Naruto woke up from his deep sleep to find me sitting at a table with a cup of honeyed tea in my hand. I guess my summon had influenced me enough that it was now my favorite drink.
Naruto looked around the floor and found no seals left. Even the chakra ink that had made a circle around him had disappeared, leaving behind only a faint ring burned into the wood from the sheer amount of energy and powerful seals that had been channeled through it.
He had a weird look on his face as he moved his body around. It looked like he was searching for a feeling within himself before his eyes suddenly widened. "Noa, I feel... different."
I grinned. "Your body was used to a specific kind of chakra movement, so that felt normal to you. However, now that my seal has altered your chakra flow, you feel different because something is different. You won't be able to do anything crazy with it just yet, but in time, and with good training, you'll be able to do all the cool stuff shinobi do, and more."
I said the last part with a laugh as Naruto lunged at me, hugging my arm and jumping around in excitement. "Noa, you're the best!"
I nodded sagely. "So, who is better, me or your big brother Genta?"
Naruto recoiled from the hard question, looking genuinely conflicted for a moment before giving me a bright thumbs-up. "You two are the best!"
I ruffled his hair, pleased with his diplomatic answer. Watching his carefree excitement, I couldn't help but reflect on his situation.
Naruto, while incredibly powerful and gifted, was not like Itachi. Itachi's father had taught him from a young age about war and the harsh realities of the shinobi world. His immense talent had practically forced his family to train him nonstop so they could utilize it, given that the Uchiha clan would never waste such a gift.
He wasn't like Kakashi either, who had actually lived through the Third Shinobi World War and experienced enough tragedy to violently sharpen his resolve. Both of them had needed to get ridiculously strong, incredibly fast. In Kakashi's case, it was just to survive an active war, while in Itachi's case, it was to prepare for a paranoid clan that always expected the next conflict to happen at any time.
Naruto's personality and drive, however, were completely different. He wouldn't be able to train at the same grueling, relentless rate as they had. At his core, he still had the mindset of an ordinary kid, especially since he was growing up in an era of relative peace. Expecting him to train at the same pace was unrealistic and would only make him hate the process more. So, I made a decision.
"Naruto," I said, my voice now serious.
Naruto noticed and looked at me with full focus.
"I want you to do two things every day. First, train with Takemura-ojisan on improving your strength. You see how powerful Genta and I are, and that is because of his training. If you don't want to fall too far behind us, make sure to train at least once a day with him."
Though reluctantly, Naruto nodded. "I will do it, Noa."
"Good." I nodded before continuing. "I also want you to do chakra training at least once a day for an hour, or two if you feel like you can do more."
I summoned a leaf from my storage seal and stuck it to my forehead. With simple chakra control, I made it stick to my skin and shook my head to show Naruto that it was firmly attached.
Naruto gasped. "How did you do that?"
I chuckled. "By controlling my chakra. Before, if you tried this, the violent chakra flow in your body would have made it almost impossible to control it for long enough to focus chakra under the leaf and keep it stuck. But now that the flow is somewhat normal, you will be able to concentrate chakra into that area with some effort and make the leaf stay for longer periods of time. Once you are able to do that reliably, I will teach you your first jutsu."
Naruto's eyes widened. "Really, Noa?"
I nodded. "You have my word. It will be an awesome jutsu too, so look forward to it."
Naruto started to grin suspiciously, like he was contemplating how he would utilize any jutsu I teach him for pranks. I shrugged, not minding him doing so as long as no one got hurt. It would actually help him practice and improve.
I said with a genuine smile, my expression softening with care. "But most importantly, Naruto, is that you have fun and do not make it all about training. I will make sure to make you good food that will fill you with enough energy to train and play with me, Genta, Takemura-ojisan, Miki-baasama, and the rest of the Senju elders. So do not hold back."
Naruto's body suddenly shivered, and I got worried that something was wrong with his seal. I extended my chakra senses. However, to me, his chakra felt very peaceful and flowed harmoniously. I almost grinned from pride at how well my seal work was holding up before Naruto suddenly shot forward and collided with me.
He started crying and sniffling while holding me tight, only saying, "Thank you," over and over, as he was too overwhelmed to find anything else to say.
I patted his head gently until he calmed down. He moved back, his eyes puffy from tears, before I noticed his snot ruining my shirt.
I screamed. "You brat!"
I then summoned a puppet from my storage seal. With my ten fingers, I started to move it towards Naruto, who screamed with panic as he ran away from the somewhat fast-moving puppet, flailing his arms around. That is when Genta opened the door and walked in, grunting. "I hate those D-rank missions. They take too much time, and I don't get any action or practice improving my skills from them."
That was when Naruto ran past him screaming, "Big brother Genta, run!"
Genta looked to the side to find my puppet launching towards him. His eyes widened and he screamed, running behind Naruto. He grabbed him in his arms, lifting him up to run faster, but the puppet gained speed on them.
I made a hand gesture and the puppet tried to tap Genta's head. However, he jumped at the last moment. With another hand gesture and a burst of chakra, the puppet's arms separated from its main body and exploded forward with momentum. Genta's eyes widened in horror before the arms opened into multiple planks.
Storage seals were hidden under those planks. They activated, and small wooden sticks launched out. Genta turned, giving his back to protect his face, only for him and Naruto to get hit right in the butt with those wooden sticks.
While screaming with fake pain, Genta threw Naruto onto a nearby mat. He then fell to the ground in what felt like slow motion, raising his hand dramatically. "Naruto, run! Save your life!"
Naruto shouted, "No, big brother Genta, don't do it! Run!"
However, I pulled the chakra threads taut, snapping the arms back into place. They locked into the puppet's frame and began to rotate at high speed as it lunged toward Genta. He closed his eyes and said with a deep, sad tone, "Naruto, make sure the village remembers my sacrifice."