Naruto: Thousand Soul Phrases
I do not own anything related to Naruto or Persona series
Summary: The power of Persona awakened in the world of ninjas. Along with that, the wielder of Wild Card also has been chosen. What kind of destiny that awaits Naruto at the end of his 'Journey'? Naruto/Persona X-Over NaruSaku, possible NaruHarem, strong Naruto
Chapter 3 Bonding Time and the Training
The night was already late when Naruto was deeply asleep in his apartment. His sleep was dreamless one, but he soon felt that his consciousness—or rather, his unconsciousness— was being pulled away somewhere. When Naruto was fully awake, he found himself in a room that mainly painted in velvet blue color that gave off mysterious atmosphere to the room with the a lamp that hanging in the ceiling with blue flames on the torches did help to amplify the mysterious atmosphere in the room by several times. Books were neatly organized on the shelves in one side of the room and several high-class liquors and expensive looking glasses were on the other shelves in another side of the room. The blonde found himself seated in a very comfortable and expensive leather couch—in velvet blue color of course. A weird looking old man was sitting in a big chair that usually the big boss of a company sat on—again in velvet blue color behind a working desk. He has a pair of large round eyes, nearly balding head, with white hair, long pointed nose, and wearing a complete tuxedo set. On his side, there was a woman with long flowing sliver hair and gold eyes. She was wearing blue gothic dress complete with black ribbons on her hair and around her neck like a choker and she had a large and thick book with her—also in velvet blue color. Behind the old man was a velvet blue curtain (A/N moment for a bit: What's with Atlus and their near obsession with blue color? I admit blue is nice…but too much makes it too eerie) with gold trimmings that covered Kami-knows-what.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room…" said the old man with an eerie grin that seemed to be always on his face.
"Hello Igor, Natasha," greeted Naruto.
"Hello to you too, Naruto," the sliver haired woman that now identified as Natasha greeted Naruto back.
"So, why did you call me? I was having a nice dreamless sleep when you suddenly pulled me here," asked the blonde Jinchuuriki as he crossed his arm, annoyed that his sleep was disturbed.
"I'm here to forewarn you that your Journey is about to begin," answered Igor, unfazed by his guest's annoyance. "I hope you remember about your contract."
The servant of Philemon swiped his hand on his table and a red map suddenly appeared. The map then opened by itself and a writing was revealed inside.
'I choose to sign this contract by my own free will and I accept the full responsibility in accordance of my decisions and actions.'
Naruto's full name was written on the space below the vow.
"Of course I remember, Igor," said Naruto as he looked at contract. "There's no way I would forget the day I first entered this bizarre place."
"Excellent," Igor chuckled as he made the map disappeared as the way it appeared. "We will have to see what kind of trials that you will face and the destiny that awaits you on the end of your journey."
Naruto snorted. "I don't believe that destiny sets in stone. Destiny is created by your own hands and they who said that their future is already decided by fate are weak people."
"Ah, I see your view about destiny and fate hasn't changed yet. Very good, your determination is very strong, just like our previous guests," replied Igor.
"Speaking of which, have you ever heard anything from your tenant Naruto?" asked Natasha.
"No, the furball hasn't spoken to me yet lately. It's not like I missed him anyway," answered Naruto.
"I see…but please try to contact him. He was a part of you and he may become a help in the moment of imminent danger," replied the silver haired woman.
"Time marches on in your world, as so I can't keep you here any longer. Until we meet again, my dear guest."
With that, Naruto's vision turned white before blacking out again.
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Friday morning finally came in Konoha as the sun slowly rose from the horizon. In his apartment, Naruto was preparing himself for today. He was having a plate of rice complete with stir-fried vegetable and chicken along with a glass of milk for a breakfast. He still have a lot of time before the academy started, so he ate his breakfast at a slow pace while reading a book he found on the Outer World. Naruto enjoyed reading books—a sharp contrast to his fake personality—, especially books about mythologies and legends from the Ancient Age—the time before the Great Catastrophe. He found the myth stuffs fascinated him, so he bought them as much as he could find and the Jinchuuriki enjoyed it so much.
'Not to mention that Personas were based from legends and mythologies,' he thought to himself as he flipped another page from his book. 'Maybe Sakura-chan will enjoy reading these kind of books, too. Heh, better brought it with me then.'
After finishing his breakfast, Naruto decided to take a shower and emerged from his bathroom ten minutes later. After he got dressed, he took the book with him and turned on his MP3 Player after placing the headphones on his ears.
Naruto walked leisurely on the streets of Konoha, ignoring the heated glares and whispers from the villagers. He ignored them as usual and he was doing a better job for it since he had his MP3 Player with him. He really did a good job on his collection of songs, it really help him to calm his nerves and ignoring the villagers. He kept on walking while listening to the song on his MP3 Player until a kunai was thrown at him. Whipping a kunai of his own, he blocked the projectile weapon causing it to fell to the ground, clattering harmlessly.
"Can't you use a normal greeting instead this?" asked Naruto as he looked at the direction where the kunai came from.
A figure then jumped from the top of buildings and landed in the ground near the blond, a figure that really familiar to Naruto.
"Come on, where is the fun of that?" asked Mitarashi Anko, in her full mesh-netted glory, back to Naruto.
"You're helpless," Naruto sighed as he stored his kunai back to its holster.
"Hey, you look good on that, Naru-kun," said the Tokubetsu Jounin seductively as she walked closer to the young blond. She bended her body to his level and slung her arm over his shoulder, pulling him closer as she made sure that he would feel her generous sized bust. "You should wear this often. That and the headphone make you looks so cool…How about we go for a date?"
"Thanks Anko-chan, but I need to go to the academy," said the blond politely refusing her offer as he tried to pry himself off from her, but to no avail. "Besides, doesn't this make you look like a shotacon?"
"I don't give a damn about what people thinks about me," replied the purple haired woman as she pulled Naruto closer to her. "You already learn so much when you were out with Setsu-chan, so why bother to come to the academy?"
"Because I can see my friends there," answered Naruto simply.
Anko was about to say something when she heard someone was calling for her lovable blond.
"Naruto-kun?"
Turning around, Naruto saw that Sakura was calling for him. She had this uneasy look on her when she saw her blonde haired friend (read: crush) was being hugged by a very sexy older woman.
"Who is that, Naru-kun?" the pink haired girl visibly flinched when Anko called Naruto like that. "Don't tell me she is your new girlfriend! Is everything I have done for you is not enough? Do you forget the fun stuffs we do together years ago at the forest are not fun?"
"Let me go, Anko-chan! You're giving her the wrong idea!" shouted Naruto as he managed to get himself free from the snake summoning Jounin's hug.
"Aww, you're no fun," mock pouted Anko. "Ah well, it's not like I couldn't get a share of you later. See ya around, Naru-kun!"
The purple haired Jounin then disappeared with Shunshin no Jutsu, leaving a confused Sakura and an exasperated Naruto.
"Who is she?" asked Sakura.
"Mitarashi Anko, a Tokubetsu Jounin and a good friend of my mentor," answered Naruto. "She's a good person if you managed to see past of her antiques."
"Okay…" the pink haired girl responded uncertainly.
The two friends then started to walk to the Academy and chatted along the way. Naruto also presented the book that he planned to lean to Sakura which she happily accepted, seeing that she was a big fan of reading and a book from the Ancient Age was definitely something she won't miss at all. They arrived in the class and sat on their seat next to each other with Ino sat next to Sakura, noticing that Sasuke was there and glaring daggers at Naruto. Despite his outburst two days ago, some of his fan girls still were ogling on the last Uchiha.
"I thought the emo king will lose his fan girls after what happened," commented Ino as she saw the scene with disgust.
"To think that I was like them just to fit in…" replied Sakura with a sigh.
"I think Sasuke is a gay," stated Naruto out loud, causing the whole class to stop their activities and looked at the blond. Sasuke was glaring even more murderously at him. "I mean come on, you never saw any hints of Sasuke being interested to any girl at all and he ignored any of them. What makes that you didn't think him as a gay?"
"Watch your mouth, dobe!" snarled Sasuke.
Naruto ignored him and continued to speak. "It seems that he doesn't realize that when he said that he wanted to revive his clan, he has become a prime target for fan girl aside of his look and cool and dark attitude," he then turned to the raven haired boy, "You do know where babies come from, right?"
"I don't know and don't care about it! You better learn to shut up or I will make you!" growled the last Uchiha. He noticed the weird look his classmates were giving him. "What is it?"
"Dude, you don't know where the babies come from?" It was Kiba who said that, disbelievingly. "Even I know about it. Heh, I guess the so great Uchiha Sasuke isn't so great at all."
Sasuke was visibly fuming and seething when most of the class laughed at him. How dare they make fun of him? He, Uchiha Sasuke, one of the Uchiha, the elite? But before he could blow off, Iruka entered the class and began the usual routine.
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Lunch period finally came and some of the Genin-to-bes wasted no time to get out of the class and spend their lunch outside. Sakura had invited Naruto to the lunch with her since Ino was spending the lunch period with Shikamaru and Chouji which the blond happily accepted. Before they got out from the class, Sasuke stopped them.
"Dobe!" there were anger and fury on Sasuke's eyes as he said so.
"What is it, Sasuke?" asked Naruto.
"I challenge you to a fight," challenged the last Uchiha.
"Not interested," replied the blond nonchalantly
Sasuke was furious at Naruto's dismissal, but an idea that he thought could work popped in his head.
"Are you scared, dobe?" he said with a smug smirk, confident that Naruto will take the bait he set.
"I just don't want to humiliate you more, teme. Besides, you're too troublesome to be dealt with," replied Naruto indignantly.
Sasuke was fuming when his tactic to bait Naruto didn't work.
"Let's go, Sakura-chan. We will miss the lunch if we deal with Sasuke any longer."
Naruto and Sakura left the infuriated Sasuke as the last Uchiha was letting out string of curses and profanities toward the blond while being back by some random boys. They headed to the roof top where they will most likely not be bothered with the avenger wannabe. When they reach there, they sat on the floor and Sakura took out two bentos.
"Here, Naruto-kun. I made this myself and I hope you like it," said Sakura as she handed one of the bentos to Naruto with a blush.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan," replied Naruto with a smile etched in his face.
The headphone wearing blonde opened the bento and took the first bite. Sakura nervously watched Naruto and waited for his response as she tightened the grip on her own bento. The blond chewed the food for several times and gulped it down.
"So…how was it?" the rosette asked, her heart was thumping hardly as she waited for her crush's response.
"It was delicious, Sakura-chan! You were even better than my mentor!" the blond answered with a delighted smile.
Sakura was blushing and smiling shyly at Naruto after she was praised by her crush.
"T-Thank you, Naruto-kun…" responded the rosette, stuttering, as she ate her bento.
"Also, congratulations on awakening your Persona Sakura-chan."
Sakura turned to Naruto with a surprised look evident on her face. "You know I awakened my Persona?"
"I can sense if a person have awakened his or her Persona and I also can see the basic information about that Persona, too," replied Naruto as he took another bite of the bento.
"That's a rather useful ability, Naruto-kun," commented Sakura in awe.
"It is. I have this ability ever since I first awakened my Persona four years ago," said the blond.
As the two of them keep on eating their lunch, they didn't notice that a certain blue haired heiress was spying at them. Hinata had been tailing them since they left the class and had been eavesdropping on their conversation. Jealousy was evident on her eyes when she heard Naruto complemented Sakura for her bento and learned that the pink haired girl was a Persona User. A part of her didn't want to bother them, but another part of her wanted to butt in. She didn't realize while she was debating internally, Naruto noticed her and called for her.
"Hey, Hinata! What are you doing there?"
Letting out a startled squeal, the pale eyed girl was broken out from her deep thought. Calming down her hammering chest, she responded to her not so secret crush.
"I…Uh…I was w-wondering, Naruto-kun. Can I j-join you?"
"Sure you can, Hinata. Come over here!"
Happy was an understatement to Hinata as Naruto invited her to spend the lunch with him. The Hyuuga heiress walked toward the pair and sat next to the blond. She shyly glanced at her crush while eating her lunch and blushed occasionally. Of course, Sakura wasn't happy that her time and Naruto was disturbed by Hinata, AKA the shy stuttering girl, AKA the girl who had the biggest crush on her crush.
"So, what brings you here Hinata?" asked Sakura. She knew the reason why did the girl was here, but she pretended to don't know. Besides, Hinata always spend her lunch alone.
"W-Well, I w-was h-hoping to h-have the l-lunch with N-Naruto-kun. T-That's all," answered Hinata.
"Really?" said Naruto, surprised that a girl wanted to spend the lunch period with him.
"Y-Yes," replied Hinata. "I-I even m-make a b-bento for you, b-but it seems S-Sakura-san b-beats me to it." The blue haired girl sulked a bit at that. If only she came faster…
"Uh…sorry about that, Hinata," Naruto apologized.
"D-Don't worry about it, N-Naruto-kun," replied Hinata. "I-I'm happy for j-just having the l-lunch with you."
Naruto didn't know how to respond on that, so he returned to his lunch.
The three of them spend the lunch in awkward silence after that, with Sakura and Hinata occasionally glancing at their blonde haired crush. One time, they caught each other's gaze and ended up glaring on each other. Unknown to them, Naruto noticed the exchange between the two girls. He then tried to break the silence by starting a conversation.
"Are you free tomorrow, Sakura-chan?"
The pink haired girl broke off from her glaring contest, surprised to hear that Naruto was asking her about what she will do tomorrow.
"Y-Yeah, I'm free," she answered. "What is it, Naruto-kun?"
"Do you want to train with me? I see that you need some training after you slack off when you were a part of Sasuke's fan girls. Besides, you can familiarize yourself with your Persona."
Sakura blushed at the reminder. Like any other fan girls, she practically ditched her training in favor of ways to get the Uchiha's affection. Now she needed to train badly and also, she needed to familiarize herself with her Persona. What good of having a supernatural power without know how to control it?
"Alright, I will train with you Naruto-kun," answered Sakura.
"Cool. I will pick you up in your home at 7 am in the morning. Don't forget to rest well and eat up because you'll need it," replied Naruto.
Sakura nodded in response and Hinata sulked. She wanted to come, but tomorrow she has a training session with her father and her sister.
"You want to come too, Hinata?" Naruto asked after noticing her mood went down.
"I-I'd like to, but I have a-a training session with m-my father and sister so I c-can't come. T-Thank you for o-offering me, N-Naruto-kun," answered the Hyuuga heiress.
"Oh, okay."
They then continued to eat their lunch until the lunch period was over.
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The next day…
Sakura had finished her breakfast when someone knocked on her house's door. Her mother then opened it and Naruto was there, waiting for her.
"Sakura! Your boyfriend Naruto is here!" Yukari called, not missing a chance to tease her daughter.
"Mom! Naruto is just my friend! Not my boyfriend!" Sakura quickly replied while blushing hotly. Mentally, she added a 'yet' in the end of her line.
Yukari giggled while Naruto has the tendency to blush. The pink haired girl appeared in the doorway and greeted the blonde after making sure she had brought everything she needed.
"Good morning, Naruto-kun. Sorry about what my mother said earlier."
"It's okay, really. I know she was just teasing," replied Naruto with a small smile.
"Go along, you two. You don't want to be late for your training," said Yukari with a smile. "Please take care and train my daughter well, Naruto-kun."
"I will, Haruno-san," replied Naruto
"Please just call me Yukari. You don't need to be so formal with me," remarked the elder pink haired woman.
Naruto and Sakura bid farewell to Yukari and walked together to an unused training ground in the village. After fifteen minutes of walking, the pair arrived in the Training Ground number 15. From what Sakura saw, it was a large open ground with a pond in the middle of the clearing and a forest in one side. A small stream streaked from the forest to the pond and fences were placed around the training ground to define its border. Also, there were three log posts near the pond.
"Well here we are," said Naruto to Sakura. His expression turned into more serious one as he spoke to the pink haired girl. "Since what you really lacking is your physical endurance, today's training will be mainly focus on that by running around the training ground, push ups, and sit ups. Increasing your physical endurance will also increasing your chakra level. When we're done with that, we will have a taijutsu spar since you move like you're memorizing something. You should trust your instinct more than your mind in a fight. The last will be your Persona training. I'll train with you in each session."
Sakura nodded, not saying anything since Naruto looked so serious.
"Alright, we start with running around the training ground for 10 laps. Now let's get into it!"
It was only after 5 laps that Sakura already on her knees, gasping and panting for air. She cursed herself for neglecting her training resulting that she now had a crappy stamina—it's not like she started with a good deal of it anyway, but still it wasn't a good thing. In front of her Naruto was jogging lightly in his place. His face showed concern toward her.
"You okay, Sakura-chan? Want to take a break?"
"No…I still can…go on…" answered Sakura between her gasps. "If I…stop now…I'll never change…"
Her determination made Naruto smile. "Suit yourself then."
It was nearing the noon when Sakura finished with her physical training regime and now was resting for the next session, the taijutsu spar. She sprawled in the ground and totally drenched in sweat. She felt her entire muscle screaming in protest even if she wasn't moving it.
'I'm totally out of shape…' she thought to herself.
She would thank Naruto for this. Even if it was really hard for her right now, she knew it would be really beneficial in the future. Looking at the said boy, he finished his break and walked to his backpack that he left lying against the log post and rummaged it. After he found something he was looking for, he walked toward Sakura and handed her a bottle.
"Drink this Sakura-chan, it will help you to recover your stamina."
Sakura sat up with Naruto helping her and drank the medicine in one go. It taste a bit bitter, but it was really refreshing. The sore on her muscles started to relieve and her stamina returned, even if only a little bit.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she said as she tried to stand up. "Shall we spar now?"
True to what Naruto had said earlier, Sakura's taijutsu wasn't so good since she was more relying on her memory. The result was very obvious against the blonde's style and the spar ended rather fast. Naruto then taught Sakura a variation of his taijutsu style, Uzu no Mai. He also gave Sakura a copy of the scroll he owned so she can learn it during her spare time while also reminding her that she should trust her instinct more. After having their lunch together, they continued on the Persona training.
"Alright, now we're into the Persona training," stated Naruto. "But first, let's learn a bit more about Persona. Every Persona divided into twenty-two Arcana that determine their characteristics such as the skill they learned as they grew. Since your Persona is the Priestess Arcana, she will mainly learn healing skills aside of the wind spells since it was her element. Every Persona also have elemental alignments which means they are resistant to a certain element, weak against it, totally null it, or even absorbs it. And now, let's talk about skills. Skills were divided into three types; Physical, Spells, and Passive Skills. Physical as it states, was a skill that attacks the enemy with physical attack. It divided again into three more types, which are slash, pierce, and strike. To activate the physical skill, it will cost you your stamina. Next, we learn about spells. Spell attack is actually more like a jutsu, but it cost your spiritual power instead of chakra to be used. Spells are divided into fire spells called Agi, ice spells called Bufu, wind spells called Garu, electricity spells called Zio, light spells called Hama, and darkness spells called Mudo. The first four are inflicting damage to your opponent, but the last two will instantly knock them out. Though, if strong enough, the first four will also knock out your opponent. There were also healing spells called Dia, buffing up spells that ended with '–kaja', de-buff spells that ended with '–kunda', and spells that could inflict poison or mental effects such as fear, panic, distressed, enraged, and charmed along with the spells that could heal those and awaken an unconscious person. The last one, passive skills are always active without any cost. They usually increase the power of your skills or make you resistant to a certain attack. You got it, Sakura-chan?"
It was a lengthy explanation, but she understood it. She then raised her hand to ask a question.
"Can you give me an example how to use a skill, Naruto-kun?"
"Sure, but you don't have to raise your hand Sakura-chan. This isn't a class," Naruto answered and Sakura blushed in embarrassment.
The blonde then made a blue tarot card appeared in his hand as he channeled his spiritual power into it before crushing it.
"Susano-o! Garula!"
The God of Storm appeared and threw his hand aside as a vortex of green wind shredded a tree nearby. Sakura watched in awe as Naruto dismissed his Persona and turned to her.
"To use a skill, you have to channel your stamina or spiritual power to your Persona before unleashing it. When you were getting more the hang on using skills, you can subconsciously channel them—mainly spells—into your weapon without summoning your Persona. However healing skills like Dia can be used without summoning your Persona," explained Naruto.
"Wow…it's amazing," said Sakura breathlessly.
"Now, it's your turn to try."
Nodding, Sakura subconsciously reached for her Persona while at the same time channeling her spiritual power. She then crushed the blue tarot card in her hand and summoned her Persona.
"Konohana-Sakuya!"
The embodiment of spring appeared and waved her fans, creating multiple wind vortex that shredded several trees nearby. She looked at Naruto who was looking at her with a smile and nodded his head.
"Very good, Sakura-chan. You summoned your Persona and channeled your spiritual power at the same time. It's not an easy task for someone who has just awakened their Persona recently. Usually, a Persona User will summon his or her Persona first before channeling the spiritual power or the stamina to use skills. You should proud of yourself."
Sakura was beaming with pride as he praised her like that, but she didn't let it go over her head because she knew she was just starting.
"Let's see how good you are when it comes to Persona battle. We will spar like earlier, but we can use our Persona. You're up for it?"
Sakura grinned in anticipation. "Of course, I'm ready."
Naruto grinned back at her. "Alright then, come at me with all you got!"
For the next two hours, Naruto and Sakura sparred using their ninja skills and their Persona. The spar ended when Sakura was tired and her legs were giving up.
"Sorry for burdening you, Naruto-kun," said Sakura.
"It's okay. You worked really hard today and made a good progress. You deserve this," assured Naruto.
They were on the way back to Sakura's house with Naruto piggybacking Sakura because she was tired. She was embarrassed and happy as she was able to get this close to Naruto. Snuggling a bit more, the pink haired girl sighed happily.
'Naruto-kun is so warm…'
Their walk was filled with chats about the training earlier, Naruto giving pointers and advices, as well as answering questions that Sakura asked. It was very pleasant to both of them. They then arrived at Haruno Household not a while later and Yukari giggled as she saw Naruto was giving Sakura a piggyback.
"Wow, I never thought that you two would move on so fast," she teased.
"Mom, please. I'm tired right now, so no more teasing," groaned Sakura. She then let go of Naruto—albeit reluctantly—and walked toward her door. She turned to Naruto and smiled at him. "Thank you for today, Naruto-kun. Can we train again tomorrow?"
"Sure we can. But remember to rest well, okay? I don't want you to collapse tomorrow," answered the blond.
The Haruno's giggled at that. "I'll remember that. Okay then, see you tomorrow Naruto-kun."
"See you tomorrow, Sakura-chan."
As the door slid close, Naruto walked away with a smile on his face. Today was definitely a good day.
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A/N: Chapter 3 done. Phew, it was a really hard to work on this one since my inspiration was drained thanks to three presentation tasks on this week. We meet Anko and have a bit of Hinata here. I actually planned to have Tenten appeared during the training part along with Naruto's mentor, but I'm saving it for the next chapter. No Compendium Corner for this chapter since no new Persona featured. The poll is still open and don't forget to add your vote for the girls in the harem. The top five girls will be included in the harem along with Sakura. So vote now! Also, please leave a review. I need suggestions and ideas from you readers. Thanks!