Five days before the end. Morning.
Naruto was still in bed.
"How's his fever?" Sakura asked.
"Hasn't gone down for the moment." Ino answered.
"It's been a while already."
And they were supposed to find a way to deal with Nagato in less than five days…? Neither of them were sure where he found his confidence, this time.
They watched him, lying down in bed, looking sicker than he had been ever since the boat episode that only Sakura and Karin could remember.
"You think it's the Rinnegan?" Ino asked.
"Maybe. Maybe not." Sakura muttered. "Last time, it was his seals… runes… carvings, whatever you can call them. I don't know."
This time, it was probably pushing too much chakra out in order to exert pressure. Chakra exhaustion was not the only risk that came with this sort of thing.
"Better to let him rest or…?"
"Yes." Sakura nodded. "His chakra is close to the usual levels, so it's not anything about that… and he always recovered in a few days, before. It should be the same."
But a few days was way too long, right now. They had plenty of things to prepare, too.
Like the meetings with the other countries. Naruto had designated Anko as his second-in-command, but there would undoubtedly be some acerbic comments about the fact that the self-proclaimed Shogun would not even bother showing up in person.
Sakura stayed behind a little longer, once she assured Ino she should resume her own training.
With the Rinnegan came the possibility for clones to use the Thunder Gates — through improved chakra control — and the ability to siphon chakra from outside sources.
Which meant Naruto finally knew how to make clones last… seemingly forever.
With the Rinnegan also came the need to learn how to disable the shared vision.
Naruto was still out of commission for a while, so that was something he would take care of later, though. For the time being, half-conscious, he dove into more of the memories in a dreamlike state.
"Dear Brother,
I am well and hope you are.
Your letter has reached me and has opened my eyes to the folly and wrong of the course I have pursued of late. All night I have been pacing my home, trying to decide what course it was my duty to pursue, and I have decided to answer you as frankly as you desire.
Perhaps Father was right in choosing his heir.
And perhaps I am a fool.
I will not attempt to excuse myself for the words I have said before departing, for I deserve your anger, but I will only say that I was myself deceived in my own feelings.
When Father chose you, I believed that he was mocking me, and all my futile efforts. I was not you, had never been. But I believed to be sufficient. Closer reflection has proved my error. My bitterness, even in this very moment, at his choice proves that; for I know you yourself would not have acted in such an unsightly way.
Again, thank you for your frankness. I have so often pained you by my uneven and sullen temper. I have heard that you have married Naotora, now.
I foresee a life of joy for both of you.
I have no right to ask you for anything, so I shall tell you of what I believe could be wonderful news.
The woman I have made mention of, weeks before my abrupt departure, truly is the sort of person I thought she could be. I find myself utterly entranced.
I do realize I never even told you her name. Do forgive your elder brother.
Her name is Yasu.
I know that as brothers, I am bound to you, and therefore will not ask for forgiveness if you do not desire it.
I shall await your response, should you so decide to grace me with one.
Leaving your decision entirely in your hands, I am. Ever your brother,
Indra."
Ashes of an unsent letter; Only seen by Uzumaki Naruto.
Five days before the end. Evening.
Karin walked up to their room.
Naruto was standing on the balcony.
"Wha— You're awake?" She asked, blinking.
"Karin." He greeted her with a smile. "Sorry I worried— Oof."
She had launched herself at him like a missile. He laughed, grabbing her and hugging her tight.
"You really make us worry a lot, 'yknow." She mumbled.
"I know." Naruto half-apologized again. He held onto her softly.
"Are you fine, though?" She asked again.
"I am." He assured her again. "But we have no time to waste. I did as much digging as I could, while I was asleep."
"…You were unconscious." She frowned.
"Exactly. Unconscious, not dead." He laughed. "Anyway, I think I see some of the things these eyes can do a bit more clearly. The Sage was pretty frivolous with using them, let's say."
Naruto started to dress himself.
"…What the hell are you doing?" Karin asked, her hands on her hips. "You should stay in bed."
"I'm not ready to fight Nagato yet." He said evenly.
"No shit. And you're not ready to get out of bed either! We… we still have around five days to figure out a way." She frowned.
It sounded pretty optimistic of her.
"But we have a way of preparing." Naruto smiled slightly.
"…What?"
"Come with me, we have a project to finish. Have you continued to work on our temporal research?"
"Of course I did."
"Then tell me what we still need… and what happened while I was out."
Temporal meddling was not considered a safe or an easy thing to do.
Naruto had researched it enough in the last months to know this with certainty.
And to know what the last thing he needed, the one thing that he hadn't found a way around… the one that he needed to complete the seemingly impossible project that he and Karin had wasted so much time on in the last month.
The missing ingredient?
A way to create gravity.
Right now, for them, it was the key to create a pocket universe. The rest, they had learned from studying Sakura's Kamui ability. He was confident in his ability to emulate it.
Objects with gravity distorted time. Naruto played with the concept once more, but he was already resolute.
"While you were gone." Karin began. "I got most of it done. There's just the final step to take care of. The problematic one."
And she had done extremely well on that. Anywhere else, this sort of research would have been a massive leap forward.
Today, in Umi, it was a beginning.
Naruto grinned. "I expected nothing less from you."
"Ah." Karin blushed slightly, looking away. She was more humble than any one them, really. Had it been him, Sakura, or Ino… They would definitely have boasted about it. "I worked pretty hard on this."
"Let me complete it, then."
"Now…? Are you sure?" She asked, somewhat worried.
"We have no better option." He simply said.
Karin gave him a long look. "…Well, let's go, then. Let's create a realm. I guess."
They stood in front of the access seal, on the other side of the lake. Naruto focused on what they needed. The parameters were set in stone already.
A wrinkle in time.
A pocket realm that had its own time field.
A place where one second became one hundred.
Naruto stood in front of the access seal and channeled his chakra. Karin wrapped her chain around his wrist and did the same thing.
Lightning cracked above him. He was chakra. He was life.
He could do it. He was Yin. And he was Yang.
Naruto tasted an awe-inspiring power. Stability and chaos, at the same time.
Was he even supposed to be using such a thing…? He was just a man.
In between the two opposite forces, he was reminded once more of his own mortality.
Yes. He heard himself think. A thousand times, if I must.
Naruto took hold of the powers. The twin forces felt as though they were ready to tear each other, and him as well, until nothing was left. But used together, they could create.
And for a moment, he also understood why Nagato might really have thought himself a god.
He thought he understood much more in this instant, suspended in time.
The power felt endless.
Naruto focused on the task at hand, visualizing what to do and how to do it.
He knew that as he was now, he could not make things too complicated. So Naruto focused on what he knew he now knew he could do.
Naruto slammed his hands together.
"Yin-Yang Release: Creation of All Things!"
The chakra within him reached even higher and he drove it into the access seal. Would they ever have managed without the Rinnegan…?
This was something else.
The storm ended.
With most of his chakra gone, and Karin feeding him what was left of her own, he uttered two more words.
"Chibaku Tensei."
They carved a final seal to stabilize the portal.
Karin helped him in, as he was wobbling a bit more than even she was.
Everything felt much heavier in here. Likely a byproduct of creating a world where time flowed differently. They had tried to isolate both things as much as possible, but that was a difficult task.
They entered a vast empty space. It looked vaguely like Umi… if everything in Umi was tinted purple and much more compact.
And it was smaller, of course. She could see water in the distance, and mountains on the other side, and there were stars shining bright in the sky, but she knew instinctively that it was artificial, that there was nothing beyond a certain distance, and that she would find herself headed to the center of this place again.
And again… All of it was false, in a way. No natural energy came from this place.
"It's a globe… in a way." Naruto rasped out. "It doesn't look like it because the perspective is a bit fucked, but there's nowhere to explore, over there. You'll end up coming back here."
"…Did you create this?"
"Yes… and no?" Naruto mused. "I don't know how to explain it. It's… as if it had always been there, somewhere, a possibility… and I just brought it life?"
He saw her look around.
"I don't know what happened with the colors, though." He chuckled. "It's probably not the last of the weird things here. I'll try to do something about it later."
"You look exhausted."
"I am. The gravity is not helping matters." He chuckled. "I would gladly create a bed or something… but I'm dead."
And it sounded pretty wasteful.
"Sit tight, I'll get you something." Karin's head was still trying to wrap around the concept of them having created a realm.
"Wait." He called. "There's no rush. Sit with me?"
She smiled, too.
They fell asleep on the floor in less than a minute. Well, at least there was no fever, this time.
Naruto stretched once he woke up. It was hours later, but he had no way of telling, really. A few minutes outside of here, at most, then.
"Well…" He began. "I think it's time we get on with the program."
"It is. Let us gather the others, then."
"Yes. We're also going to need some supplies. Food, raw materials… beds. We're going to be here for a while."
Karin stared. She understood what he meant, of course.
"…How do we even exit here?"
"The portal can be summoned… or use a Gate." Naruto shrugged. He would make sure to add a few more contingencies. It really wouldn't do to end up trapped in here.
They both left.
Naruto stopped by Orochimaru's spire to pick up copies of… whatever he could get his hands on. He left a few clones around.
Clones cost chakra to maintain, and this drain was much more noticeable than the cost of summoning them, past a certain point; time flowed faster in the pocket realm… Theoretically, they could maintain them outside of here easily. Which he would have to tell the others about.
The world wasn't going to stop for them, after all.
Naruto didn't find Anko right away, so he let a clone look for her. He crossed the lake in a long lightning-enhanced step.
He jumped into the living room, making Sakura choke on her pipe. Served her right. She should have been training.
"Alright. Time to move again, girls. We're becoming temporary residents in a very exclusive guest house." He called, as he gathered anything that might be of use.
"…What did you do, now?" Ino asked. Things always became stupid around him. He had been up for less than an hour.
"I'll show you." He muttered. "Pack for a full year away, we can always come back here, but it's a big waste of time."
Ino stared at him, squinting her eyes. He had to look away, or she would notice that he was trying not to laugh.
"…You're insufferable." She bemoaned.
"Yes, yes, quite."
"…Is this your idea of a joke?" Sakura asked.
She was looking at the vast emptiness in front of them.
"Wha— What is this shit…?"
"This… " Naruto laughed. "Is Shade's Realm. It is where we're going to spend a bit more than a year."
"What…?!"
"Oh, come on. Compared to the boat trip, this is going to be a luxury, even. We have a bit less than five days left in the outside world… Four…? Which is about… a year and some in here." Naruto thought about it. "Oh, normally you should be able to reach the Thunder Gates outside, from here. Careful when getting out, it's a bit… disorienting."
"No…" Sakura felt like crying nervously, it was obvious.
"Consider this payback for all the times you put us through your shit." Naruto cackled.
"Why is it all purple?! And so fucking heavy, too?!" She complained.
Naruto waved it off. "I can't do anything about gravity's intensity, right now. Well, besides increasing it, I guess. But the light… maybe. We'll see if we can expand, later on."
"This is the worst shit you've done to us." She raged. "By far."
He laughed.
"Help us build a livable home instead of complaining, we'll be spending a lot of time here."
Anko sighed.
"You can go further, of course, but the gravity is going to be a fair bit stronger." Naruto shrugged.
"Ah… Spending that much time in close quarters with a bunch of hormonal young adults… How exciting." She deadpanned.
"There's an old man, too." Hanabi whispered. Sakura chuckled weakly, but her heart was not in it, for once.
Naruto glared at the Hyuga. She gave him an innocent smile.
"Still…" Ino muttered. "A full year…"
"Be a bit more enthusiastic about it." Naruto grumbled. "It's the only way to prepare."
He heard several sighs and rolled his eyes.
"Well…" Hanabi slowly nodded. "If it's the only way."
"We need to become more powerful than… anyone, right?" He laughed.
"Do you really think one year is enough to bridge the gap…?" Ino wondered.
"Sure." He nodded, pushing his own doubts aside. "We have this too, after all." Naruto said, pointing at his eyes.
"You have this." Hanabi corrected him.
"We have this." He insisted.
"Explain?"
"According to Madara's memories… and Orochimaru's meeting with Nagato, long ago, it should be possible to split the paths between ourselves."
"Really…?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "We're six, and there are technically seven paths, it's almost perfect."
A solemn silence spread. There had been a seventh, once. Then there was the sound of footsteps.
"You want to… share the Rinnegan?" Karin asked, having only caught the tail end of this particular discussion.
"Sure."
"Are you sure you shouldn't keep it?" Anko asked dubiously.
"Hell, no, I'm not keeping track of all this during battle." Naruto grunted. "I have trouble remembering my own name, most days."
Besides, they only had a year. If it had taken Nagato his whole life to master the Rinnegan's abilities, and Madara had only gotten the basic concepts down, he could not afford to spread his focus that much.
"Your name…? Identity crisis again?" Ino asked, her worry obvious in her voice.
"No…" Naruto groaned. "It was just a joke. That part is over."
"So, do you know how to do this? Split the Paths?" Karin asked.
"Nope."
"Ah."
"Why is so fucking hot in here?" Sakura complained.
She started walking away, and into the vast… nothing.
After a hundred meters or so, she almost fell.
"Yeah." Karin called. "The gravity is a bit worse the further away you go. It's like hitting a sudden wall."
"I warned you." Naruto shrugged.
After a few tries, Sakura managed to walk meters away. She was covered in sweat.
"Well, this is going to suck. Let's build a… home and let's get started then." Sakura called.
"Who died and made you our leader?" Ino asked, loudly enough to be heard.
"Orochimaru…?" Sakura retorted.
Winces and grunts and hisses all around.
Naruto focused.
His mind strained, and his face grew tight. He came closer, he could almost do it.
There was a ripple of power in the air, and one of the windows cracked from the pressure.
The ground shook, like the surface of a pond disturbed by a pebble.
Naruto lifted his hand, focusing the almighty Rinnegan's power on one specific item.
The cup of tea exploded, spilling near scalding water all over the improvised breakfast table.
Naruto frowned.
"Okay." Sakura began. "That's it!" She bellowed. She had almost been splashed — not that it would be that painful, for a kunoichi like her.
Naruto leaned backward, with a long-suffering sigh. "How do you want me to practice the Rinnegan powers if you complain every time I do?"
"Using it to lift a cup of tea to your hand is the biggest waste I can think of!"
"It's not." He pretended to frown. "We both know I'm going to give you some of its powers. Imagine what a waste that will be…"
"I'm going to—"
"Hard to believe that this could be the secret to Nagato's godly power." Anko mused.
"I'm sure he started pretty low on the totem pole, too." Naruto sniffed disdainfully.
"Oh yeah?" Sakura scoffed. "Maybe he was wise enough not to practice with liquids."
"I doubt it. He was a child. Kids can be pretty dumb." Ino quipped.
"Dumber than y—"
"You sound tense." Ino sneered. "Maybe you should get laid some, forehead."
A vein seemed about to burst on Sakura's forehead. Something about the time in close quarters in this particular place made her seem to be on the verge of an angry breakdown. Which of course, made Ino vicariously happy.
They still had to spend more than a year here, so maybe he would have to stop them before it got out of hand.
Or maybe…
"Why don't you settle your accounts by fighting it out?" Naruto offered. Anko chuckled. "Spar a bit."
"…Yeah, let's do that."
The two of them left.
"…I'm surprised this worked, honestly." Hanabi muttered.
"I don't think you should encourage this." Karin chided him.
"Why not? They get some practice, and we can have five minutes of peace." Naruto shrugged. It was about the only restful time of the day. They were not about to take this away from him. So what if today, he had been the one to trigger Sakura's temper…?
Besides, now that Sakura was gone, he was free to practice with the gravity powers the Rinnegan offered.
He focused on Hanabi's cup, this time.
It exploded right away. She shot him a look that would have made most men wither with shame.
"…Yeah, sorry." He apologized, not really feeling that contrite.
"Meditation time!"
The purple hell was calling her. Calling her to madness.
The sheer nothingness of it, of this loathsome violet tranquility was like torture to Sakura. She wanted nothing more than to see some other color.
It felt as though she were in prison, only eating the most bland gruel. Every day. For breakfast. For lunch. For dinner. Slop.
She tried to look away, but everything was purple. She closed her eyes and everything was pur—
"Don't be a drama queen, Sakura." Ino called. Sakura could see she was struggling at least as much as she was. She was covered in sweat.
"What makes you say that…?" She grunted, keeping on running around in wide circles above the water. Despite her near perfect control, her feet sunk in.
There was a lot of practicing basic movement again. Except all of that was done at higher and higher gravity, further and further away from the center of the room/realm.
Jumping — not that fast.
Kicking — not that strong.
Dodging — not that well.
Strength training — that was plain horrible.
The whole experience was intensely claustrophobic. She couldn't wait for Naruto to expand the domain, — if he even could — because this…
And there was something very unsettling about the lack of natural energy in this realm. It felt the same as having trouble breathing — which was something they also had to deal with. And chakra recovered a bit slower here, it seemed. They were trying to find a workaround for that, too.
"Your dumb face is as easy to read as a book." Ino laughed.
"…You're reading my thoughts, aren't you?"
"I'm not doing it on purpose, if it helps." Ino shrugged.
"I thought you were practicing your control." Sakura frowned.
"Sure. But I've always been better at reading minds than anything else. The rest, I had to practice a whole lot more. We all have affinities for different things — like you for being soulless and flat."
Sakura rolled her good eye. And her Sharingan, under her eyelid. It was important to practice having two eyes again. "Like you for being vain and overconfident."
"…You wanna spar again?"
"Bring it on!"
"Strength building!"
Naruto's eyes were on Hanabi.
He didn't really mean to, but they were the only two awake. Close to the house, where the gravity was only much heavier than Earth, instead of crushing.
They sat on the purple grass, their backs to the fire — and the fact that he actually could use rudimentary fire release now, when water and earth were still seemingly impossible, despite the Rinnegan was a surprise. They watched the strange, fake purple clouds roll by.
She was as wide awake as he was, despite the long day of training. Her arms wrapped around her knees, so close that their shoulders touched.
There were plenty of things he wanted to say to her, to ask her. More apologies, for one, but he had the feeling that she wouldn't like that too much.
"How are you handling it?" Naruto asked, instead.
"Being in here?" She asked in return. He nodded.
Hanabi smiled lightly, turning her pale eyes to the sky again. Despite the fact that there was no true day and night cycle in here, it was darker now. Had he imprinted this on this realm subconsciously?
"It's not too bad. It's been a while since we last had some… time." She said. Naruto understood that feeling quite well. He hadn't even felt like himself until very recently. "Well, then again, it's only been one day and a half." She amended herself.
"You seem to… enjoy these strange colors." Naruto said, a bit bemused. "Sakura hates them."
"We all know she has no taste, though."
He chuckled. "Obviously."
"I just like things that you won't find anywhere else, I guess." She shrugged. "It looks a bit like a fever dream, too."
"…Considering when I made it, it's not too far off." Naruto admitted with a small grin.
"…Wanna go for archery practice?" She asked. "I could use some more."
Naruto grinned. "Sure thing. We're going to have to adjust the trajectories with chakra to compensate for the higher gravity, though, so it's going to be a bit different than outside."
"Do you ever not use chakra to shoot arrows?" She asked with a laugh.
"…Point taken."
He grasped her hand, pulling her into a run with a small smile. She was suddenly a bit quiet.
"Something wrong?"
"…No. Just spacing out."
"Cute." He grinned.
"Don't call me cute." She grunted. "Help me practice, since you think you're so good with a bow."
"Sure, sure."
"Speed drills!"
"Your defense skills are lacking, Sakura." Hanabi called.
"…I had the feeling, yes." She said very dryly.
"It's not only you, so let's start back from the basics, again."
"The Hyūga basics are not exactly a starting point for most shinobi."
"Well, you're all going to be able to see chakra soon enough, won't you?" Hanabi asked. "That makes now a good moment to start practicing."
They nodded. The Rinnegan was supposed to help with chakra control — and it probalby did, considering the fact Naruto, out of all people, was wasting less of it now.
"You know the principle behind enhancing your strength with chakra, right?" Hanabi asked.
"Sure. Focusing and releasing it with the right timing." Sakura answered.
She used it mostly for speed, since it was just easier to slice through something when you were fast enough… than it was to reach someone with a slow, destructive punch. Smashing things didn't really seem like her style, either.
"Well, the defensive principle is pretty much the same."
Sakura nodded. "Okay, so…?"
"But you should layer your entire body in chakra if you intend to make any use of it. So that if the attack stills reaches you… well you don't die right away."
There was a reason only Hyūga really used this. It required extremely precise control. Which they would possibly attain in the coming months, once they figured out a way to share the Rinnegan. Getting started now to familiarize all of them with the principles only made sense.
The first thing was to learn how to maintain a protective aura for longer periods.
The second was building much larger chakra reserves to actually be able to use the eye in the first place.
Naruto had been thinking a lot recently.
Now that he had the time for it, and now that he had seen through some of the most important memories of his ancestors…
He understood how Indra had anchored his soul to this world.
Well, their soul.
The process was an incomplete one. Naruto would learn what he had to in order to complete it.
Never again. Never anything like Toru.
Because there was no reason to accept anything less than perfection.