Chapter 2: King and Queen
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"And to do so, I will have to conquer the Elemental Nations." Naruto told the dead wolf. He slowly got up from the squatted position and looked at the sky.
And for me to conquer the Elemental Nations, I have to get strong, stronger than the 5 Kage, and even stronger than grandfather. Naruto thought, the wind blew his hair as his dull eyes looked at the horizon.
"I'll kill him. Just for you, father. . . mother." Naruto told the sky. He looked down and saw the dead wolf slowly gain flies. Naruto ignores this as he heard a voice.
"Naruto?!" He heard a feminine voice yelled out in the woods. Naruto turned to look at the direction and saw a silhouette of a slender figure. "Coming!" Naruto responded in a monotone voice.
He entered the woods as the flies swarmed the dead wolf's corpse. Naruto slowly disappeared into the shadows of the forest. He pulled out a book as he walked towards the voice.
The voice got louder and louder as Naruto got closer. He smelled the nature that surrounded him. Naruto soon found a woman with bright blonde hair that matched similarly to his very own. They were in a small clearing.
"Hello, grandmother." Naruto greeted in a respectful tone. He bowed slightly before continuing to advance towards her. She smiled a warm smile as she looked at Naruto.
"Can you help me get this laundry? Also, your grandfather wants to see you. He wants to start your training again for the day." She told him. Naruto nodded and walked even further into the woods.
The grandmother looked at Naruto's retreating back with a small smile on her face. Naruto soon saw a house that was big enough to fit 3 people. It wasn't anything special; just a small traditional house that you could find in the Elemental Nations.
But, they were in a secluded area. A very secluded area indeed. They were inside the territory of the Fire Country, but, their location was so good that even Jiraiya's spy network would have such a slim chance to find them.
Naruto opened the shoji door and saw his grandfather in the flesh. Uchiha Madara.
"Took you some time for you to get here." Madara said in a very calm manner. He gestured Naruto to sit right in front of him. He obliged. Naruto walked towards the middle of the room and sat down with his hands on his thighs.
"Yukari may have already told you why I have told you to come here." Madara told him with Naruto nodding his head. Seemingly satisfied, Madara nodded. "Good, now, I want you to continue your training with this scroll." He gave Naruto a relatively small scroll.
"Anything else, grandfather?" Asked Naruto in an unwavering tone. Madara gained an amused small smile on his face. "We'll be having your favorite, ramen tonight for dinner." He addressed to Naruto.
Naruto nodded. He slowly stood up and made his way toward the shoji door. Naruto slid it open and walked in the sunlight once more. The sun shined brightly on his delicate face.
"Come back before sunset." Madara said as he sat still. His hair was completely white from top to bottom. He saw Naruto nod slightly, indicating that he understands.
Naruto passed by Yukari as she brought in the rest of the laundry. She entered the room that Madara was in. "How well is he improving?" Asked Yukari as she placed down the rest of the laundry onto the floor.
"He's doing quite well. He has only started doing these tasks for about a month or two now." Answered Madara. He was satisfied with Naruto's current growth.
"Does Obito and Zetsu still not know of his existence?" Asked Yukari. He shook his head as an answer. "For the last 5 years, I have managed to keep Naruto's existence a secret. Naruto knows about them while the opposing do not." Madara explained to Yukari. She nodded at that answer.
"I can only keep this up for just a little over a year or so left." Madara told her so suddenly. "I have siphoned just enough chakra from the Gedo Mazo to keep me going." Madara continued as the words came out of his mouth.
"And Naruto just turned 5. That's unfortunate." Yukari pondered with Madara nodding right after. He coughed just a bit as he looked at her.
"That is indeed unfortunate. But, this shall serve Naruto as growth." He said in a sagely tone.
"Because while Obito and Zetsu are the pawns, Naruto is the king that shall move the pieces that are on the board to do his bidding." A small smirk graced his face.
"Naruto will be the one that completes the Infinite Tsukuyomi."
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*THUMP*
*THUMP*
Naruto twirled around the air as he had already thrown over 4 kunai towards the targets that was around them. Naruto gracefully landed on the ground and observed around him.
One was right on the dot, the rest were off by an inch or two. Naruto thought as he walked towards each consecutive kunai and pulled them out. He saw the markings that the kunai had made.
Now, you're just as imperfect as humans and animals. Naruto thought as he eyed the target boards. His eyes washed over each of the target boards before he stopped gazing intently. Naruto had at least a few more hours until he was expected to come back to the house for dinner.
I have to keep on going. Naruto walked towards the scroll that had the information on what he should try and work on for the day. Some may say that this was a dream come true, but for Naruto, this was insufficient.
This may be polishing my abilities, but, the amount of improvement that I have gained is to the bare minimum. It's not enough. Naruto thought as he kept observing the tasks in the scroll.
But for now, this will do. Naruto mused as he looked at the next task that was needed — no — expected for him to do. Naruto walked away from the dented target boards and disappeared into the depths of the forest.
He soon appeared on the edge of a cliff that was outside of the forest that surrounds their house. Naruto looked down towards the ground. He looked at the scroll once more.
Grandfather wants me to improve my flexibility. I'll try to work on it. Naruto thought as he saw branches sticking out of the sides of the cliff that were able to certainly hold his weight.
I'm barely 40 pounds. I'm not that heavy in human standards. Naruto mused as he readied himself to jump off the cliff. He jumped back just enough to where he would be able to gain a boost of speed.
"I haven't done this one in quite some time. I wonder how rusty I am." Naruto asked himself as he rushed towards the edge of the cliff. His breathing quickened. Naruto could possibly die if he makes one wrong mistake here.
He bent his knees just slightly and pushed himself upwards. Naruto was now off the ground, and just a few moments later, he was now over absolutely nothing.
This. . . this shall test my resolve. . . maybe I can learn something about life. Naruto mused in his mind as he began falling downwards towards the stone ground below.
I'll certainly die if hit it. If I was at least 20 meters, I may or may not be able to survive it. Naruto felt the air around him brush against his skin as he was free-falling down the sky.
He looked to the side and saw the nearest tree branch sticking out. Naruto outstretched his hands towards it with the intent to grab it. His body was quickly being gravitated towards it.
There. Naruto thought as his hand had finally grabbed the branch with a very firm grip. Naruto's body swung around the wood branch with hardly any effort.
His feet landed on top of the wood branch, his body followed suit. Naruto slowly but surely rose up and stood on the wood branch that seemed to be quite sturdy.
59 minutes to go. Until then, I'll keep myself entertained with these. Naruto dived down towards the next wood branch. He also attached his hands onto it and swung around.
Naruto put the soles of his feet on the bottom of the branch. He was now on the underside of the branch with his arms being on the topside of the branch for support.
Grandfather sometimes says that I graced the Earth with just my presence online. Does that mean I have to act graceful? Or am I always graceful no matter what I do? Naruto kept on asking himself multiple questions while he was handing off of the wooden branch.
His entire body was upside-down.
Naruto didn't have enough time to think before he launched himself off of the wooden branch. A small smirk appeared on Naruto's face, he closed his eyes.
"I have 56 more minutes," Naruto opened his eyes slowly. "That's quite doable." The smirk never reached his eyes. Naruto kept on attaching and reattaching himself to each tree that he came across.
Naruto kept on repeating this process until he reached the very bottom of the steep and large cliff. He wiped off the slight sweat that was rolling down from his head.
Naruto looked up the cliff.
Guess I'll have to jump to the top. Naruto thought as he jumped on the first wooden branch. This was most certainly much more easier for Naruto than jumping down to one tree to another.
He soon finally reached the very top of the cliff. Naruto stretched his limbs out. He still had a lot more time until this session was completely over.
40 minutes left until I move onto the next one. Naruto had his eyes locked onto the forest. He pondered for a slight moment if he should continue with the same exercise or if he should move onto the next one.
Naruto had ultimately decided to keep in doing the same exercise. He was not a kid who showed much emotion, but he loved the adrenaline rush that he gets when falling down from the air.
It was a good feeling.
Odd, but good feeling overall. Naruto jumped down once again. He did this many times over until the 60 minutes were finally down for the count. Naruto looked directly to the South.
That's the direction of Konoha. Hn. Naruto thought as he walked towards the scroll that was faced flat on the ground that he stood on. He picked it up and looked inside.
Naruto had an hour or two until dinner was being served. His eyes scanned the rest of the contents inside of the scroll that was being gripped tightly by the blond.
Next task is to. . . pick up the crops? Naruto questioned when he looked at those words. He shook his head, knowing that this wasn't a real task. Yukari must've added this into the scroll.
Nevertheless, Naruto did what the scroll asked him to. He ran throughout the forest and soon came across the miniature farm that Yukari and sometimes Madara had created.
Naruto looked at the scroll once again and scanned the contents once more; he was trying to find what of the crops that he was tasked to take. Yukari will be replanting tomorrow morning.
Carrots and tomatoes. Oh. The usual. Naruto walked over to the side that had the carrots and tomatoes. He quickly plucked the carrots out of their sockets and ripped the tomatoes out from the stem.
Naruto had sighed, he didn't have anything to place the carrots and tomatoes in. Naruto was smart, but there were times where his smarts didn't not shine at all.
Common sense, Naruto. He told himself as he balanced out the carrots, tomatoes, and the scroll. Naruto made sure to not spill any of the potential food that were on his arms.
He finally made it back to the house. Naruto slid the shoji door and entered one of the multiple rooms. "Oh, you're back early. Place the crops onto the kitchen counter and wash up." Yukari called out. Naruto nodded and silently got his clothes prepared.
He walked towards the bathroom with the said clothing. He stripped off the clothes that he was currently wearing and entered the shower. Naruto felt the water land on his skin.
It felt nice to freshen up after a few hours of training. Once Naruto was done, he wore the clothes that he had prepared for himself. Naruto dried up his wet hair and soon entered the only room that had an actual table in it.
He saw Madara waiting for him to sit down. "Shall we play a game of chess?" He gestured towards the board. Naruto raised an eyebrow before nodding and sitting down in front of him.
"I'll take white, since I'm always first in everything." Madara said as he took the white pieces. Naruto nodded. "I thought we play shogi, not chess?" Naruto was confused, he took the black pieces.
"Hn, you won 4 out of the 5 times we played shogi, with the only reason that I won was due to your lack of experience. Now, I'm testing how quickly you'll be able to learn chess." Explained Madara, he looked at the board.
Naruto nodded as he put his subconsciously put his left leg on his right and the near-tips of his fingers were barely touching his skin. "Alright, I'll accept your challenge — this is probably one of the only things that I am better than you at. I'll gain satisfaction from this." Naruto responded as he got ready.
"Don't get so arrogant." Naruto slowly smirked at that. They slowly but surely got into the rhythm of playing. Naruto analyzed each move that Madara made without a single beat.
"Why do you think a King is so important?" Madara asked as he looked at Naruto for an expected answer. Naruto thought for a second or two. "A King is a person that controls all. They are responsible for every decision, whether its good or bad. They are so important because of this." Naruto responded, he moved another piece gracefully as he made his move.
"This can be applied to Kages also. They are the King, but the Daimyo is the Emperor that rules over them. Such acts like killing the Daimyo is considered an act of treason." Naruto continued as he saw Madara smirk.
"Correct, he is the man that controls all. Why do you think the Queen is so important?" Madara asked a follow up question as he moved a piece. Naruto pondered for a moment.
"A person that counteracts the King? That question is a tough one for me. She is a person that has the same amount of authority that the King holds — maybe even more." Naruto answered with confusion. Naruto moved another piece.
Madara held his smirk.
"And that's what separate you and me — experience." Madara told Naruto as he made his final move, his smirk was never-ending. Naruto looked down at the board.
"Checkmate," Madara declared. Naruto observed the King on his board. The King has been captured and backed to the corner.
Naruto had lost the match.
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