Morning.
Naruto shivered awake, rubbed his eyes, and stretched. His neck felt stiff and sore.
"Damn… did I sleep wrong?"
He looked over.
Sakura was curled on the other side of the couch, wrapped in a throw blanket.
Oh God… does this count as stealing a girl's first night?
Naruto snapped fully awake, shot upright, and checked the clock.
He was nearly an hour behind his usual training start.
He hurriedly made a shadow clone and sent it out to follow his normal "daily route." The commotion woke Sakura too.
"Mm… you're awake?" Sakura blinked sleepily. "You look a lot more alive."
"Do I…?" Naruto stared into a mirror. His eyes really did look less hollow.
They made a simple breakfast together and ate.
Afterward, Sakura returned to what she hadn't finished last night.
"Sorry. You were too tired yesterday. So—again: I studied the shard for a long time, and I realized the way you entered it before was wrong."
Naruto's eyes sharpened. "How so?"
"If you just inject chakra, you only enter your own most unbearable memories." Sakura's voice lowered slightly. "For example, when I injected mine, I relived my psychological trauma in that space. It was like watching a horror film."
"But if you inject chakra while maintaining an active jutsu state, then when you enter, you can still act like a ninja in there." She looked straight at him. "In other words, your 'ninja state' gets retained. You can use techniques inside the memory space."
Naruto's heart jumped. "You mean… I could use the Rasengan in there?"
"Yeah."
"Holy—" Naruto shot to his feet, pacing. "What does 'maintaining an active jutsu state' even mean?"
"For example," Sakura said calmly, "cast Transformation Jutsu first. Don't release it. While it's still active, inject chakra into the shard and enter. Once you're inside, cancel the transformation—then you'll find you can mold chakra in there. You're basically exploiting a bug in the space."
"Hoooooly…" Naruto went wordless.
He couldn't help wondering how she'd even come up with such a twisted exploit.
"Cough. How did you think of that?"
"I just listed every possible approach," Sakura said simply, "then tested them one by one."
"…Ridiculous." Naruto's tone was half admiration, half disbelief.
He forced his mind back on track. "So if we can fight in that space… what's the use?"
"That's the key part." Sakura's expression tightened. "When we enter that space in ninja form, it generates monsters based on our psychological shadows. I call them inner demons."
Naruto's gamer brain instantly engaged. "If you kill them, do you get rewards?"
"I experimented on myself," Sakura said. "And I found that every time I kill one, my mood improves a little."
"That's actually insane." Naruto paced faster, one word flashing in his mind:
Inception.
In that movie, they dive into someone's mind and plant an idea that changes everything. This wasn't that powerful, but it was a form of mental healing.
"If this existed in real life, therapists would go out of business…" Naruto muttered, shaken by how absurd the shard's value was.
"Then if you kill all of your inner demons," he asked, "do you become some perfect person?"
Sakura shook her head. "You can't kill them all. I stayed in there for a long time, and there were still countless."
"That makes sense…"
Only a saint would have no shadows. People just had bigger or smaller ones.
Naruto almost wondered how huge his own shadows were—but he didn't say it.
Instead, his mind jumped to another angle.
"If the shard lets us enter memory space…" He looked up. "Could we use it on other transmigrators?"
"Probably," Sakura said. "I haven't tested it."
Naruto's gaze sharpened.
He thought of Shiba Seisen, the one who'd drawn ANBU attention. If Naruto could enter his memory space, he might learn Seisen's origins—and maybe even "treat" him properly.
The room for maneuver was enormous.
But it also meant openly defying the mastermind. There would be backlash.
He considered it, then told Sakura everything—Seisen's situation, his theories, the danger.
Sakura listened, brows drawing tighter and tighter.
She immediately said she'd keep watch on Seisen.
"He's definitely not some fictional character's soul wearing a body—but he also isn't normal," she said coldly. "Most transmigrators would lay low first, confirm their strength, decide how to develop. But he's not doing any of that. He's exposing himself."
Naruto had to stop himself from snickering at the word "lay low."
Sakura continued, "Only someone with a brain full of mush would do that… or, like you said, he's running some high-level fishing operation."
Naruto nodded. The shard was starting to feel like a weapon from the gods.
If Naruto found an opening to approach Seisen and pull him into his memory space—help him kill inner demons—would Seisen become clearer-headed? At least enough to understand what he was doing?
"Then what if you monitor him first," Naruto said, slapping his thigh, "and once I make Orochimaru's situation big enough, you go find Seisen and pull him into the memory space with you?"
"But we don't know what he really wants," Sakura warned. "What if he's like Gato—someone hopeless?"
Naruto made a slicing gesture across his throat.
If he wouldn't "act decent," then they'd help him "leave decently."
They reached a rough agreement.
Just then, Naruto felt movement in his pocket.
He pulled out the little snake.
A voice came through, telling him to meet Yuugao Uzuki at the training ground at 10:30 a.m. today.
Then, almost as an afterthought, the low female voice added:
"One more thing—Hayate Gekkō is dead."
Naruto and Sakura both heard it.
Their hearts lurched.
The Sand had moved.
Canon was rolling forward on schedule—which meant Naruto had to throw gasoline on things within the next two days, planting suspicion in Konoha's upper ranks before the plan fully matured.
"I'll need to set up the training ground early," Naruto said, glancing at the time. "I can't let Yuugao see my real face."
Sakura nodded. "Also—I ran into Jiraiya, and I mentioned you to him. Be ready for him to come looking."
Naruto blinked at that, then nodded. "Anything else?"
"Yeah." Sakura hesitated, then said quietly, "I created a new technique. It's based on Water Release, plus some chakra nature transformation—kind of like the Mizukage, Mei Terumī's Boil Release."
"…What?" Naruto's eyes widened again.
He was starting to feel like Sakura's progress wasn't behind his at all.
And if she really had something like Boil Release…
That meant future sparring wasn't just "don't get one-punched."
It was "don't get cooked."
…Okay. Respect.
They traded a little more info, then headed out together.
And—
Uchiha Sasuke was leaning against the window ledge by Naruto's house.
When the door opened and he saw them step out together—looking like they'd just eaten breakfast—
his face went still.
"Sakura?"
He stared, stunned.
What the hell…?
"You two—"
Naruto and Sakura were caught off guard as well. Naruto cleared his throat and tried to steer it casual.
"Oh, it's you, Pillar." He tilted his head. "What do you want?"
Sasuke's brow twitched. He didn't like the nickname.
He snorted. "Kakashi told me to find time to spar with you."
"I thought you were training a new technique."
"I'm basically done." Sasuke folded his arms. "Kakashi said you've been training with the Third, so you should have your own insights. He wants us improving together."
Maybe Naruto had lit a fire under him. Maybe Sasuke had completely stopped romanticizing the curse mark. Either way, his progress was fast.
This might really be the strongest version of Team 7.
Sakura looked at Sasuke. "Sounds like I'm not needed. I'm going." She waved. "Later, Naruto."
Sasuke's gaze lingered on Naruto, strange and sharp, waiting.
Naruto shook his head. "I don't have time to spar right now. Next time."
"What are you doing?" Sasuke demanded.
"Training ground—no." Naruto corrected himself mid-lie. "Library. And what I'm doing is… classified."
"I'll go with you to the training ground," Sasuke said instantly. "We can fight. It won't take long."
He'd seen right through the excuse.
"No, you don't get it." Naruto waved him off urgently. "This is a ten-out-of-ten emergency. I can't spare even a minute."
"Afternoon," Naruto added quickly. "This afternoon I'll fight you. Deal?"
He didn't wait for Sasuke's response. He bolted, leaving Sasuke behind.
Sasuke watched him vanish down the street, eyes narrowing.
…
10:15 a.m. — Training ground.
Naruto stamped Flying Thunder God chakra marks onto the surrounding wooden posts. After his first success, the technique was becoming easier—piece by piece.
But beyond Flying Thunder God, he also needed disguise.
Transformation Jutsu for his face.
Nine-Tails chakra to alter the "flavor" of his chakra.
Double insurance.
Because he had no intention of speaking to Yuugao face-to-face.
He pulled out a walkie-talkie, set it on top of a post, and planned to communicate through it.
Elsewhere, deep in the forest at a distance—
"Sharingan."
Sasuke's black eyes turned red, tomoe spinning.
Standing on a tree trunk, he watched Naruto's direction in silence.
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