38 Chapter 38 Journey to the Border!

Naruto was sitting cross-legged on a rock with a waterfall behind him. He had his hands curled and his knuckles touching together placed within his lap while his eyes were closed. He'd been training at Mount Myōboku for a month now, and he'd been training in sage mode, sage arts and his frog kumite taijutsu with Jiraiya and Lord Fukasaku.

At first, Jiraiya had told Naruto to wait a few years before attempting. But when Naruto jumped into the toad oil and began gathering nature energy without transforming into a toad, Jiraiya was forced to concede to Naruto's request.

When Naruto had first arrived, Jiraiya had introduced him to Lord Fukasaku and Shima. Though he already knew them from his memories of his original timeline. The two toads had warmly welcomed Naruto and he was able to get used to living on Mount Myōboku with them and Jiraiya. However, Jiraiya would from time to time go out to either conduct his "research" or to continue his investigations on Orochimaru's whereabouts.

Naruto had also started getting used to having Hateshi residing within his mind now as well. Once a week, Naruto would let him take control and explore the area around them. In return, Hateshi would teach Naruto whatever he wanted to learn from him. The first thing Naruto asked him to teach was of course the seal to deal with The Constructs whenever they appeared. Having Hateshi around also provided Naruto with more opportunity to get an explanation from him about the nature of Constructs and how they worked.

"So, if the whole point of The Constructs is to correct the flow of time, why did the first one try to kill me?" Naruto asked.

"You're asking because you know that your existence is vital to the correct history." Hateshi replied.

Naruto scratched his head. "Well, the fourth great ninja war was fought because of me and the jinchūrikis like me."

"True, if the tailed beasts had never existed in the first place, the war wouldn't have taken place." Hateshi replied.

"So… if my existence is necessary to the war, then killing me would only make the situation worse in correcting history…. Right?" Naruto asked as he tried to wrap his head around the matter.

"Well, there's a reason for that, because you're an anomaly, the world can't just leave you alone, you could just alter history over and over." Hateshi began explaining.

"So, that's why The Constructs are sent down, to eliminate the anomaly and to correct the flow once again. But in your case, The Constructs job wouldn't stop at just eliminating you."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Did you ever wonder why there were no defining features on The Constructs you faced?" Hateshi questioned back.

Naruto thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I was too busy worrying about the situation itself than anything else." Naruto rubbed his nose in embarrassment.

Naruto stared at Hateshi in shock as he thought about what Hateshi had just told him.

"Then… what about everyone else?" Naruto asked.

"Unless it deemed it necessary, it would just erase everyone's mind involved in its appearance, and replace the event with the correct history. No one would know the difference." Hateshi replied.

"Then what would you have done?" Naruto asked.

"Hahah, that's a simple question, I would just start over." Hateshi smiled.

Naruto shivered unconsciously as he took in Hateshi's words. Just like he told him before, Naruto was reminded once again that Hateshi really didn't care about human life.

"But what about now?" Naruto asked as he thought of something.

"You mean now that I've sealed myself within you until I acquire a body of my own?" Hateshi questioned.

"Yeah, if The Construct were to succeed, what becomes of you?" Naruto questioned.

"Well, I suppose I would cease to exist, just as you would." Hateshi smiled.

"But how can you be so calm about it?" Naruto wondered.

"It's a what if question, it hasn't happened, and if it does, then it's already too late to do anything. So why should I concern myself with such thoughts?" Hateshi asked.

Naruto looked down and mulled over Hateshi's words. "I guess you have a point there…..." Naruto replied.

"Of course, now focus on your training, you need to get as strong as possible as quickly as you can." Hateshi berated.

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes within the mindscape that Hateshi resided within. When he opened his eyes once again, he was still sitting on the rock he had found earlier.

"Ooooiii!! Naruto!!!"

Naruto looked over and saw Jiraiya calling out to him as he walked toward him. Naruto jumped up and ran over to where Jiraiya was.

"Hey Pervy-sage! Do you have a new jutsu to teach me?" Naruto asked as he grinned.

Jiraiya smiled as he ruffled Naruto's hair. "I don't right now, but I was thinking about taking you out to get some fresh air."

Naruto looked up with wide eyes. "Really? Can we get some ramen?!"

"Haha, sure, I've got to make a trip somewhere and I thought it'd be good to take you with me." Jiraiya grinned.

"Yes!!! No more toad food!!!" Naruto cried out in joy.

Jiraiya scratched the side of his head as he watched Naruto pump his fists in the air. He must really hate Shima's cooking…. He thought to himself.

"Hey, hey, when are we leaving?!" Naruto asked.

"Haha, I need to go speak with Lord Fukasaku for a moment, you go pack up your things, then we'll be on our way." Jiraiya grinned.

Naruto nodded and the two of them walked back to Shima's and Fukasaku's house.

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Once the two of them had explained the situation to Lord Fukasaku and Shima, they had gathered their things and set off. Jiraiya placed his hands together and then the two of them were transported off Mount Myōboku. The two then began walking down the path as they started traveling toward their destination.

"Hey, Pervy-sage! Where are we going?" Naruto asked.

"Heh, we're going to a small town on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind." Jiraiya grinned.

Naruto nodded his head before asking. "Why's that? What's there?"

"Hahah, don't worry Naruto, you'll find out once we get there!" Jiraiya laughed.

Naruto shook his head and sighed, this is probably to further his research for his novels, Naruto thought to himself. Oh well, I've learned to expect this kind of behavior from him, Naruto smiled inwardly.

"What are you grinning about?" Jiraiya asked.

"Nothing!" Naruto replied while smiling.

Jiraiya grinned as he watched Naruto speed up slightly so that he was walking in front.

He has his moments of being mature, but in the end, he's still just a kid. Jiraiya thought to himself. I'm glad he hasn't taken the incident during the chunin exams too personally. Jiraiya breathed a slight sigh of relief as he had been concerned that Naruto might be upset about having to leave the village.

But seeing Naruto as his usual self was greatly relieving for Jiraiya.

"Naruto, how's your sage training going?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto turned around and started walking backwards. "It's going well, I can maintain sage mode for about thirty minutes now."

Jiraiya stared at Naruto like he was some kind of monster for a moment. Thirty minutes? He thought, just what kind of talent does this kid have when it comes to senjutsu? He couldn't help but feel like life wasn't fair sometimes since he wasn't able to master sage mode perfectly. But Naruto had been able to absorb natural chakra without causing his body to create any frog like features except for his eyes changing.

But on the other hand, Jiraiya couldn't be any prouder of Naruto. His own student finding success was something that brought him a lot of joy. He also wanted to see Naruto become stronger as quickly as possible.

The two of them continued traveling toward their destination. Once night arrived, they set up a small camp in order to rest for the night. Jiraiya had set up a fire and was keeping watch while Naruto slept. However, Naruto wasn't really sleeping, instead, he had entered his mindscape once again.

"What is it Naruto?" Hateshi asked.

Naruto was quiet for a moment before responding. "When will I be ready to face off against Kurama?"

"Getting impatient?" Hateshi replied.

"No! It's just…. I can't let what happened before happen again." Naruto explained.

"I understand Naruto, however, there's no need to rush. Continue training your sage mode and strengthening your body, speaking of training your body, I think it's time you learned the rest of the eight inner gates technique." Hateshi spoke.

"Eh? But it hasn't really been that useful to me ever since I learned how to open the first gate from Kakashi-sensei." Naruto replied.

Hateshi sighed. "That's because you've been doing it all wrong."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"The first gate is meant to prepare your body for opening the rest of the gates, you've only been using it as a means to push your body harder in a fight." Hateshi answered.

"You are literally tiring yourself out on purpose by using the technique like that." Hateshi continued.

Naruto felt slightly embarrassed as he thought back to the times when he used it. He scratched his head as he smiled sheepishly.

"I guess that's true, huh..." Naruto replied.

"Of course it is, I have no idea why you've been using it that way, but since I'm here now, I can guide you through the process properly now." Hateshi finished.

"Really? That's awesome!" Naruto said as he got excited.

"Hold on, I'm not going to train you right now, I've got better things to do, just go to sleep and keep up your training." Hateshi said, dashing away Naruto's excitement.

Naruto looked down in disappointment but nodded his head and sighed. Then he closed his eyes and left the mindscape, and went to sleep.

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Once dawn arrived, Jiraiya and Naruto got up and took down the small camp they made before continuing on their journey. As they travelled, they would stop by several inns and other establishments so that Jiraiya could perform his research. While waiting for Jiraiya to finish doing his research, Naruto would keep up on his training, working on making the time he could stay within sage mode last longer. He would also practice the eight inner gates by following Hateshi's guidance.

Soon, the two of them finally reached their destination.

"Looks like we've finally arrived." Jiraiya said as he gazed at the small town.

"Yup, are you finally going to tell me what's here?" Naruto asked.

"Haha, that's a surprise for you to find out. But I'm sure you'll like it." Jiraiya laughed.

Naruto rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Pervy-sage!"

The two then began walking into the town, but as they did, they felt something was off.

"Strange, there's no one here…..." Naruto commented.

"Indeed... Keep your guard up Naruto!" Jiraiya cautioned.

The two brought their guards up and stretched out their senses as they prepared themselves for any kind of situation.

Suddenly an arrow landed between their feet.

"GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!"

"Get ready boys!! We've got ourselves some company!!!!" A figure shouted.

Both Naruto and Jiraiya narrowed their eyes as they gazed at the figure that made their appearance before them.

Looks like it's bandits…. Naruto thought as he gazed at the figure.

"Drop all of your belongings in front of you. Do so, and we might spare your lives!!! GYAHAHAHAHAHAH" The figure laughed.