LB: Welcome dear readers to another chapter of Mirror Love! First of all, I'd like to thank TheWolfBoss06 for helping me plan and the story and for beta reading for me! I also would like to thank for also helping which planning the story.
To answer the LightingWolf, well… Man, you just gave off the perfect idea, and it makes a hell lotta sense, since Kage Bushins are essentially made from chakra, thanks!
I'd also like to thank everyone who keeps reading this story! Now, enough wasting time, enjoy!
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Mirror Love
Chapter 3: Narcissism
To love fall in love with your own reflection, that is the origin of narcissism and what gave it that name is the legend of Narcissus, who, according to his legend, upon seeing his reflection in a lake, instantly fell in love with it and then, drowned when he tried to reach it by jumping into the lake.
That is what Naruto found in a old and worn out book in a trash bin entitled 'Old Myths and Legends' when he has coming back from the academy using shortcuts to his home. Naruto at first though that it would turn out like the scroll that jounin dropped, but it turned to be pretty much useless for him, but still, he liked that story, and though it was unfair that he couldn't have something like the Kage Bushin to fall in love which.
Yes, Naruto saw absolutely no problem anymore with his mirror image, Naruko. She is kind, fun, energetic, smart, cunning and also very, very cute in his opinion. He would proudly admit to being a narcissist if he ever got found out, after all, she gave him the love they didn't.
Not to say that there weren't other good legends in the book, but that one is one that Naruto and Naruko liked the most. The male blond didn't put much time in reading it since he had the academy and had to train, so Naruko was the one that managed to finish the entire book in less than a week.
That was another difference that began to appear on her. She liked to read, and wanted to pass on that liking to him so they could enjoy reading a book together sometime. Naruto had no problem with it, he just isn't able to spend much time reading unless he really get addicted to the history.
But that attention to details is what really began to help him in the academy. Naruko is somehow much smarter than him, especially considering she IS him and should be only just as, but she could easily explain to Naruto what to do in his homework AND also helped him correct his taijutsu only using a guide she stole from that one time in the library.
Naruko can learn quickly, and, if not for her frightening fragility, she would be very strong now. But, even though the boy knew that she disliked not being able to train, less she dies, she was still determined to make him get strong in whatever way she could, it warmed his heart, really.
And the results are already showing, Naruto is no longer near dead last position, instead being close to the top in smarts and one of the top ten in taijutsu, though he still can't defeat students from clans with good taijutsu such as Kiba, Sasuke, Hinata and Choji if you called him fat, Naruto still can put a decent fight, something that Iruka showed pride on.
Talking about the academy… Naruto started to slowly drift apart from whatever feeling of attraction he had about Sakura, mainly because Naruko kept cursing her and swearing to make her pay painfully which make him realize just how bad she treated him. Also, he just doesn't care anymore if the others like or dislike him, he just want now to make the old man and Iruka-sensei proud of him, as well as impress the Ichiraku's and stay with Naruko.
Of course, Naruto still liked to play pranks on occasion, and there ARE some people he gets along rather decently with, such as Choji, who is nice to everyone, Shikamaru, who is completely indifferent to him and pretty much everyone, Kiba, who loves his pranks, Shino, who sometimes shows him some really cool beetles and Hinata, who is also nice to everyone, only she is shy.
although, he couldn't really call them his friends, as they very rarely talked to him outside of classes and preferred to spend time with each other, alone, or with someone else. Not that Naruto minded though, he only need one person in his life now, and that is himself.
As for Iruka, he really didn't know if he should be concerned with Naruto's increasingly distant personality or proud that the boy is now taking his studies seriously, hell, Naruto even denounced to him that some teacher has sabotaging him, and to his surprise, he found out that quite a few didn't want Naruto to pass.
Iruka was pissed off at this, went straight to the Hokage and explained the situation to him. And now, every single one of those teachers are having a fun time with Ibiki, including his once trusted friend, Mizuki. Iruka actually wept that night, and now he had to try to comfort his friend's girlfriend, who is probably worse off than him.
As for Naruko herself…
"Ahh…" Naruko sighed, clutching a hand in her chest. It wasn't emotional pain, though she missed Naruto, even though he is only going to be away for two hours more. No, it has her 'fake' heart, made completely from chakra that was hurting.
She somehow managed to last for four months now. Her continued existence was getting increasingly painful and pitiful. Thankfully, her Naruto hasn't managed to discover about her problem yet. They were getting close to his birthday, only a month away, so hopefully, she can last at least until then and give him a happy birthday.
Naruko sighed again, and made started to make another lunch for herself, something sweet and with lots of calories to turn into chakra. It doesn't matter to her if the food is healthy or not, as her body, being only chakra, will instantly turn whatever she eats into chakra to maintain her body, so, unhealthy food with a lot of calories are, ironically, good to prolong her life.
She wanted to try more of those soldier pills described in some of the shinobi books since when she ate once, her pain stopped for a full 3 days. Unfortunately, they are hard to come by for academy students, Naruto only managed to get about 3 or 4 every month since he claimed that he constantly exhausted his chakra in training, which has a lie, since he had as much chakra as a high level elite Jounin, and they are constantly increasing.
About chakra levels… Naruko's started as having enough chakra for a mid level Jounin, but now, her chakra levels are only at low Chunin levels, meaning that once it got below genin level, she would get really sick, and eventually die without even making smoke.
If she ate at least four high caloric meals a day, such as Ramen, she presumed she would last at least two more months, even more so if she tried to overdose soldier pills, but she didn't want to try that, so she only would take one a week.
Naruko mused that she must be the only clone in the world that managed to last this long in the real world, hell, she doubted a clone would normally stay active for a week, let alone four whole months.
Living as a clone for such a long time, she started to see things Naruto, and probably most people without a eye kekkei genkai could. Chakra residues.
Sometimes, she would look at a training field, and be able to see a few mists of chakra, probably what are left over from jutsu, and there are times she would see something that looked like some really thin lines of dark bluish chakra in random objects, such as rocks and sometimes trees, she tried to touch then, but they are so small she could only really see then up close, and her head hurt when she did, so she left it alone.
Another thing about being a chakra construct is that she started to feel sensitive to other chakra sources. Like, she could tell if there are shinobi training in a training field from at least a kilometer from it, and it worked to her advantage, since she and Naruto only used currently empty training fields.
She wondered if she has gaining some kekkei genkai of some kind, and, when the time of her death came, if Naruto would be able to inherit those abilities to better protect himself. She wished that at leas.
As Naruko ate her chocolate bar, she kept wishing for a way to stay with him forever, even if just to comfort him when he needed it.
"Ahh… Naru-kun, please, come back as quickly as you can…" She sighed again, looking out of the window with longing. For her only purpose in life is to keep him company.
With Naruto… Shinobi Academy…
Naruto sighed. The class has boring as always, and he wanted to sleep, but ever since he started getting Naruko's help, he actually began to understand what Iruka sensei has teaching and decided to pay attention to everything, no matter how much boring it is.
This particular class is about math, something they had to learn faster and better than the civilians did, that didn't make it any more interesting however, but it was still useful, as you never knew when you would need math knowledge in missions, especially undercover ones, there is always the chance you might have to undercover as some mathematician… Which is unlikely.
With class going on and on, Naruto jumped with a cheer when the signal to the end of classes ringed, and so, he dashed from his seat to the entrance, and from there to outside the academy, just so he could be with Naruko to play and train with her.
Naruto wasn't dumb, no matter what others may think about him, he knew Naruko's life span is growing increasingly thin like a person with a terminal decease and that she sometimes felt pain, and tried to hide it from him. It pained the blond greatly to see her in pain and be able to smile, so he secretly began to search for a way to make her into a permanent clone.
Flashback…
"Hey! Old man!" Naruto barged the door to the Hokage's office.
"Oh? Naruto-kun, how have you been? It's been such a long time." The old Hokage smiled kindly upon his grandson figure, looking at him with warmth as he seated in front of his desk.
"Ehehe, sorry, I've been busy getting out of the dead last position, but I've got some time now!" Naruto exclaimed with a big grin on his face, a true one.
"Hahaha, I've heard it from Iruka, you sure are getting better everyday Naruto-kun, it really makes me proud of you that you are trying so hard." The old Hokage got out of his seat, and patted Naruto in the head, ruffling his hair a bit. He moved to the window, the blond following him.
"Hey, old man, I've got a question…" Naruto fidgeted nervously, which Hiruzen noticed.
"Oh? Speak your mind Naruto-kun."
"Uhh… I wonder… Is it possible to make a Shadow Clone… You know, permanent?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Why would you want that?" The aged Hokage asked, intrigued.
"Well, they are rather frail… So… So… I'm just curious, and it would be awesome if they could last much longer and maybe even permanently!" The blond exclaimed.
"Hmm… I don't know… No one ever tried such a thing before… But, maybe…"
"What, what old man?" Naruto perked up with almost desperate curiosity, making the old man chuckle.
"Seals Naruto-kun, they might be your answer, as, you know, many a great things can be done with seals, such as being able to call forth beings from another dimension and seals objects." Sarutobi explained.
"Wow… Can, Can I get something on sealing?!" Naruto asked, feeling hope fill his heart and looking at the old man, almost pleading.
Sarutobi has quite surprised at the boy's eagerness to learn fuinjutsu, so he smiled and patted the boy in the head.
"Alright Naruto-kun, since you are interested in that area, let me give you something. It's a beginner's book on sealing. But be careful, seals can end up doing very bad things if you mess then up AND they are very difficulty to learn, even for me. So hard are they to learn, that only a few master of the art exists in the world, the Fourth Hokage being one of the most famous." The Professor explained, which made Naruto even more awed and giddy.
"Thanks a lot old man! Really, thank you!"
End of Flashback…
That was a month ago, and Naruto for sure started to learn the basics of fuinjutsu… Which… Is not much actually, but it's still very, very hard. He had Naruko helping him most of the time, so, she started to learn it as well, though he didn't say what he would truly use fuinjutsu for.
After a month of reading and practicing with seals, Naruto only learned how to make an puny explosive tag, which is the exact opposite of what he wants to do. He needs a seal to keep her alive, not to blow her up!
He sighed, this may take a while… But he would not give up! This is for her sake, for the sake of himself and they now shared happiness!
So while he was up in his thoughts, Naruto didn't even notice that he opened the door to his home, and got the scare of his life when he sucked into the house and then tackled into the ground by a blond blur.
"Naru-kun! Welcome home!" The cheerful girl exclaimed, burying her head on his chest.
"Haha, I'm home Naruko-chan!" He hugged her back, ignoring the fact that his position may be a little uncomfortable.
They stayed cuddling for a while, making happy sounds at each other before slowly getting up and proceeding to talk happily with each other about their days and headed off to a training field to play and train.
Such is frail happiness those two share, a life that could go away in single poke or even by tripping in wrong place. They always take great care to preserve Naruko's health, but they both know that her time is ending, and it hurts to even think about it. So they just stay as much as they can with each other and, in Naruto's case, try his dammest to find a way to increase her life with him.
Chapter 3: END!