Days went by in the strange realm.
Physical training and building up chakra capacity were pretty boring; there was no way around that.
Not that meditation to refine the spiritual side of it was much more interesting.
Then there was learning how to project chakra outwardly for those who weren't so adept at it yet.
More physical training. More meditation.
To Sakura, it was no wonder that most shinobi focused on finding new ways to murder people or the flashier side of it. This was dreadful.
And even recovering chakra felt exhausting, in here.
Naruto knew that the way to share the Rinnegan abilities lay with the rods.
After a few days of practicing, he could form them at will, and shape them, too.
"That's the way? Black sticks?" Ino asked dubiously. "How is this supposed to help us?"
"I think I'm supposed to… stab you with it?" Naruto furrowed his brows.
"…I'm not stabbing myself with your chakra rod." Ino said hotly. Naruto felt a smile twitch on his lips.
"I guess earrings could work too, or bracelets, bracers, rings… maybe? If it doesn't require breaking the skin. Better to have a few contingencies in case." Naruto thought. "At least there's no reason it shouldn't work."
"You owe me real earrings." Ino said, pointedly looking away from him.
He frowned. Did he?
Ino continued.
"So… it's an internal process?"
"Yeah. You'll have to access my chakra through these… receivers." Naruto mused. "Then again, what we want is to connect our chakra together, not suppress yours with mine, which is what is likely to happen if I…"
Naruto muttered to himself for a little while.
"Let's try it?" Ino asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Sure."
He closed his eyes, and created a pair of bracelets made of the same black material. Ino held her hands out. Naruto thought about something.
That was kinda… unefficient.
"Wait a second." He called and thought some more.
The soulflame burned for a few minutes. It felt a bit similar to the Creation of All Things, honestly, if way narrower in its scope. Used together, that was a lot of potential.
Once he was done, he handed them to her.
"What did you do, exactly?"
"There are tiny thread-like spikes that will pierce your skin, without bothering you much." He said, breathing out. "So that we won't have to worry about that aspect. It should hold in place, too."
"Should I try, then?"
"Yes."
She put the bracelets on her upper arms.
Naruto could suddenly feel her chakra.
"…This is such a strange feeling." Ino said.
"Same here." He grunted and focused on the bracelets. Some of his chakra was flowing directly into her body. He knew he could overpower her own network, if he so desired — Which he didn't. "Connect to my mind."
She did so and he let her read through a few of Madara's memories. A few minutes passed.
"I see a strand of chakra going from me to you." Naruto said.
"That means the chakra is being channeled on the physical plane. What if you channel it through our bond, instead…?"
It took him a bit of fumbling around, but Naruto thought he got it.
"Do you feel any different?" He asked.
"No, same as before."
"Good. Then distance shouldn't matter either."
It didn't for the bond and the abilities that came with it, so there was no reason this would be any different. Mind-based jutsu were peculiar in this aspect, when perfected.
"So your chakra is what these abilities are derived from." Ino continued. "Extend it to me, without trying to suppress mine."
He did. Nothing happened.
"Let's try the reverse?" She offered.
"You extending your own?"
"Yeah."
No real effect.
"I think you might have to blend your own with it, if I'm not replacing yours with mine." Naruto said.
Ino tried.
"Like this?"
"Apparently not."
"Like this…?"
"Nope."
It was easy to notice when they found the right balance.
Ino's irises shifted to a concentric set of spirals, still in the same greenish blue color.
"I think you managed." He grinned.
"It worked?!" She squealed.
"I'd say so. I'm not so sure about the rest, though. Like a whole Path…?"
"It will come later. Besides, I think you would need to be able to use it yourself in the first place." She laughed when he grumbled. "How's the chakra consumption?"
"Not bad at all. I assume it's because our chakra are linked. Is it hard to maintain the merging?"
"No." She shook her head. "The improved control helps." It was a true boon, here, a virtuous circle. "Huh… That's what chakra looks like to these eyes…?."
And maybe the ability to see it played a big role, when it came to the improved control, too.
"That's a start!" Ino grinned.
"Great job."
They raised their arms together in celebration, laughing.
"Now, let's make more of these chakra receivers for everyone else."
Four days before the end. Outside World.
Naruto's clone rarely communicated with the real one.
The temporal displacement would make it a bit too messy, and confusing. For the same reason, whenever Naruto created clones inside the pocket realm, he made sure the memories didn't reach the ones outside. It would be a constant bombardment of sensory inputs, otherwise.
Last thing this particular clone had heard, the real Naruto and Ino were working on a way to stop the clones from giving feedback, selectively.
But there were a few things that the original had tasked the clones outside with doing. Using the Rinnegan to understand the mysteries of natural energy was one.
Not that what the original wanted was very clear. A few clones were working on it, but well… they only had four days, and no real hopes about this particular study case.
And there were plenty of other matters to attend to. Such as establishing the shinobi's — possibly short-lived — alliance's hierarchy.
Naruto somehow had convinced them to put him in charge of the whole thing, sure, but there was plenty of squabbling, still. Naruto wanted to rub his temples and get rid of the whole thing altogether.
Frankly, he didn't actually want to handle the matter, but it had seemed like a great way to assemble the whole forces into one unit. Which was why he was currently speaking with the Kage and several of their assistants, high-ranking ninja…
"-have the main battle regiment divided into companies as well, and have them run through their formations." Naruto finished.
"Who shall lead the companies?" Nara Shikaku asked.
"I'll get to that in a minute. The operation will be on the last day." Naruto declared. "At noon."
"Why would we wait this long—" Ōnoki began.
Naruto ignored him. "As for the naval units I mentioned earlier, Kiri will deploy their ships close to Uzushio's location. They'll take longer to get in position than the main strike force."
"A strike force?" Nara Shikaku asked.
"Yes. The forces gathered are mostly going to be there to allow us to get in in the first place — Nagato might move the whole fortress around, and if so, we likely won't be able to follow on land and sea. I will be going myself with a few ninja of my choosing." Naruto said tersely. "There's no point in bringing anything less than Kage-level shinobi up there. There will be Ame ninja, undoubtedly, but I'd rather most of the forces stay to defend the villages themselves."
Times like these, Naruto regretted the lack of S-rank ninja around.
"You mean to take us? And to order us around?" Ōnoki laughed. "That's—"
"No." Naruto cut him off.
Silence stretched over the room.
"The Kage will remain in their villages." Naruto finished. "And so will the divisions."
He almost smiled at their expressions.
"What?!" Yugito thumped her fist on the table, looking at him angrily. "Why would we—"
"Not Umi, of course, since no one can reach it." Naruto said. He saw the building outrage. Likely about putting together a global force… and not even wanting it into his own village. "Nagato can't reach it, we don't need any more shinobi. We will help with any other villages, of course."
Suspicion rose, but it made enough sense for them not to say anything.
"If Nagato decides to attack a village himself — and he probably will, even if we strike first —, we will need strong shinobi there to defend them."
Unsaid was the fact that he didn't really think either of them could do much about Nagato attacking. Which was why he and his friends would try to manage that particular headache.
"And for the same reason." Naruto continued. "Shinobi will be equally allocated to each village and place that might be a target. Same goes for medical and sensory units — I'll get back to that."
Silence again.
Ōnoki was about to speak, face tight. Naruto continued, a bit harsher.
"You said this was an alliance, although a temporary one. Act like it. Protect the world, not just your own interests."
He could see that the Tsuchikage didn't know whether his fear of Uchiha Madara or his hatred of Uzumaki Naruto was more important.
"Besides, we have a force of close to eighty thousand men. I'm sure it's more than doable to split it in a way that makes sense. I'll let you crunch these numbers."
No wonder Anko hated doing this.
"As for the breaching of Uzushio… The land forces will begin the artillery bombardment as soon as the rest of the strike force is in place."
Naruto smiled.
"That's the only thing I'm going to require from Iwa, Kiri and Kumo. Support fire during the assault." He nodded. "We'll neutralize Uzushio's defenses and head directly to Nagato."
The fact they were no protests let Naruto know that some of them — at least — hoped that he or Nagato — hopefully both — would die in the ensuing fight. He almost laughed.
"Now, I will let you handle the exact assignment of your shinobi to to the unit they fit best in. Nara Shikaku, for one, is an excellent strategist."
"We have already begun. We shall bring you a list of all shinobi in our villages, then." Nara Shikaku nodded. "We—"
"Nah. Handle this internally."
The whole point of leading was that he didn't want to bother with things that could be delegated. Shikaku was angry, sure, but he was not particularly power-hungry.
Besides, against a shinobi like Nagato, the only thing Naruto really needed was a way to get aboard Uzushiogakure — there was no way around that. The allied forces would provide a helpful distraction.
"And what…" Ōnoki began, an angry hue to his face. "Did you become the Commander for if—"
"It's Shōgun." Naruto corrected him. "And I thought I made this clear. I want peace, and I can bring it. It doesn't mean I want to babysit you."
He continued.
"Now… Akatsuki has an army of one hundred thousand human-like soldiers."
"What?!"
"Nagato might not use them at all, in the end, but still. I would suggest you prepare to defend your villages... and the rest of the world, too. Make sure to mix up your armies and put sensible sensing protocols in place. Several units, in order to make sure none of the others are compromised. These… things can change appearances. You might want to rely on all forms of tracking styles at the same time. Of course, if you're willing to let us into your villages, we could set up a few intent-based barriers, too. We shall give you a few seal designs that might help, as well. Feel free to use them."
He had done so for the new Kumo and Kiri, but he already knew the others' answer.
"Akatsuki has an actual army. One that is a hundred thousand men strong. Couldn't you have said so earlier?" Nara Shikaku growled.
"About the Zetsu thing? I only learned of it recently."
And he really had. It took him a while to go through everybody's memories. This was something only Madara had known, apparently.
The Rinnegan didn't make him a god. Well, he had to make them continue to believe it did, so…
"But once Nagato is gone…" Naruto said. "I might be able to take control of the army."
Most people in the room paled.
"Don't look at me like this, you already know what I want." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Peace?" The Tsuchikage spat. "And you will just so happen to take over the largest force in the world! Who's to say you're not working with them already?"
"Ōnoki." Naruto said, dropping all pretense of respect. "If I wanted to kill you… Do you think I would have any trouble on my own…?"
Actually, if he survived Nagato, he probably would. Not just because he was annoying. But someone as old had to be shrewd.
"…"
"Do you think I would have any trouble destroying your village, if it was what I wanted…?"
Now, what did he forget…?
"I'm sure Nagato and his people have plenty of defenses in place, even if they happen not to be barriers. The strike force — us — will breach Uzushio from below."
He would have to see who, from the villages, could be useful for that — and make sure they were no liability.
"Now… I know you both know that Nagato and I will be up there." Naruto said, with a bland smile. "Don't get any strange ideas about trying to shoot us down both, while we're at it."
Naruto grinned. Some people paled.
"I would survive, likely. And I would remember, definitely. Our objective is to kill Uzumaki Nagato and his Akatsuki. Only them, so let's keep that in mind."
Shade's Realm.
Hot spray poured over her, and Karin inhaled steam.
Standing in the shower, Karin looked down and realized she was getting stronger. Like these women-warriors, comic characters in Toru's more… peculiar collections.
She snorted. Everything hurt. The bruises on top of her bruises hurt. Her back was scraped raw, and her right arm looked a bit too swollen to her. Well. She would heal. Karin turned her face up to the water.
It had been more than three months already.
They had covered a lot of ground, and considering this was mostly uncharted territory, Karin knew she should feel proud. But there was still so much to do.
Karin stepped out of the shower and Hanabi climbed right in. She was covered in scrapes and bruises and her fingers looked raw. In the bedroom, Karin saw Sakura, half-passed out on her back.
"How are you doing?" Ino asked her, thumbing through the pages of a large tome.
"Fine, fine." Karin muttered.
Which in here… meant that she would manage. It was hell, but they would pull through.
She sat down on the bed with a groan. Gods, she was only twenty. Shouldn't she be out there, still growing, drinking on an evening night like a civilian…? Instead they were inside… this.
Trying to play catch up with a god.
Well. Someone had to do it. Might as well be them.
Karin dressed up and went downstairs.
Naruto was sitting seiza style, floating in midair. It had seemed rather frivolous in the beginning.
More and more, they found that he had been onto something. The reduction in the physical, mental and emotional strain that came with prolonged use meant that he was the one who was most adept at using his own Path.
He had conditioned himself to remain in the air for extended periods of time, to feel less of the… heightened emotion he had previously required to use the Deva Path's powers. And he said it helped with the Storm, as well.
Naruto hoped to become able to maintain this zen-like state almost subconsciously, so that he could learn to float indefinitely. Trying to sleep in midair had proven to be unsuccessful, to say the least. And no one had really enjoyed hearing a mass of more than a hundred and seventy kilos fall onto the floor in the middle of the night.
Naruto noticed her coming, and settled for floating above the ground slightly.
Sometimes, Karin thought he was still worried about that time he almost attacked them. Karin knew she was a bit too forgiving, but she really couldn't bring herself to care that much about the incident. Not when he was here with them, alive and well.
It was entirely dark outside, which was something they had adjusted together, once they realized that the lack of a day night cycle was playing tricks on their minds.
And they had finally figured a way to make everything not purple. Though the green sunrise that Naruto was currently playing with these days was not that much better, in all honesty.
Karin was pulled out of her thoughts and through the air. She squealed as Naruto caught her and brought them to the seaside.
The artificial sea had been replaced by real water entirely. Waves could be simulated easily enough, with seals.
He carried her like a sack of potato, over his shoulder, as he glided above the water and she tried to free herself.
Karin was glad for the small moments of privacy they could get. Maybe she was a bit of a romantic deep down, because even now, for Karin, each kiss felt special.
While the others were sleeping, he pulled her close. His lips were already over hers, firm and soft. She smiled, feeling a bit breathless for a moment.
Right now, to her, Naruto was a bit like the green night sky above. Strange, beautiful and comforting at the same time.
And for all these reasons and many more, Karin was looking forward to seeing the world with the rest of them — no matter how much she wanted to choke them, some days.
It was not just him and her anymore, now.
Sakura woke up at dawn.
She spent the first few hours practicing kata, until she was drenched in sweat.
Karin and her had worked on a seal to supplement their own chakra supplies. Well, Sakura's, mostly, since she was the only one who managed, for the time being. Once Sakura had proven she was getting pretty decent at using the Preta Path, it had seemed to become superfluous, at first.
Rather, it was the opposite, as it meant Sakura could pull the chakra she had previously stored much easier. She would likely not have much of a problem with her chakra reserves in the future. They were still working on a way for everyone else to actually make use of something similar.
Still, today, she didn't want to waste too much chakra.
Everybody was up and gathered around her.
"…You sure you want to go through with it?" Sakura asked Karin, a bit dubiously.
"Yeah. We have a deal." She answered.
Sakura shrugged. "Are you guys ready?"
Nods all around.
"Well, then." She muttered.
Sakura focused, closing her left eye.
"Kamui."
Before any of them could wonder if maybe she should get outside of the realm and its strange time first…
Sakura disappeared.
Sakura was in a plane of endless floating cubes, stretching as far as the eye could see.
It was pretty cold, too. No one was around.
"The hell…?" She muttered.
Sakura hadn't been sure what to expect — ranging from meeting Uchiha Obito himself to fighting the man she had sent food to. But nothing at all…? That wasn't on the list.
Well, there was a half-rotten face on one cube, which made her lips twitch in something almost amused. So Obito hadn't come here in a while… or?
Sakura waited, extending her chakra into what little moisture the air had here. She felt movement and she whirled around, water blade in hand.
Sasuke's brother had come out of seemingly nowhere.
He wasn't as thin as she had thought he might have become, but then again, she had sent him a fair amount of rations, once she got the hang of it.
"You're…" Uchiha Itachi rasped out with a cold expression. He probably recognized her, then. "You're the Kamui user?"
"Expected someone else?" She lifted an eyebrow.
"I didn't expect much of anything, at this point." His voice was rough from lack of use.
"Oh, I'm sure." Sakura said dryly. "You were ready to kill someone. Anyone."
His shoulders moved slightly. The Uchiha equivalent of a shrug.
"You realize that had you killed Obito, you would have been trapped in here."
"It wouldn't have been that long to wait to die." He said ruefully. "Besides, you're here. Either to take me out… or to finish me. If you can."
She shook her head, bemused. He was strange, that one.
"Yeah. So… Wanna get out of here or do we have to fight it out?"
She wasn't so sure about her chances, but well.
Itachi said nothing. It had been so long since she had to deal with someone from outside their close circle that she had to remember why he would object.
"We're not trying to capture you. Otherwise I would have come with the others." Sakura began. "And things have changed a lot outside. We have the same enemy, now. The leader of the Akatsuki, Uzumaki Nagato and his pet Uchiha. Ah, and the rest of them, too." She added as an afterthought.
There were plenty of other things she would rather not explain now. She just wanted to leave.
"Your brother asked us to help you."
"…Sasuke did?"
This, more than anything, seemed to influence his decision.