than he won't actually start teaching you guys chakra control for a little over two months,' Naru-nii states with an annoyed huff. 'This is vital stuff, man. Now that I think about it, Kakashi-sensei should've known you could learn this a lot faster than Sasuke.'
"REALLY!" Naruto yells boisterously.
'Hey, now, I may not be using my ears to hear you but that still hurts.'
"Shesheshe, sorry," Naruto returns.
'We're going to be using a training method a lot of other shinobi don't try because they either don't have the chakra reserves for it, or they die.' Naruto's neck stiffens and his eyebrows shoot up as Naru-nii continues. 'The reason why it'll be okay for us is because we have large reserves, and on top of that, we heal really fast, so our brain won't pop.' Naruto lets out a sigh of relief and Naru-nii continues to explain. 'Yosh, are you near a tree?'
At Naru-nii's behest, they move to a secluded spot deeper in the forest to train as the future Naruto explains the idea behind chakra control and how he can learn tree walking faster than anyone due to his Kage Bunshin. 'Well, not everyone,' he corrects himself. 'Sakura-chan got it on her first try. She's got scary good chakra control.'
"Alright Sakura-chan," Naruto bellows, taking a break as his clones kept trying to climb the tree, with very little success. "I always knew she was special. She even beat the teme!"
'Yeah, she's got the best chakra control out of all of us,' Naru-nii fondly replies before seriously stating, 'you know, we're going to have to help her out. She may have wicked chakra control but her reserves are pretty low, and more than that, she told me a bunch of times how she wished she trained more seriously when she was younger.'
"Yosh!" Naruto quickly agrees with him. "This is going to be great! When she sees how much stronger I am, she's definitely going to forget about that teme and go on a date with me! I'm fired up!"
'I don't think we can help her like that,' Naru-nii sadly tells the blond boy.
"Huh? Why not?" Naruto can only tilt his head up since technically there's no one to turn to.
'Answer me this, who does Sakura love right now?'
"Tch!" Naruto spits his answer, both of them acutely aware of the black-haired, self-proclaimed, avenger. "That's only because she doesn't know any better."
'Whether she has good reasons or not, it's still her choice to make. Just like no one can tell you who to love, no one can tell her who to love,' Naru-nii slowly expresses.
"But- That's not fair," Naruto calls out. "He doesn't even like her! All throughout the academy, he barely looked at her! How can she be okay with that? He thinks he's soo much better than everyone because he's an Uchiha and a little better at some things, but he's not."
'Listen, Naruto, I want to ask you something else and I want you to answer me honestly,' Naru-nii maintains. 'Do you love Sakura-chan?'
"Damn right I do!" the boy quickly answers without a moment's hesitation. "She's the best and the smartest and even though she's not from a ninja clan, that didn't stop her from being the top kunoichi in our class."
'What's her favorite color?' Naru-nii asks, pulling Naruto up short. When he couldn't answer Naru-nii continues, 'I guarantee you it's whatever color Sasuke likes. Her favorite food is probably whatever Sasuke likes. From her style to what she eats, everything about what she does has Sasuke in mind.' Naruto turns contemplative and uncharacteristically silent; they both are, but Naru-nii is the first one to grow anxious enough to ask, 'you still there?'
"...Mnn. Why are you telling me this?" Naruto whines. "It's really bumming me out here."
'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!'
By day's end and several hours into the night, Naruto lay panting, sweat soaked through his favorite blue and bright-orange jumpsuit, with a splitting headache, but he was making progress. He and his ten clones can already make it halfway up a tree before they exert too much chakra and are blown off. After dispelling his first clone, a day's worth of training nearly knocked him out, easily getting the headache started. By the fifth, for some reason, his mind felt strained, hollow-like, and chalky. After dispelling the final clone, he had a pounding headache, his bones felt hotter than the surrounding muscle, and his overtaxed chakra, for lack of a better word, felt like it was choking to move.
He needed to rest before he can make his way home. Even the way the night wind pulled at his hair hurt, but the pain cascading throughout his body was worth it—not that he expected it to last much longer. Injuries never seem to last long with him. Despite the labored breath of his comatose body, he felt happy. This was hard work. It's days like this that are the currency he needs to make his dreams of being the greatest Hokage ever come true. He just knew it. Tomorrow he ould train even harder, Naru-nii will tell him more about his plan for Sakura-chan, and he'll be water-walking by next week.