To the Future

by cbehrills

Uchiha Sarada is the 9th Hokage. A legendary shinobi, the first Uchiha to have become a Hokage. However, her reign is not easy, the village is under attack from a threat greater than any that have come before. When even the Five Kage cannot stop the incoming threat there is only one person who could, Uzumaki Naruto. There is but one problem, he is dead.

167. The New Teachers

BACK TO SCHOOL – THE NEW TEACHERS

Beneath the Military Academy

Nina and Juan walk through the underground area and approach the sleeping members of the Uzumaki family. On the stony ground they lie sound asleep having been training hard for days now. One family with the weight of the world on their shoulders, something that hasn't happened since the days of the previous emperor's family.

Nina massages the burnt left side of her head while smiling at the silent individuals before her. Yesterday she was full of doubt, but today she is eager for the opportunity in front of her. She is about to help to train someone with such remarkable potential. She is going to help with training someone with the talent to surpass Endou Akashi.

"It's time for them to wake up," she says.

Juan groans. "You do it."

Nina claps her hands loudly, the sound reverberating throughout the underground. "Wakey-wakey boys and girls, it's time to wake up."

Nina continues to clap her hands until each member of the Uzumaki family is awake and on their feet. She relishes her role as their disciplinarian, amusing herself with the exhausted looks on their faces as the groggily sway from side to side.

"Do you have to make such a terrible loud noise?" Naruto asks.

"Naruto, you've spent most of your life making loud noises," his family remind him.

Nina is not in the mood to wait. "You two," she points, "Hokages number 7 and 9, moral support and his little disciple, it's time for the two of you to begin training."

The complaining stops, each member of the Uzumaki family dares not to utter another word. Naruto and Sarada are about to receive elite training from two of the most qualified teachers to have ever lived. If they are going to learn to defeat Furst Jonas, help from these two will be essential.

"Which one do you want?" Juan asks solemnly.

"I'll take the little disciple," Nina answers, "I think it's cute how she always looks to him for guidance, but now the time has come for het o stand on her own two feet."

"Then I'll take the moral support."

The two Hokages move aside with their respective tutors. They leave lots of room, fully aware that stray attacks from people as powerful as themselves could kill any careless bystanders. Naruto groans about his nickname, having been a hero in his world these people now seem to be looking down on the two of them. However, while Juan's attitude is sombre and depressing, hidden behind that façade he is already revering the young man in front of him.

Nina takes Sarada into a clear area and decides to sit down with her. Her face lights up with a childish glee as she tells the mighty 'creation' using warrior to sit on the floor. Nina can't help but make a few school based jokes insinuating that Sarada is still a toddler. Of course, relative to the people of this world, Sarada is still so incredibly young.

"Now little disciple, your element is 'creation'. That's far more complicated than anything I understand, so frankly I can't actually help you with that," Nina admits with a shrug of the shoulders, "But I can teach you the most difficult yet efficient way to train your element. That's right, I can teach you how to meditate on an element."

"You can meditate on an element?" Sarada asks.

"Let's not jump ahead, there are other things I should teach you first," Nina explains. "I have a question, why is that you are weaker than moral support?"

Sarada ponders the question, even turning her head to look at her distant teacher. It's almost unfair to ask such a question. Why is anyone weaker than Naruto? It's just because he's Naruto isn't it? Isn't it because of the eternal hope that he has buried within his soul? Nobody will ever be able to hold Naruto down, that is something she truly believes, it's written into her subconscious like the rules of reality. So, she asks herself a different kind of question, how does Naruto's superiority manifest itself within a battle?

"Naruto's fighting style is unconventional," Sarada explains, "His unpredictability spawns from his bizarre form of genius."

"Ah, then I can help you to improve in that way," Nina explains, "I can help you to close the gap between you. You need to learn the difference between what an opponent should do and what an opponent will do."

Nearby, Juan finishes his instructions to Naruto.

"Alright, those are the five poses, and as you move through them, you draw divine energy into your chest and then back out to tips of your fingers and toes."

"OK, I can do that," Naruto replies.

Naruto begins to do these poses, stretching his body in a few different ways that seem insignificant to him. He decides to at least give Juan a chance though, trying his best to mobilise his full divine energy as he moves through them again and again.

Juan drinks from his hip flask as he watches, criticising Naruto all the way. "Stronger movements… slower movements… stretch your fingers more… don't be so stiff, you need to be fluid…"

These criticisms continue for a solid period of 15 minutes without pause.

"Hey, how can you teach me anything in such a state?" Naruto barks, pointing accusingly at Juan, "You haven't stopped drinking since I've started and you aren't being very encouraging."

"If you could focus on yourself not me, this would go a lot faster, but if you must know, I have been characterising your movements to help you improve as a fighter."

Naruto remains uncertain of whether Juan is telling the truth or not. He considers a quick test, perhaps throwing a kunai at him would help to wake Juan up. The 7th Hokage decides better of this, Juan was handpicked by Headmaster Sora, a man with hundreds of years of teaching experience. There is no way that Sora would pick someone unqualified to teach Naruto.

"If you've characterised my movements, what did you learn?"

"I learn that you're an unusual man. Your fighting style is unique and unpredictable, so tell me, when have you come closest to losing before, what was your opponents greatest advantage over you."

"… I almost lost to my best friend, he had great knowledge of me and he had these dark eyes, his eyes could see through my every movement, no matter how crazy. If I didn't know him just as well as he knew me, I may have lost to him that day."

"You believe your senses were your greatest disadvantage in that battle?"

"My senses aren't weak at all but I could never have compared to Sasuke. It wasn't just that his eyesight was good, it was more than that, he could see things the rest of us didn't even realise were there."

"Nonsense!" Juan proclaims, "Your senses just aren't correctly optimised yet."

"They aren't what?"

"You fought against Carmen didn't you?"

"Yes," Naruto recalls, "With help from three others I managed to defeat her."

"But Carmen is almost entirely blind, only able to see shapes at best, so how was she able to battle against the four of you at such a disadvantage?"

Naruto pauses. "Because she was significantly stronger?"

"No!" Juan snaps again, "She rebalanced her senses because that put her near to the most perfect sensory state. She probably didn't even realise she was doing it, but when she approached this state, she became more than your average warrior."

Naruto thinks back to the fight against Carmen. It is in contrast to his fight with Sasuke. Sasuke knew Naruto so well and he could see every hidden attack, but Carmen didn't know Naruto at all, and she could barely see anything. Despite their differences, Carmen was able to battle against Naruto with such skill and conviction. Should Naruto's strengths in battle not have been most useful against she with no way to witness his unpredictability?

"I thought she was special because she helped to make those battle principles," Naruto says.

"Yes, that did make her special but this state made her even more unique," Juan explains, "It's called 'one true sense'."

"One true sense, what is that?"

Juan stares blankly at Naruto. One true sense is far beyond what regular pupils will ever understand. He has taught it to few aristocrats in his time as a teacher, and it is a principle that has never been taught to any student of the military academy. The one true sense uses principles beyond what science can explain and it is incredibly difficult to master, even more difficult to teach. Now, he has to teach it to the moral support, he doesn't like his chances.

"Listen, currently you can see, you can hear, you can feel, you can smell and you can taste," Juan says, "But with the one true sense you can do more than that, you sense everything."

"I don't really understand."

Juan takes another drink, realising just how much of an uphill struggle this will be. "You're not too bright, are you moral support. With this ability you will start to sense things that other people can't, you will start to understand the world on a deeper level."

Naruto scratches his chin. He still doesn't understand.

"If you learn to achieve the perfect balance, it won't matter when I take away your eyes, you will still see everything," Juan continues, "I can take away your ears but you will still hear everything. One true sense isn't just a boost to your eyes, it cannot be stopped, the senses of a user are always active."

Naruto claps his hands, "I get it!."

Juan isn't optimistic.

"That's why Lara and Clyde could use that stun trick against Carmen," Naruto says, "She couldn't stop sense the changing light, it overloaded all of her senses at once."

Juan raises his eyebrows. It seems Naruto really may understand.

"Then if you know the weakness of the one true sense, you can even overcome that," Juan explains, "Uzumaki Naruto, we can use this, we can make you unstoppable."

Nadia's Residence

The servant pours water into Swen's glass and leaves the room urgently. He may be relatively privileged to be in such a role but being Queen Nadia's servant is still terrifying. There is no telling when any of these royals will lose their temper, they have so many secrets. If you were to catch an ill-tempered royal at the wrong moment, it would be courting death.

Swen and Nadia are left alone in the room. The huge dining room is often used for large banquets full of influential warriors and members of the imperial guard, but currently it's just the two of them. They sit down the same end of the table as one another and chat quietly.

"Why did we have to do this at your house Nadia?"

"You don't call a place this big a house Swen, there are a servants quarters, it's more like a palace don't you think?"

Swen ignores her. "We could have done this at my house."

"That's also more like a palace than a house if you ask me."

"If we had done this at my house, I could have had a nice long nap. Yep, that would have been nice, an extra-long snooze."

Nadia shakes her head as she takes out her little notebook. "Don't be so lazy Swen, you know you really like it here. Besides, this place is a lot cleaner than yours."

Suddenly, the enormous doors to the dining room swing open. In step two imperial guard members. They are adorned by sleeveless uniforms coloured gold and highlighted in silver marking them as two generals. Generals in the imperial guard each answer to one of the royals, and these two generals answer to Nadia and Swen. They are General Odion and General Dodi.

"Greetings King Swen," Odion bows to his master.

"Greetings Queen Nadia," Dodi does the same.

"Please, come and sit down, there is no need to behave so formally here," Nadia says, gesturing to the chairs next to herself and Swen.

Each of the generals takes a seat next to their respective masters.

"Why have you requested our presence," General Odion asks, "Is there something that we can do for our lords and masters?"

Swen cuts straight to the point, "Do you know what Nadia's divine ability does?"

"Of course," Dodi answers.

"I'm afraid I don't," says Odion. It's only natural for Odion to be unfamiliar, given that he reports directly to Swen.

"Nadia's divine ability is called '3rd party sight', it allows her to borrow someone's eyes for a while, yep, all it requires is for her to touch them."

Odion nods. "It is no wonder you are renowned for tracking down traitors my lady. You and my king are the perfect team for such a role."

Nadia grins but doesn't respond to Odion. Instead, as the conversation stops, the only sound that can be heard is her scribbling in her notebook. Each of the generals feel the beating of their hearts in their chests. Their terror is deliberate, they have to allow themselves to be controlled by it. If they so much think of betraying their royals, they will be found out. Swen is a royal who can hear your innermost thoughts. Nadia is a royal who doesn't need to hear your thoughts to know what you're thinking. Ill intentions cannot be hidden from the pair of them.

"Nadia used 3rd party sight to find another traitor," Swen says, "We need the two of you to help us out."

"I borrowed the eyes of an aristocrat named Juan," Nadia explains, "He is loyal to Headmaster Sora and he has been teaching Uzumaki Naruto. This Uzumaki Naruto is a traitor to the empire, he's a rebellious pocket-worlder who is working with Head General Lara and General Clyde."

Dodi recalls the descriptions he has heard about Head General Lara in the past. He is one of a small group of generals who reports to Head General Safura who is in charge of the Imperial Guard. Head General Lara is in charge of the military and there are many more generals who are answer to her. Lara has less access to resources than Safura, that is why she has never been able to reach the same level. Dodi has often wondered what would happen if the most famous military generals, Lara and Clyde, were given the same resources as the imperial guard. Just how strong would the two of them be. Headmaster Sora is one of the few people who could give such resources to them.

"Presumably, you want us to deal with Uzumaki Naruto," Odion says.

"Capture him if you can," Nadia replies, "But it certainly won't be easy."

"Why?"

"Because he's currently hidden in the military academy."

Dodi jumps up in protest. "If they're in the military academy then the headmaster will surely…"

"You aren't to question my judgement generals," Nadia says calmly, "You are to go to the military academy and seek them out. You kill the rest, and you bring Uzumaki Naruto to us."

"I… of course my queen."

Dodi's concern is more than justified. If a full-scale rebellion were to break out, Headmaster Sora is the one who would lead it. He is the man who would go head-to-head against Furst Jonas. Headmaster Sora is someone who not even the royals would dare to face, so how could mere generals from the imperial guard hope to go against him. Surely, such a mission is doomed to fail.

"Swen, do you really want me to do this?" his general asks.

"That's King Swen to you, and if Nadia says you do it, then you do it, yep."

Odion shares a glance with Dodi. It seems unlike Swen and Nadia to be so distant and domineering. If they weren't forced to be afraid of them, they would consider the two royals close friends. Perhaps, the two of them know something that they don't, perhaps Swen and Nadia have a plan. Yes, of course, Queen Nadia always has a plan.

"Very well, then I fear it is time for us to depart, King Swen, Queen Nadia."

"Off you go then," Nadia waves sarcastically as the two of them leave.

Nadia puts a tick her notebook before cheerfully showing it to Swen. "Just as I predicted, look!"

Swen glances at Nadia's notebook, pretending to have any doubt about her success. Nadia's basic predictions included that the generals would complain, of course, that was easy to predict. In six of seven cases, she managed to guess what the generals would say word for word. As always, the Queen has a fearsome mind.

"Aren't they right though Nadia, aren't we just sending them to their doom?"

"Sora wouldn't kill them, he would just try to 'prove' to them that Naruto isn't there," Nadia begins, "Besides, he won't do that under present circumstances."

"What present circumstances?"

"Swen, I'm certain that Sora won't stop them, but somebody else might."

"Somebody else?"

"Whatever happens, you don't need to worry my friend, we have Uzumaki Naruto cornered."

Swen glares at Nadia, she seems to revel in keeping details from him, in making him trust her plans. He is so often tempted to read Nadia's mind. He never has and he promised that he never will, but he imagines what it must be like in there. The minds of the intelligent are often such beautiful places, and Nadia's mind must be paradise. He ignores his instinct to glance inside, instead trusting as he has always done that Nadia's plan will work in the end. She has always rewarded his faith in the past after all.

"So, what does a pocket worlder look like anyway?" he asks.

Nadia laughs. "What do you mean, they look like you and me of course."

"Half of them are quite good-looking then."

"Are you being cheeky again Swen?"

"I do my best, yep."

Beneath the Military Academy

The many students beneath the military academy sit together in small groups, eating the evening food provided to them by Headmaster Sora. Its not luxurious food, after all, that would look suspicious in their present circumstances. However, they are all grateful for it after hours of solid training. Many captains have made their breakthroughs to the colonel level. Some of the colonels have broken through to the general level. Some shinobi have begun to understand the elements that make up divine energy.

Every day, there is progress.

Nina sits down next to Juan and nudges him in the ribs. "Aww, don't they all look exhausted, I think even moral support is about to go to sleep."

"Can't you leave me alone?"

"So, what have you been doing to him, you seem to have worn him out?"

"You can talk, the little disciple looks like she's spent most of the day crying."

"If she had performed a bit better I wouldn't have hit her so many times."

Juan nods. Despite being so irritating, he knows that Nina is a teacher on par with himself. He thinks he knows what training Nina has been doing with her, it's hard but it would have a huge payoff.

Juan groans, "The military academy should serve wine with their meals shouldn't they, what a low class establishment Sora is running."

Ming Dai, Sora's personal student approaches, offering some bread to Juan. "We're training soldiers here Mr Juan, not aristocrats. We can't afford to spoil so many people."

"Yes-yes, I hope you enjoy the life of a soldier Dai, nobody else does."

Ming Dai looks past Juan to Nina. She seems to be quite happy eating this kind of food. He has heard a few stories about her, he never assumed that she would be content to eat these rations. Nina has a storied past, the burns across half her face are symbolic of it. Yet, in spite of such suffering and such scarring in her past, Nina seems to have the optimism of a child. Dai can't help but wonder just how she manages to stay so positive. She was positive before she even knew about Naruto's potential. For someone who must suffer as much as she does, what joy is there for her to hold onto?

"Hey Juan," Nina says, nudging him in the ribs again, "Why don't you tell them a story. Tell them a story, go on. You know you want to, you're a good storyteller."

"I don't want to," Juan answers.

"Oh go on," Nina says, shaking Juan's arm comically.

A group of Hokage turn to look over their shoulders. The warriors of this world are usually hundreds of years old. They share a mutual surprise that the teachers at the pinnacle of homeworld could claim to be so wise yet act so immaturely.

Dai decides better of speaking to the immature aristocrats further, instead taking a message to Hinata. "I'm going to have to speak with my master now, I'll see you tomorrow," he says before disappearing.

With Juan and Nina still jostling, Naruto suddenly leaps to his feet. "Alright, that was great, now I have all the energy I need, let's keep training!"

Juan groans once more, "Seriously…"

"Hey moral support," Nina shouts, "If you still have energy then can you heal my back?"

"You don't need healing do you?"

"No but when it's not being used to attack divine energy feels great, and 'life' energy is the nicest of them all. It's so relaxing, so pleasant."

"OK…"

Naruto reluctantly approaches Nina and begins to use 'life' energy on her back. Nina laughs before smiling and relaxing. This whole situation leaves the 7th Hokage quite unsure about how to react, is this supposed to be training? He's fairly sure that he's just doing this because Nina likes it.

"Alright," Juan says, "If you want to hear my story listen up, it's nothing special and I'm not going to repeat it."

If the story is to be nothing special, it does not show. After Juan promises to tell his story, almost all of the students gather around him as if comrades around a campfire. Each of them eager to hear about just where this eccentric individual comes from.

"I was an assistant during the last war, an assistant teacher, got it? I helped other teachers out but I wasn't one myself. I never fought during the last war, and I regret that deeply. I did however, experience the horrors just like everyone else.

"I remember the food shortages, and the parents fighting one another in a desperate bid to grab the last of the food for their own children. I remember going to sleep at night, knowing the enemy was near and not knowing what would happen. I remember not knowing whether I would wake up or not, whether I would ever see my friends again, whether I would wake a prisoner under an oppressive regime.

"I ran from place to place during the war, I ran time and time again never daring to look back because I was being chased by a power I couldn't hope to overcome. I was desperate because I had no control over what tomorrow would bring. I was a prisoner of my own weakness."

"Oh stop moaning Juan," Nina says, still smiling as the 'life' energy soothes her back.

"I wanted to fight so badly. I wanted to do something but I was never a competent fighter. I doubt any of you can understand the anguish, you are all mighty yourselves. But just imagine if your power were taken from you and you had to watch while the rest of us went into battle. It hurts so much to be so powerless. But I was incompetent, and I was powerless.

"Until I found my talent, that was teaching. I noticed quite quickly that I was good at helping other people to make breakthroughs. I didn't have any understanding of the elements myself, but all the people I gave advice to understood their elements so quickly. Other teachers tried to take the credit for my success, but the pupils soon worked out what was going on. I was the genius teacher amongst the bunch. So, I was placed in charge of teaching new recruits, and I created strong soldiers faster than anyone else as part of the war effort."

"It was quite something apparently," Nina recalls hearing of Juan's exploits at the time. "They reckon if it weren't for this fool the war may have been over before Endou Akashi emerged."

"I wasn't as special as everyone made out," Juan admits. "I was never able to break through myself. I spent months trying different elements, all the conventional ones, even some of the more obscure ones. I became desperate, even trying to study double-transcendent elements but I found nothing.

"That all changed when Muto Sora arrived, this was long before the military academy was created. Muto Sora arrived but he wasn't the focus of the majority, that was Endou Akashi. Endou Akashi arrived, he led the war effort and suddenly everything began to change. It was incredible. We all thought that Endou Akashi was a naïve young man, preaching about values we couldn't possibly uphold in the face of the enemy. Somehow though, he was right, he managed to unify us and we all began to work together.

"Muto Sora was different though, not so naïve but just as brilliant in many ways. He was an even better teacher than I, he just understood so much. I think he probably understood Akashi's success more than Akashi did.

"Muto Sora was the one who helped me to break through. I had finally understood an element after trying for so long. I thought it was impossible but he made it seem easy. About one year after I broke through I stopped ageing, just as many of you have. I had a new ambition, to learn from him. I wanted to learn about learning from him, to learn about teaching from him, to learn about everything from him."

"So, that's how you got here?" someone asks.

"Yes, I was one of the founding members of the organisation that became the military academy. Muto Sora always spoke of his love of teaching, and he wanted for this place to one day become something more. He wanted schools all over the world where students could learn about the elements, or about anything they wanted. But that never happened, this organisation remains a place where people are taught to kill."

"I don't really understand," Naruto says, "Doesn't it help Furst if other people are studying in schools, doesn't that make the empire stronger?"

"Knowledge is power, and nobody is more knowledgeable than Furst Jonas," Juan explains, "Why would he ever allow anyone else to rival his power in that department. Education died when he became our ruler."

"You certainly make your story sound miserable, old man," Sarada says.

"It would be miserable, if it weren't for what's happening here and now," Juan smiles. "I'm teaching the people who will end Furst's tyranny. What I'm doing here will help to bring about a new age of learning. I truly believe that."

"Yes, let's do some more training," Naruto shouts as he leaps to his feet.

Juan sighs, it's a bother teaching someone so energetic, but he wouldn't have it any other way.