It didn't take long for Naruto to utilize his clones in his training. He was repeatedly knocked flat on his back by them, however, since he would spar with no less than three clones at a time. It was impossible to fight off an uncoordinated taijutsu attack by three clones no matter how little technique and strategy they used, so he hit the floor often, but Naruto didn't have it in him to give up here—not with so much on the line. He hadn't made any progress all afternoon, as all three clones looked down on him relatively clean and amused. It annoyed him but he wouldn't have it any other way.
It was the Voice—Naru-nii for lack of a better name—that helped finally knock one of his clones on their back. Facing off against the clone in front of him, doing his best to match, block, or parry strikes, but leaving his back wide open to attack, he hears a, 'hey,' that seemed to be behind him. Naruto blocks the clone in front with a tense forearm, while sending a blind kick behind him. At the solid contact, Naruto counters the clone in front of him in a grapple before dispersing all three clones.
"Naru-nii?" Naruto calls out slightly out of breath to his surroundings, before recalling that the Voice is in his head. Still, to the energetic blond, it feels far more normal talking aloud than it does thinking conversation between himself and his future self. "You back?"
'Haha, Naru-nii, huh?' the voice in his head laughs. Now that Naruto hears it, the Voice's voice does ring fairly close to his own. It's deeper, more mature, yet with a hint of playfulness. 'So I take it you believe me?'
"Nope," Naruto flat out states. "But I don't think you want to hurt me, and I wanna know more jutsu and stuff. So, what else ya' got?"
'Haha, I can get behind that,' Naru-nii remarks, no less amused. 'We don't have a lot of time, so I'll explain your training first. After that, if there's enough time, I'll tell you more about what happened.'
"Mn-hmn," Naruto sounds in complete approval. "This is going to be sweet! I can't wait to burn Sasuke-teme to a crisp with fire-jutsu! The look on his face," Naruto calls out laughing at the pranksters vivid imagination.
'Huh, I can almost see it,' Naru-nii comments. 'Well, listen up because every second counts.'
"Hai!" Naruto yells enthusiastically.
'The most important thing you'll ever learn is chakra control,' Naru-nii asserts. 'Now before you start complaining, you need to understand that this is like the backbone of every awesome jutsu you use. Think about Ramen without the delicious broth—it's like that. Kakashi-sensei is going to teach you chakra control in... let's see... have you guys started your first D-rank mission yet?'
"No," Naruto answers. "After we passed the bell test, he said we'll start in a week, so mnn," quickly checking his fingers, "six days from now."
'Than he won't actually start teaching you guys chakra control for a little over two months,' Naru-nii states with an annoyed huff. 'This is vital stuff, man. Now that I think about it, Kakashi-sensei should've known you could learn this a lot faster than Sasuke.'
"REALLY!" Naruto yells boisterously.
'Hey, now, I may not be using my ears to hear you but that still hurts.'
"Shesheshe, sorry," Naruto returns.
'We're going to be using a training method a lot of other shinobi don't try because they either don't have the chakra reserves for it, or they die.' Naruto's neck stiffens and his eyebrows shoot up as Naru-nii continues. 'The reason why it'll be okay for us is because we have large reserves, and on top of that, we heal really fast, so our brain won't pop.' Naruto lets out a sigh of relief and Naru-nii continues to explain. 'Yosh, are you near a tree?'
At Naru-nii's behest, they move to a secluded spot deeper in the forest to train as the future Naruto explains the idea behind chakra control and how he can learn tree walking faster than anyone due to his Kage Bunshin. 'Well, not everyone,' he corrects himself. 'Sakura-chan got it on her first try. She's got scary good chakra control.'
"Alright Sakura-chan," Naruto bellows, taking a break as his clones kept trying to climb the tree, with very little success. "I always knew she was special. She even beat the teme!"
'Yeah, she's got the best chakra control out of all of us,' Naru-nii fondly replies before seriously stating, 'you know, we're going to have to help her out. She may have wicked chakra control but her reserves are pretty low, and more than that, she told me a bunch of times how she wished she trained more seriously when she was younger.'
"Yosh!" Naruto quickly agrees with him. "This is going to be great! When she sees how much stronger I am, she's definitely going to forget about that teme and go on a date with me! I'm fired up!"
'I don't think we can help her like that,' Naru-nii sadly tells the blond boy.
"Huh? Why not?" Naruto can only tilt his head up since technically there's no one to turn to.
'Answer me this, who does Sakura love right now?'
"Tch!" Naruto spits his answer, both of them acutely aware of the black-haired, self-proclaimed, avenger. "That's only because she doesn't know any better."
'Whether she has good reasons or not, it's still her choice to make. Just like no one can tell you who to love, no one can tell her who to love,' Naru-nii slowly expresses.
"But- That's not fair," Naruto calls out. "He doesn't even like her! All throughout the academy, he barely looked at her! How can she be okay with that? He thinks he's soo much better than everyone because he's an Uchiha and a little better at some things, but he's not."
'Listen, Naruto, I want to ask you something else and I want you to answer me honestly,' Naru-nii maintains. 'Do you love Sakura-chan?'
"Damn right I do!" the boy quickly answers without a moment's hesitation. "She's the best and the smartest and even though she's not from a ninja clan, that didn't stop her from being the top kunoichi in our class."
'What's her favorite color?' Naru-nii asks, pulling Naruto up short. When he couldn't answer Naru-nii continues, 'I guarantee you it's whatever color Sasuke likes. Her favorite food is probably whatever Sasuke likes. From her style to what she eats, everything about what she does has Sasuke in mind.' Naruto turns contemplative and uncharacteristically silent; they both are, but Naru-nii is the first one to grow anxious enough to ask, 'you still there?'
"...Mnn. Why are you telling me this?" Naruto whines. "It's really bumming me out here."
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