Colours filled spiraled passed them in a kaleidoscope of dancing rings that twisted and convoluted, turning upon themselves. They were falling, falling, falling, up, up, up. They gasped in shock as they gazed down upon the world below them, Konoha growing further and further away.

Then Sakura screamed as a hand grasped her ankle. It was followed by another, and another, and another. A tidal wave of grasping hands dragged them into unreality. Just as quickly as the hands came, they were gone, replaced by a great ocean. They fell into it, speeding down and down and down. A great monolith rose from the sea floor. Twisted walls that curved in impossible ways, spires that reached in all directions and yet only in one, windows that gleamed with the blackest light, brighter than a thousand suns.

The sea turned to flames, and they found themselves striding across molten liquid. Kakashi pulled his mask down, revealing a spinning eye dyed red. He blinked, then stumbled. "This is… the sun?"

Naruto glanced over his shoulder and nodded, before tapping the ball of fire upon which they stood with his staff. It opened up beneath them, swallowing them whole. As they fell into the opening maw, their bodies began to dissolve, melting away as they grew closer to the center. Sakura screamed as she melted into little more than liquid goop. Kakashi and Sasuke remained silent as they too became unmade.

Then they were whole once more. Sakura opened her eyes, and a thousand eyes stared back. Eyes, upon eyes, upon eyes. Next to her, Kakashi slammed his sharingan eye shut, blood trickling from the corner. The eyes breathed in, and exhaled, and they found themselves tearing through space once more. Light became darkness. A cool, comfortable darkness. Until a piercing beam of light illuminated the world, cutting through the calm shadows and carving a path to their souls.

The light pulled them towards it, slowly, then faster, faster, faster, fast. A maw opened to consume them. Jagged teeth, each one a swirling mass of the end of existence, closed about them.

Then they were falling once more, falling through the rings of kaleidoscopic colours once more. Each one of them was breathing hard, save for Naruto. The boy simply spread his arms wide.

"Did you have fun passing through Existence itself?" Naruto gestured around them with his staff. "Well, regardless, welcome to the Root of All Things. All knowledge, past, present, and future, resides here. Look, but do not touch. Unless you happen to possess a mass of living chakra, touching it will unmake you."

Kakashi started at what Naruto said, though so slightly that only Naruto noticed.

"What is this place, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked, coughing and trembling.

"You asked where I got my power from. Here it is." Naruto's hand passed near the stream of light. A speck of icy blue light lept from the rings, landing in Naruto's palm. "This is the concept of snow. No, more specifically, it's the concept of a new snowfall on the eve of New Year's. Watch."

Raising his hand, Naruto threw the speck upwards. It dissolved into nothingness, but as it did so, in shone brightly. In response, snowflakes began to fall. The crystalline things glistened as they fell toward those below. Sakura reached out and touched one, starting when she felt a rush of calm, of hope, and of happiness. The fatigue that had infused her body was washed away.

"This is…" Sakura trembled as more snowflakes landed on her, suffusing her with a wave of good will.

Naruto shrugged. "I can use the concepts of reality. Bend them to my will. What you are feeling right now is a crystallization of everything good about the New Year. Hope for a better future, love for your fellow man, all that."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What else?"

With a raised eyebrow, Naruto stretched out his hand once more. This time, a red and brown spark shot out, dancing in his fingertips. Rather than throwing this one, Naruto clenched his fist. A blade of blazing flames erupted forth, and a shield of black stone formed around his other arm. "A conceptualization of a volcano. It's flames, mighty, but directed, and the rocks that form in the passing," he explained.

"Impressive," Kakashi noted. "What can't you do?"

"Nothing." And their doubtful looks, Naruto shrugged. "This is reality that you stand in. All worlds and all times. Everything. No, the question isn't what can't I do, but what can't I survive. The answer to that is short, but I can't look too far into the future—a few moments at most. Nor can I look to far into the past. Within the present… it depends on the strength of what I'm looking at. The stronger the power, the more draining for me. So, for instance…" Naruto swept his hand forwards. The world shifted, and suddenly they stood amongst the woman's bathhouses in Konoha. Sakura slapped Naruto on the head.

"Pervert!" she rebuked. Naruto shrugged. The bathhouse dissolved and once more they were standing amongst the rings and light.

"I am what I am." He waved his hand once more. This time, they stood amidst an office. Two ninja stood there, each one a Chunin. And seated behind the desk, a jagged and distorted figure stood. A second later, the world around them dissolved into dust, torn apart on a molecular level.

Kakashi sighed. "Was that the Tsuchikage?"

Naruto smirked cheekily. "Yeah. But to answer your next question, no my power is not effective for information gathering. The scene falling apart was not on my end. Rather, the presence of the Tsuchikage unmade my power. It's the same with all other great Hidden Villages. You have perhaps a second in their presence within my power, and I can only project my sight into the presence of such power once a week. So, ineffective for spying. If you're planning an assassination, I suppose I could tell you what the room look like, or where he is, or that kind of thing, but it's not to useful. Unless you'd like to spy on the Land of Grass or something."

At that, Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Aware of what the Land of Grass is doing. Nothing of matter."

"Rude, if true." Naruto shrugged. "Any more questions?"

Sakura nodded. "Is there a limit on the amount of power you can use?"

Naruto considered that. "It depends. I draw on concepts, so the closer I am to the concept, the easier it is to make real. A tidal wave in Kiri is easy, a tidal wave in Suna much harder. The scale also matters quite a bit. I can probably call forth gouts of fire and daggers of ice all day, but something on the scale of actual injuring a Jonin like you, Kakashi-sensei, would exhaust me for quite a while. Beyond that, the biggest issue is speed. The weaker the power, the faster I can manifest it. So, calling up a gust of wind might take half a second, while calling forth a hurricane would take a dozen seconds. It's why you managed to beat me, Kakashi-sensei. You're far too fast. Any more questions?"

They considered that. Sasuke finally fixed Naruto with a look. "Power is bullshit."

The rings that spun about them fell away, and they found themselves standing in the real world once more. Naruto just shrugged at Sasuke's words. "I mean, probably. But we're ninja. What do we do that isn't bullshit? By the way, watch your tongue or I'll chuck you into an unfriendly world."

"Eh?" Sakura blinked. "Those were friendly worlds? You call being turned into liquid friendly?"

"More… benign?" Naruto gave a shrug. "Uncaring of you at least. Not actively seeking to unmake you. There are much less tolerant places here. It's why I stick to this realm. I call it the Root of All Things, for it is here that all the concepts of Earth reside. Fear of ghosts, love for your child, the might of the sea, the will of the Land of Iron. That kind of stuff. Understandable to humans."

Kakashi nodded at that, rubbing his chin. "Ma, ma. Well, I've got to go. Talk to the Hokage and what not. You three… do whatever. I'll find you a mission to do tomorrow. For today, I'll have to get your files updated."

"Eh?" Sakura looked at him. "Aren't you going to even train us?"

The masked Jonin gave her a searching look before shaking his head. "You can hardly even stand right now."

"What? I feel…" In a rush, the energy that had been infusing her poured out of her body and Sakura dropped like a sack of potatoes, Sasuke following after. Naruto stumbled, just barely catching himself with his staff.

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, actually travelling to that world, even if it isn't your physical body, is very draining on the soul. The snowflakes from before gave you some vitality back, but they just ran out."

Shaking his head, Kakashi sighed. "You weren't lying, what you do really is magic."

Sakura spoke up from where she lay. "Always thought that people talking about magic were just mistaken after seeing a ninja, but maybe they saw an actual magician, like you."

Naruto shrugged. "The vast majority probably are just mistaken, but there's probably been a handful of people like me that can tap into this powersource. Through the course of history, I don't doubt it. Most likely none to the degree I can though."

"No, probably not." Kakashi turned away. "Meet me at the Hokage's Tower at 0700 tomorrow morning for your first mission."

Groaning, his baby genin climbed to their feet and stumbled towards their homes, save for Naruto who drew a circle with his staff and stepped through. Kakashi watched as the hole in reality closed, before Shunshining away.

Blarg. Mostly exposition in this chapter. That's why it's taken so damn long. I hate exposition like this. Rewrote it a dozen times or something. Not my thing at all. Well, whatever. Now that everyone knows how Naruto does what he does, I won't be doing that ever again. Next chapter, actually interesting things happen. D-ranked missions are a go. And yes, the thrown through other dimensions thing is inspired by, Dr. Strange though the worlds are a bit different. (Except the hands, because I like the hands.)