"I'm at the tower."
"—The ancient kingdom of Lōran!"
As soon as a certain possibility flashed through his mind, Naruto headed into the Mirror World. He needed to confirm his suspicion.
He stopped before the data puppet modeled after his father—Minato Namikaze—and brought up the interface.
"Related character data updating…"
Naruto's gaze flickered. He tried the same thing on several other data puppets, but none of them showed any update notice.
Interesting.
His father had already vanished from the sealed space, yet this place was still updating his data—and at a painfully slow rate, too.
Still, that didn't matter. Data would finish updating sooner or later. And judging by what happened when his father left, it was probably exactly as Naruto suspected.
So… would he really go to Lōran in the future? Would the Dragon Vein send him back in time, to meet his father before he ever became Hokage?
But then—why would he go to Lōran in the first place?
For the Dragon Vein's chakra?
Thinking that, Naruto opened the data puppet for Itachi Uchiha.
The moment he arrived at the training field, Naruto created ten Shadow Clones and set them in position. His real body retreated into the distance, right hand extending as a Rasengan formed in an instant.
As Itachi Uchiha's body gradually solidified, the Rasengan in Naruto's hand began to change violently. A harsh, ear-splitting hum rose—four thin blades, like cicada wings, sprouted from the sphere and started spinning.
Naruto kept feeding chakra into it. The blades spun faster and faster until it became a massive chakra shuriken nearly half a meter across.
After more than half a year, he could finally imbue the Rasengan with an elemental nature.
Yet Naruto frowned. The thing in his hand still wasn't stable enough.
The Rasengan at the center clearly needed even more chakra before it could be thrown. But the moment he tried to add more Wind Release chakra, it felt like it would collapse immediately.
While Naruto weighed his options, the Itachi data puppet fully "awoke." The ten clones surrounding it struck first.
"Double Five-Release: Great Barrage Technique!"
Boom!
A tremendous explosion swallowed Itachi in thick smoke. The ground trembled—then a crimson streak swept through, dispersing the smoke in an instant. The ten clones all burst apart and vanished.
A scarlet, half-formed giant stood before Naruto.
Itachi remained unharmed inside it—right hand gripping a long sword made entirely of flame, left hand holding a shield wreathed in fire.
It was the Yata Mirror.
Sensing that the Flying Thunder God marker beneath Itachi's feet still remained, Naruto formed a seal with one hand. More clones appeared and rushed in.
His real body retreated again to wait for the right moment. From experience, Itachi's Susanoo could last—at most—around three minutes.
"Naruto… that Uchiha brat is about to come out," Kurama's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
"Oh? He cleared the wolves with genjutsu already?" Naruto replied. He raised his left hand and formed a Giant Rasengan again, then vanished from where he stood.
Rumble!
After the deafening roar, Naruto withdrew from the fight. Text flashed across the interface.
"Congratulations! You have gained Itachi Uchiha's genjutsu training experience!"
"Congratulations! You have gained training experience for the Technique: Phantom Lantern Body!"
…What?
Naruto's eyes snapped to the second reward.
As far as he knew, this technique was used by Akatsuki members: they could remain still and release a chakra-converted "thought wave," which Pain would receive and amplify—projecting it as a phantom image at a designated location.
It differed from ordinary illusions. With Pain as the relay, the phantom could even perform various jutsu.
He could train this "Phantom Lantern Body," but it didn't seem all that useful. Naruto shook his head slightly, ready to leave—when another line appeared after the second reward.
"Note: Can be used by borrowing the Mirror World's power. Required authority: Level 5 World Lord."
Naruto's heart stirred. He exited the Mirror World—
—and the first thing he saw was Sasuke, covered in blood, standing atop a four-meter-high earthen wall. He held a standard-issue ninja longsword in one hand, blade down, wearing a faintly smug expression.
Naruto glanced at the base of the wall, then felt a headache coming on.
Sasuke's brain really was twisted.
Over the past six months, after Sasuke built his foundations, Naruto had given him every Uchiha-related ninjutsu and genjutsu Naruto had obtained from the Mirror World.
Once the Mirror World could synchronize data, Naruto got the barrier formula for entering and leaving the Forest of Death from the Third Hokage. He went into the forest, penned a pack of wolves together, then used Earth Release to build a square, temporary training ground.
After teaching Sasuke the barrier formula too, Naruto brought him here—pointed at Sasuke's eyes—and shoved him into the wolves.
And Sasuke hadn't even activated his Sharingan. He didn't use any high-output ninjutsu either. He killed the wolves with pure taijutsu, one after another, until none were left.
Naruto leapt down from the wall, crouched, and slapped both hands to the ground. The earth shuddered; the wall crumbled. Sasuke moved and landed beside him.
The ground split open into several gaping cracks. When Naruto straightened up again, not a single wolf corpse remained—no blood, no stains. Everything was gone, perfectly clean.
A flash of envy crossed Sasuke's face—then, remembering how Naruto had brought him here, the jealousy in his eyes became obvious.
"There's a spot where the wolves drink water," Naruto said, pointing with a cold expression. "Wash up and change. We're going back."
Sasuke didn't move. Naruto's tone felt off, so he asked, "So… I'm not allowed to kill them?"
Naruto gave him a flat look. "Of course you can kill them. But it's been half a year—and you're still at a single-tomoe Sharingan."
Sasuke's expression turned ugly.
Naruto's voice stayed calm. "I told you before: use your Sharingan more. Even if you don't practice genjutsu, you should at least sharpen your perception. With what you have right now, if you run into Itachi Uchiha—he won't even need to move. One look is enough to kill you."
"Don't forget what your surname is. Every jutsu you've learned, he can read through easily."
"Or are you trying to abandon the one power an Uchiha must master?"
Sasuke lowered his head. After a long silence, he finally started walking toward the direction Naruto had indicated.
A while later, Sasuke returned in clean clothes. During these six months, he had bought himself a new storage scroll. The one Naruto had given him earlier could no longer be used.
Naruto tossed him two new scrolls.
"These are Lightning Release techniques and Body Flicker techniques suitable for your next stage of training."
Sasuke took them—and froze. "Lightning Release?"
Naruto nodded. "You have three chakra natures right now: Fire, Lightning, and Yin."
Sasuke's mood sank. Staring at the scrolls in his hands, he didn't know what to say.
Naruto was as mysterious as ever… but after spending more than half a year together, Sasuke at least understood what kind of position Naruto was in inside the village.
After a long time, Sasuke finally spoke in a low voice. "Thanks."
Naruto didn't reply. He placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder—
—and the next moment, they appeared at a lakeside dock not far from Sasuke's home.
Sasuke looked at Naruto, confused. "Why are we here?"
Naruto's eyes held a hint of meaning as he looked back. "Your Shadow Clone tailing my clone is fine. But you'd better shake off the little tail behind you. Today it almost followed me all the way to my house."
"And the Third Hokage is coming to my place soon to deliver my living stipend. From here, you can take the shortest route and intercept your clone."
Sasuke's expression changed.
No wonder Naruto brought him here…
But how did Naruto know Sasuke's clone was tailing his clone?
And… who exactly was the "tail" following Sasuke?
(End of Chapter)
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