Chapter 32: It's Always a Day Away

"Not that far," Minato breathed, minutes later, wondering how high he could suspend his disbelief.

Pretty darn high, as it turns out—to the point that his disbelief had soared so high so fast that it might as well have not existed at all. It was such a crazy story that it seemed completely impossible, but he found that he couldn't doubt Axel for more than a few seconds once he got into his nigh unbelievable story.

"I don't know why I told you this," Axel muttered, reaching for the bandages. "You probably think I'm crazy now."

Well. He may have originally planned on letting Axel sort out his own injury—to give him some personal space there, at least, since the cut really wasn't too bad—but now… If he wanted to shore up his belief with proof, this was a perfect chance.

"It's plain that something's crazy." Snatching back the wrappings before his friend could, Minato reached out with one hand and pointedly activated a simple medical technique. "But I don't think it's you."

Not entirely, anyway. This seemed to be one of those instances of 'too crazy not to be true', and honestly it answered a lot of questions.

For instance, it shed new light on one particularly persistent speech stumbling-block his friend had tripped over time and again: past or present tense. Specifically when talking about his family, old friends, and where he was from in general. Minato had assumed it was simply a reluctance to admit what he had lost—to say out loud that so much he had cared for was gone—but now he knew that wasn't the full truth.

At least not in the typical sense, anyway. Lost and gone, yes… but not destroyed.

And that made a difference.

After all, it's sometimes hard to decide what tense to use when talking about people from the past after growing apart. And when talking about his life before Konoha, Axel hesitated every time: it wasn't always obvious, but it was there in a hitch of his breath or a too-long blink.

Because everyone he had once known were, and maybe still are. So in that way, at least, his impossible (improbable?) story made a startling amount of sense.

Still, for every question the alternate dimension explanation answered, it raised about a million more. Though to be fair not all were about Axel specifically—many were geared more towards Minato's fundamental understanding of how the world works and other such things. As such, a problem to deal with later.

Stay focused.

Axel was eyeing that tell-tale green chakra glow with trepidation.

"I have several questions," Minato stated, trying to keep his expression calm and the technique steady. This was a bit tricky, given his mind was caught in a swirling mix of shock and curiosity, but he managed.

Even nervous and emotionally worn out, Axel couldn't help a rueful smile. "Just several?"

"In the interest of time, I'm only considering the high priority questions," he replied, with a small shrug. "If you count all of them—including the basic ones, like what it's like where you're from—the numbers get pretty extreme pretty quickly."

Axel looked down to his cut, then back up to the chakra-shrouded hand and the unspoken offer it represented. "Is this to get an answer?"

"More like a confirmation," Minato allowed. "I believe you, but it never hurts to double check, right?"

"…Right."

Axel let him take his hand.

Minato turned his attention to chakra and hurt, trying to feel along his own energy to find and repair the cut that he knew was just under his fingers. He was familiar with medical ninjutsu, though it wasn't his focus—such a simple injury should be easy to heal. But the technique just wouldn't take hold.

If healing usually felt like filling a cracked cup, this was like pouring water down a pipe; he could hold it in place with focus, but as soon as his attention wavered, it all just fell right back out again.

If he hadn't been looking for it, he wouldn't have noticed what that meant. Because, while that comparison was close, it wasn't quite like that.

It was like pouring chakra where he expected a pipe, where he knew there should be a pipe, and finding only empty space. The technique had nowhere to go—there was nothing for it to latch onto—and if he wanted any effect at all, he had to shape temporary pipelines himself out of his own chakra.

It was like trying to hold the air motionless, but also blow a careful breeze only along a spider web of invisible paths.

He was no professional med-nin, but Minato was still a skilled jonin and a master of chakra manipulation. Perhaps a specialized medic could make it work, but he could only keep the jutsu effective for a minute or so before he lost his grip on it.

The cut on Axel's palm had become just a bit narrower, and those on his fingers were bleeding a little less.

Minato rocked back on his heels, mentally gauging how much chakra the attempt had taken, and sighed out a long breath. "Most fights aren't that draining," he muttered to himself, thoughtful. "Though maybe a larger injury would be easier, by imitating only larger chakra pathways…"

In general, medical techniques require only razor-sharp control and don't actually take much chakra to use; they depend, in part, on the injured person's own energy and system. So it was telling that getting this healing jutsu to work on Axel, even just a little bit, had cost him as much as some offensive ninjutsu.

"More delicate techniques would probably be near impossible," he continued. "Head injuries would be especially dangerous, then…"

"Uh, Minato?"

No chakra—and more to the point, no chakra system at all—means that any jutsu dependent on interactions with it wouldn't work. Not without spending a lot more chakra and focusing control.

"What about genjutsu, then?" It was another class of high-finesse techniques that directly effect the target, after all. "Oh wait, right. Killing intent had no effect, even from a highly skilled shinobi."

"What?"

"But what about higher level genjutsu?" he murmured, fully in brainstorm mode now. "Like the Sharingan… Or, heck, what about the Byakugan? If it needs what it sees to have chakra at all—"

Axel wiggled his fingers a little and winced, still caught in an excited grip. "Minato? What're you talking about?"

Refocusing away from the shinobi tendency to analyze anything new for advantages and disadvantages, Minato gave a sheepish shrug. "Just thinking out loud." He pulled the bandages back out, and began carefully wrapping the cut. "Sorry I couldn't get it healed any more than that."

"It felt… weird. Itchy."

"Really?" Minato looped off the last of the bandage. "I always thought it just felt warm."

Flexing his wrapped fingers a little, Axel shook his head. "Like a scab, kind of. Chakra just… It doesn't exist on—" He paused. "On Erde. Maybe that's what you feel as warm."

"'Erde'?"

"Earth," he said, which had a different sound than 'Erde', but still definitely not any word Minato knew. "In japanisch it would be, uh, Chikyū?"

That one he knew, of course, as it was the name of the world the Elemental Countries called home. Which was odd, and brought up a new question: "I've heard you say that before, that 'japanisch'. What does that mean?"

"It's… hmm." Axel looked, for a moment, at a loss.

"And you said 'Earth' in there, too," he added. "What does that mean?"

"Uh, 'Earth' is the word for 'Erde' or 'Chikyū', but in englisch."

Minato blinked. "So, wait, 'englisch'? Is that like 'japanisch'?"

"No." A pause, and a slight frown. "Or, yes? They're both gaikoku-go." He said the full sentence without any of the hesitance that meant he had switched into his other-speak, using it to fill in for phrases he didn't know. But Minato didn't recognize that last word.

He didn't… even though it had a cadence that sounded like he should: as if it fit right in with the rest of his vocabulary.

"They're both what?"

"Gaikoku-go," his friend repeated

"I don't know that word."

"You don't—" A little confused, he tried to clarify. "It means, uhm, words that you don't know that are used in another country. Fremdsprachen." He switched to words that once again sounded unlike his usual. "Foreign languages."

After saying that, Axel seemed a little annoyed with himself: "Not that you know englisch. Or deutsch, actually."

"People in the Elemental Countries can all understand each other though." Minato paused, recalling some of his more far-flung missions, and added, "Unless they have a heavy accent, or it's in code. I guess you mean something different, right?"

Axel looked stunned, plainly having never realized, and nodded.

"Are there a lot of… uh, foreign languages, where you're from?"

He nodded again, probably still wrapping his brain around the idea of one language for a whole continent; it was just as strange from the other side, thinking people would speak in different ways.

And then Axel answered: "Tens of hundreds of them, I think."

Minato blinked, wondering if he had heard that wrong. "Wait, tens of— There are thousands of languages? How is that even possible?"

"Well, there's a lot of people and countries." At his questioning look, Axel added, "As for how many people there are… over seven, uhm, thousands of thousands of thousands?" He shrugged. "I don't know the word, but it's a seven and nine zeros."

"Over seven billion—"

The Elemental Countries, as far as he knew, only had somewhere between thirty to forty million people. That's a lot of people, no doubt, but just…

Seven billion.

Minato had to sit down, eyes wide as he tried to process that number. Axel sat down beside him. It turns out that the kitchen floor in front of the sink is a pretty good place to think.

For a moment, Minato just looked over his friend: taking in all the little oddities he either hadn't noticed or hadn't cared about. Now that he knew what he was looking at, he was somewhat surprised he hadn't spotted it before.

Or rather, that he hadn't really considered what he had noticed. The shinobi world is full of people with interesting faces: people with scars and vibrant coloring and some appearances that are just plain odd. And even so, in the line of his jaw and the shape of his eyes, Axel still managed to look just a step left of normal. Like a portrait drawn by a familiar artist in an unfamiliar style: normal, until you look close enough to see that it's… well, different.

Foreign, really—though apparently in a much farther sense than he was used to.

"Seven billion," Minato repeated, still reeling. And even more curious than ever. "Can you tell me more about… Erde?"

One brow raised, Axel replied, "What do you want to know?"

That unleashed a flood of questions, topics jumping around from social to political to geographic to scientific. Axel didn't have all the answers, of course, but he did his best to explain what he could.

Cars and trains and airplanes sounded fascinating. Phones and computers—and laptops, which was what the device upstairs was called—seemed incredible, and unbelievably widespread. When Axel described the internet, somehow connecting billions of people and letting them share information freely, Minato could scarcely imagine it.

Knowing all of that functioned without the use (or even existence) of chakra… that was simply mind boggling.

"I'd love to see it for myself." Minato leaned his head back against a cabinet, trying to picture the city his friend was describing. "München, I mean."

Axel smiled, but it was touched with sadness. "My laptop has pictures, maybe I could show you later."

Photos were something Minato was more familiar with, though the cameras he knew of just printed an image straight away or put it on film.

"Anyway—"

An oddly muffled knock cut him off.

"Hey, guys?" It was Kushina; just on the other side of the door, but her voice was as muted as the knock had been. "You alright in there? It's been a while."

Scrambling against the cabinets to stand up, Minato dusted himself off. "Yes, sorry. I got distracted."

Understatement, but still true.

He could all but see her nod when she replied. "Oh yeah," said Kushina, sounding a tad distracted herself, "that's fair."

Minato puzzled over her tone for an instant, before it clicked. With a groan, he smacked himself on the forehead. Of course she had overheard them; she was just one room away, and while the two of them hadn't been loud, they hadn't exactly been quiet either.

Apparently having put it together himself, Axel put his head in his hands.

"The kids just wanna know you're all good," she continued, with odd emphasis. "But, ya know, I might wanna check for myself."

Minato could read between those lines easily enough.

Thankful for her quick thinking—and finally recognizing why she sounded like there was more than a door between them—Minato sighed with relief. "I think she set up a quick privacy seal on the door," he whispered to his friend. "She still caught the first part, but the kids probably didn't."

"Gott sei Dank," Axel breathed.

He might not understand the words—the foreign language, still a weird concept—but the sentiment was fairly obvious.

"Okay, we'll be right out," Minato called, helping Axel back to his feet. More quietly, he remarked, "Guess we should face the world again, huh."

His only reply was a bracing breath and a somewhat uneasy smile.

Minato could tell that Kushina was somewhat tense: if he had to guess, it was because of some combination of wanting to be included but also wanting to give them time to talk. Plus, she was trying to keep the kids from investigating. Which must be pretty tricky, given she was definitely more curious than them.

Axel paused. "Could you…"

"I won't tell anyone," Minato cut in, taking an easy guess what he was going to say. He couldn't help but grin at the relieved-incredulous look Axel shot him. "Though I guess Kushina already heard some of it… Will you tell anyone else?"

That thought was clearly a heavy one, and Axel grimaced. "I... maybe. I don't know. Not really planned this either…" He stared down at his hands, one bandaged and both still shaking ever so slightly. "I wanted to tell you better. Clearly."

Minato—hearing his friend's grasp of the language slip into more basic phrasing—set a comforting hand on his shoulder. "With something like this, I'm not so sure there is a better way. It's kind of… mind blowing, no matter what."

"You don't have to tell, uh," Axel paused as he tried to recall the right word, "that Hokage person?"

He huffed a sort-of-laugh. "It's weird and crazy, but not exactly a security risk. If it becomes relevant somehow, I might need to tell him. Otherwise, no."

Sure, some of his fellow shinobi might see that as borderline treason. Minato just didn't care. He trusted his Hokage, but this was his best friend; Axel didn't need that kind of attention.

And besides, he trusted Axel, too. His life story was wild and nearly unbelievable, and really needn't spread further than their friends. Anybody else would either believe him—which would come with a host of its own problems—or they wouldn't, and people would call him crazy. Or insane.

Like he said: Axel didn't need to deal with that.

"Here we go." Minato pulled the door open, giving his girlfriend a bright grin. "I'd guess Akaiko, plus Kushina and myself." He crossed his arms, thoughtful, and looked back to Axel. "Anyone else you'd like to tell?"

"Tell what?" Kakashi was looking between Axel and his sensei with an oddly inscrutable look, as if not sure what to make of them.

"Hey!" And that would be Obito, butting in with a worried look. "So, uh, is your hand okay now?"

"I'm fine," Axel reassured, holding up the bandage so he could see. "You should be more worried about your homework."

Obito blanched.

"I take it that's why you all were visiting?" Minato asked, smiling.

They nodded.

"School, huh." Kushina put her hands on her hips, regarding the three kids with a grin, before zeroing in on just one. "You better give it your all, Obito! Don't go an' let yourself get distracted looking for lost notebooks again!"

"How'd you… Uh, I mean— That's why I'm here, man!" He made a grab for Axel's hand, swiftly reconsidered, and snagged his jacket cuff instead. "Right?"

Kakashi wasn't glaring at them, per se, but he was scowling. "What were you two talking about, Sensei?"

Ah.

He wasn't going to drop the subject.

Which was fine, of course, and part of why he'd still been talking when he opened the door. If they had walked out suspiciously silent, Kakashi would have been… well, suspicious. And if he thought he wasn't supposed to know, he'd be stealthy about trying to get answers. Walk out still chatting, though, and he wouldn't hesitate to ask directly.

"We were discussing Rin's attempt to heal the cut," Minato answered. It was even somewhat true, or at least semi-related. "If you want to know more, though…" He sent his friend a glance, brows raised.

Axel frowned, but must have caught that something scheme-y was going on since he gave him a slight nod.

"I'm sorry." Rin had her head down, though she glanced at the bandages guiltily. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt, and then I couldn't do anything…" She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

He ruffled her hair gently with his good hand, and smiled. "Don't worry. Accidents happen."

"And don't blame yourself for not being able to heal it, Rin," Minato added. "I couldn't either."

All three of his kids—and even Kushina, though in a more thoughtful way—stared at him curiously.

"Alright." Mentally going over the cover he was going to tell one last time, Minato addressed his students. "If you've been around his shop quite a bit, I'm sure you've noticed how he sometimes startles his customers. Especially the shinobi."

They all nodded.

"Kakashi—" his student stood straighter, at attention. "We've been going over basic chakra detection during training. Tell me, what do you sense here?"

Brows drawn together in a slight frown, Kakashi settled his stance to focus. The moment he realized what he was supposed to be sensing—or rather, not sensing—his eyes widened. "There's… nothing. Where he's standing, there's nothing."

"Right." Minato nodded. "That's his kekkei genkai."

"Not that I can do anything with it," Axel was quick to add.

Obito stared at him for a second, expression hard to read, before it broke into a smile. "That's so cool! It, like, makes his chakra invisible or something?"

"That doesn't explain the healing problem, though," Kakashi pointed out.

"Actually, I think it does." As if reviewing what she knew about the subject, Rin traced an invisible line down one arm. "Medical jutsu follow the injured person's chakra, not just yours. If you can't find it… that's one of the reasons why chakra deprivation can be so dangerous."

"Exactly!"

Though he still seemed somewhat skeptical, Kakashi let it drop. Instead, with one last searching look to his sensei, he walked into the kitchen. Rin, after grabbing the bookbag they'd left by the register, pointedly poked her more reluctant teammate into action.

"Darn it…" Obito muttered, caught Kushina's glance, and tugged Axel by the sleeve toward the kitchen table. "Come on, gotta get this over with."

Watching his friend get dragged off with a chuckle, Minato just waved. "We'll talk more later, okay?"

"Tomorrow," said Axel, suddenly. "Do you think… tomorrow would work?"

"Sure." Recalling all the nagging Kushina had done yesterday, the reason why he was here with her today, Minato smiled. Quietly, he noted, "Tomorrow is always a day away, isn't it?"

Axel gave him a puzzlingly amused look, as if he had just accidentally made some kind of joke or reference. And—now aware that his friend had grown up in an entirely separate world, with an entirely separate collection of media—maybe he had.

"I'll see if I can find Akaiko later to fill her in," Kushina said, nodding. "Works for me, though."

Looking as if he wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or extra anxious, Axel nodded back. Only then did he let his attention turn to the kids and their homework troubles. Or at least, Obito's homework trouble.

Minato led the way out of the shop, into the warm afternoon sunlight. It was a nice day outside, partly cloudy and peacefully quiet. Perfect weather, he mused sarcastically, for worldview-shattering revelations.

He'd done his best to take that unbelievable truth in stride, but seriously: his best friend was literally out of this world. There's nothing wrong with taking a minute or so to process. Because woah.

"So… how much did you hear?" Minato asked, once they got farther down the street.

"Enough, but not everything. I put up the seal as soon as things got wacky." Kushina gave him a sideways glance. "Is he really…?"

"Yeah," he said, without hesitation. "I believe him."

She considered him for a moment, then nodded. "Then I do, too. Guess that 'splains why he's so weird, ya know. I assume you asked him all sorts of questions?"

"Of course!" Seeing the jealous look on her face, he smirked. "You'll get your turn tomorrow."

A put-out huff. "I'd better."

Which reminded him: "We'll need more privacy seals."

"Definitely," Kushina agreed, getting a distant look in her eyes that meant she was going over fuinjutsu options. "Maybe something for keeping secrets, too."

"Anything come to mind?"

"Maybe, but I'm more for offensive seals, ya know?" Kushina mimed an explosion, then shrugged. "I could figure one out, 'course. But if we want a lotta special spy-stuff built in, and quick, you might have more luck just annoying your old sensei about it."

"You're right." He slowed to a stop, nodding thoughtfully. "Do you mind if I—"

She rolled her eyes, shooing him away. "We'll need 'em by tomorrow, right? So get going, you ditz!"

Oh, he loves this woman.

"Thanks, you're the best."

She grinned. "Of course I am."

Minato gave her a quick hug, and a kiss that made her flush as red as her hair—that never failed, and was just adorable—then leapt to the rooftops. At this time of day, with weather this nice, he knew just where to find his old teacher.

A minute or so later, Minato spotted the bath house. Lo and behold, hidden among the greenery on a large branch of a nearby tree, sat Jiraiya-sensei. Weirdly, though, it looked as if he was only partially paying attention to the… activity on the other side of the tall fence.

Mostly, he was looking down at a notebook—not the usual one he had for research, but it still looked familiar.

Very familiar, actually.

Minato's smile suddenly sharpened, loosing the traces of long suffering patience, as he finally placed where he'd seen that book before.

"Jiraiya-sensei." His voice was cool and perfectly level.

A surprised glance, and the notebook swiftly vanished away into an inner pocket of his robe. "Oh!" He dropped down from the branch. "Hello, Minato-kun."

"Was that what I think it was?"

"Was what what was?" he said, with flustered innocence.

Minato's smile was ice, unamused.

For a long moment, they seemed at an impasse. But Minato won out, in the end, and Jiraiya-sensei pulled the notebook back out with a sigh. "Okay, yeah, I borrowed this. So sue me."

"I thought Hokage-sama stopped surveillance months ago," Minato said, crossing his arms.

"He did, but, I mean—" He flipped the book open to a page of writing. "Look at it! How could I resist peeking at a code like this?"

Okay, that's fair, given Minato himself had sometimes been tempted to snag it and try to figure it out. And it's not as though he hadn't violated his friend's privacy before, having snuck into his house to snoop around.

Still.

He held out a hand, a clear 'hand it over'.

Jiraiya-sensei huffed, but gave him the notebook. "I was gonna return it later, anyway."

Flipping quickly through the pages, though he really wouldn't be able to tell if any were missing, Minato just shook his head. "But really, Sensei? Stealing from civilians, now?"

"Borrowing," he insisted.

"I'll have to tell Axel about it tomorrow," Minato muttered to himself. "Ugh, that's not gonna be a great way to start it off…"

But that was a problem for later—right now, he still had to get his hands on some seals. There'd be plenty of time for discussion and questions tomorrow.

Then, recalling the apprehensive expression he'd seen on his friend's face, Minato chuckled softly to himself; sharing burdens was always nerve wracking, though it's usually for the best.

He was looking forward to tomorrow. Axel… probably wasn't.

=X=X=X=

Tomorrow—today—came far too quickly for his tastes.

Axel had only just woken up, and, with hours before he would actually be telling anyone anything, he was already regretting his agreement to share. Kind of. It was a lot to unpack, even if he still wasn't planning on telling them everything: he had less than no desire to go into the whole 'this world was an animated show to me, and as such I might have knowledge of a possible future' mess. Just, no.

Or maybe the twisty feeling in his gut was because he wasn't planning on telling them the whole truth.

He wandered through his usual morning routine in something of a haze, trying to think through what he'd tell them… and what he wouldn't. At least Minato could maybe help with questions, now that he knew some of the story.

That was a weight off his shoulders, and one he hadn't even known was there.

Getting dressed after his shower, he blinked down at the clothes he'd set out on the bed: the spares he'd had stuffed in his carry-on bag, way back when. Axel didn't wear them often, anymore—just once or twice in the past year. They were some of his last bits of home, he didn't want to risk losing them.

But if ever he were going to wear them, today seemed to be appropriate.

He grabbed his backpack, still holding what other few reminders he had from his world, and stuffed his laptop and solar charger in for good measure. Might as well be thorough with his explanation, after all.

Time to face the day.

Maybe he'd feel a little less nervous after breakfast.

Axel stopped just at the bottom of the stairs, hearing the what he though might be the front door opening. But there was no welcoming ring from the small bell over the entrance, so that couldn't be right.

Besides, nobody should be coming over until later.

He tried to shrug off the sudden unease creeping down his spine, pausing to set his backpack down against the wall before quietly rounding the corner into his shop.

Nobody was there.

Glancing around, still unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong, Axel walked over to check the front door.

Closed.

But not locked, he noticed with alarm.

Turning back around, he—

He bit back a gasp.

There was a figure in his kitchen, silently shifting through some of the homework scratch papers left on the table from yesterday.

Why?

They were dressed in dark colors, with what was probably an armored vest, likely had some kind of mask on, straight black hair, and why where they in his house—

There's no way this is a friendly visit, even he could tell that much.

But why?

Axel had no delusions on how a confrontation between himself and a trained ninja would go down (that being badly), but he nonetheless reached for the nearest thing that could possibly be used to defend himself—which turned out, unfortunately, to be a porcelain vase.

Not that he had many options on this end of the shop, dang it. He was standing in the same room as a veritable armory, and all the knives were on shelves and boxes just out of reach. Though he'd have no idea what to do with a kunai or shuriken anyway.

Even so… something a bit more weapon-like than a decorative vase might make him feel just a little bit better about things.

The odds were already abysmal to begin with, he'd just have to make do.

He had only just set his hand on the vase, nudging a few of the flowers out of the way so he could get a grip, when the ninja spun around. Kunai thrown before Axel could even process it, the knife sliced through petals and stems just above his hand.

For the briefest instant, the masked intruder was motionless.

Were they… surprised?

That made no sense, they threw the kunai right at him—

The figure vanished.

Something struck the back of his head, hard.

Axel knocked over the vase and it shattered on the floor, water and flowers spilling out as he fell. His ears were ringing, darkness edged his vision. He was distantly aware that there was something sharp under his hand, a porcelain shard, and he gripped it like a lifeline.

Picked up, carried, and it slipped through his fingers.

Then everything went dark.

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

You can never reach tomorrow.

I noticed something while investigating how large the world in Naruto is, and that's that a lot of fans can get very defensive about the planet definitely being as large as our Earth. Which, sure, why not? There's no reason the planets can't be the same size, and I don't think it really makes that much of a difference.
However, there were some arguments that claimed that the planets had to be the same size… because they're both Earth. The planet in Naruto is called Earth, true enough, but I've seen a lot of fantasy worlds called Earth (Middle Earth, anyone?) so I wouldn't put too much stock in that.
Just thought I'd put that out there.

As for the population I've given the Elemental Countries, I calculated that using proportions of military-to-population for our world with the united ninja army of 80,000. Which actually gave it a population of a bit under 30 million, but I decided to boost the numbers a bunch.
Not the best method, but better than nothing.

Also, if you're interested, I have a Discord server now! Feel free to visit and chat about whatever, canon or headcanon or fanfiction or anything else.
Here's the invite code: m3CFXnC

Updates once a month, aiming for the 15th. This chapter just refused to wrap up as I was writing it, and as such is over one and a half times longer than usual.
Thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews! Sorry for the delay.

You probably figured out most of these translations, since they're either obvious or the definitions are right there in the chapter, but I'm including them here for consistency.

Translations:
"Erde" and "Chikyū" = "Earth"
"japanisch" = "japanese"
"englisch" = "english"
"Fremdsprachen" and "gaikoku-go" = "foreign languages"
"deutsch" = "german"
"Gott sei Dank" = "Thank goodness" (or "Thank God")

I've got a few comments on this, so I'll put a brief reply here and in the next chapter.
So I believe chakra is inherent to the Naruto world because it's stated (on the wiki, at least) that the God Tree feeds on natural chakra. That implies that chakra already existed on the world before Kaguya and the Sage, and that the fruit simply converted it into a usable form.
If there's something I missed that contradicts that assumption, please tell me: there's a lot of material in Naruto, so it's easy to overlook stuff. I mean, it's a bit late to change that assumption in my fic now, but I'd still like to know.

See ya on the flipside, everyone!