"I'm on the floo...."
"Loulan, the ancient kingdom!"
A possibility flashed through Naruto's mind. He stepped straight into the Mirror World to confirm his guess.
He walked to the puppet bearing his father Minato Namikaze's data and opened its window.
"Related character data updating..."
Naruto's eyes flickered. He checked several other data puppets one after another, but none showed an update prompt.
Interesting. His father had already faded from the seal space, yet this puppet was still updating and crawlingly slow at that.
No matter. Updates always finish eventually. Judging by how his father vanished just now, things were very likely exactly as he suspected.
Would he really go to Loulan in the future, get thrown back in time by the Dragon Vein, and meet his father before he became Hokage?
Then why would he go to Loulan?
For the Dragon Vein's chakra?
Thinking as he moved, Naruto opened Uchiha Itachi's data puppet.
He arrived at the training ground, split off ten shadow clones, arranged the field, then withdrew his true body to a distance. He raised his right hand and quickly formed a Rasengan.
As Itachi's form solidified, the sphere in Naruto's palm changed violently. A shrill buzz flared. Four paper-thin blades grew from the Rasengan and began to spin.
As Naruto kept feeding chakra, the blades spun faster and faster until they formed a massive chakra shuriken about half a meter across.
Half a year of grinding and he could finally infuse nature transformation into the Rasengan. Yet his brow creased. The thing still wasn't stable enough.
The Rasengan at the shuriken's core clearly needed more chakra to be thrown, but if he added even a touch more wind nature it felt like it would collapse at once.
While Naruto weighed it, Itachi's data puppet fully awakened. The ring of ten clones struck first.
"Dual Five-Styles: Grand Linked Volley!"
A thunderous blast. Smoke swallowed Itachi's silhouette. The ground trembled, a red light swept out, and the smoke shredded away on the wind. The ten clones around him burst like sparks and vanished.
A half-bodied crimson giant stood before Naruto. Itachi, unscathed, stood inside its ribbed shell, flame-forged longsword in his right hand and a shield wreathed in fire in his left, the Yata Mirror.
Sensing the Flying Thunder God mark still beneath Itachi's feet, Naruto formed a seal and popped out another dozen clones to encircle. His true body retreated farther, waiting for the window. From past bouts, Itachi's Susanoo held for at most three minutes.
"Naruto, that Uchiha brat is almost out."
"Oh? He cleared the wolf pack with genjutsu that fast?"
Kurama's voice came lazy in his ear. Naruto answered, lifted his left hand and formed a Big Rasengan, then vanished from his spot.
A crash like a falling sky. Naruto stepped back from the fight. The pop-up flashed new text.
"Congratulations! You gained Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu training experience!"
"Congratulations! You gained training experience for the Projection Body Technique!"
…What?
Naruto focused on the second reward line.
As far as he knew, this was the technique where members of Akatsuki sit and emit a "thought-wave" converted from their chakra, which Pain then receives and amplifies into phantoms that appear at specific locations.
Unlike normal illusions, those projections, when routed through Pain, can actually perform various ninjutsu.
He could practice the Projection Body himself, sure, but it didn't seem useful. Naruto shook his head and was about to leave when more words popped up right after the second reward:
"Note: Can be used by borrowing the power of the Mirror World. Required permission: World Master Level 5."
Naruto's heart stirred. He exited the Mirror World. The moment he returned to reality, he saw Sasuke standing on a four-meter earthen wall opposite him, covered in blood, a standard long ninja sword hanging down from one hand, looking rather pleased with himself.
Naruto glanced over the base of the wall and went speechless. This guy's brain really was wired a little wrong.
Over the past half year, after Sasuke nailed the basics, Naruto had handed over every Uchiha-related ninjutsu and genjutsu he'd obtained from the Mirror World.
Once the Mirror World could sync data, Naruto also got the barrier formula to enter the Forest of Death from the Third Hokage. He herded a pack of wild wolves together in the forest and used Earth Style to build a square temporary training ground.
After teaching Sasuke the barrier technique, he brought him in, pointed at Sasuke's eyes, and shoved him into the wolves.
Sasuke didn't awaken his Sharingan, didn't use any heavy ninjutsu. He just waded in and beat the entire pack to death with taijutsu.
Naruto jumped down from the wall, crouched, and slapped both palms to the ground. The earth shuddered. The wall collapsed. Sasuke moved and landed at Naruto's side.
The ground split open into several gaping maws. By the time Naruto straightened, the wolf corpses were gone, the blood erased as if scrubbed from the world.
A flash of envy crossed Sasuke's face. Then he remembered the way Naruto had brought him here and jealousy pricked even deeper.
"There's a watering spot for the wolves over there," Naruto said coolly, pointing. "Wash up and change. We're heading back."
Sasuke didn't move. Something in Naruto's tone was off. "Are we not supposed to kill the wolves?"
"Of course you can kill them," Naruto said with a bland look. "But it's been half a year and you still have a single-tomoe Sharingan."
Sasuke's face went black.
"I warned you," Naruto went on, voice level. "Use your Sharingan. Even if you don't practice genjutsu, sharpen its perception. With what you know now, if you ran into Uchiha Itachi he wouldn't need to lift a finger. One look would kill you."
"Don't forget your surname. Every ninjutsu you've learned, he can read without trying."
"Or are you planning to give up the fundamental power an Uchiha is supposed to master?"
Sasuke had already lowered his head. After a long silence he walked toward the place Naruto had pointed.
A short while later he returned in clean clothes. Over the months he had bought himself a new storage scroll. The one Naruto had given him to carry before had been used up.
Naruto tossed him two fresh scrolls.
"These are Lightning Release techniques and a Body Flicker suited to your next phase."
"Lightning?" Sasuke stared, startled.
Naruto nodded calmly. "You currently have fire, lightning, and yin chakra natures."
A weight settled over Sasuke's chest. He looked down at the scrolls, unsure what to say.
Naruto was still just as unreadable, but after half a year together Sasuke knew at least a little about the situation Naruto lived with in the village.
At length he murmured, "Thanks."
Naruto said nothing. He laid a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and the next instant they stood on the lakeside pier not far from the Uchiha home.
"Why here?" Sasuke asked, puzzled.
Naruto looked at him with meaning. "Your shadow clone tailing my clone is fine. But you'd better shake your real tail. They almost followed me home today."
"And the Third Hokage is dropping by my place soon to hand me my living stipend. From here you can cut over and intercept your clone."
Sasuke's face tightened. No wonder Naruto had brought him here. But how had he known about the clone following a clone and who was the tail on Sasuke himself?
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