Pov: Naruto

  *spsh*

  "Uh... Kenzo you need to pull now" I say and O nods before swinging his fishing rod upwards! Dragging a fish alongside it.

  "Nice catch dattebayo!" I yell and unhook the fish for him before pcing it in the bucket.

  "Thanks for the assist Naruto, why don't you have a few more turns" O hands me the rod and I smile wide- good thing about hanging out with my brother is that he always lets me have more turns and makes sure I am happy above all else!

  I walk up to where he was standing and throw my line into the river... and now we wait!

  "Hey O?" I ask.

  "Yes...?" He replies while looking up to the sky.

  "Do you have a dream? Like mine to be Hokage...?" I ask slowly, its been on my mind for a while.

  O is so kind... always choosing me over himself, whether that be in the orphanage or at school- making sure I am happy, safe and educated... I want to help him too! Dattebayo!

  "Well Naruto... I suppose I never really had a big goal to strive to..." O replies.

  ...

  "Nothing? You don't want to be a hero like in the books?" I ask hopefully.

  A minute goes by as running water and our fire crackling in the back is all we can hear...

  "A hero? Hmm... maybe I will leave that to you... a hero is someone who can sacrifice anything for the world- but I wouldn't sacrifice you... Ino... Gramps... Maybe that makes me selfish, but I couldn't fathom a reality without you" Kenzo replies and smiles warmly at my direction... see so nice dattebayo... how do I help him?

  "So no dream...?" I ask once more.

  "If I get one I will tell you... is there a reason you want me to have a dream?" Kenzo asks and I smile while looking into the water.

  "I just want to help you do something, I am always the one getting helped" I say that and feel Kenzo patting my head... for some reason I can feel a happy and confident feeling from his direction... like a stare...

  "I will always help you Naruto" O replies and that stare feels so warm- protective and dedicated... before it vanishes and I smile brighter.

  ...

  "So no dream?" I ask and he lets out a small chuckle.

  "Not now, you can help me with the simple things though- don't forget you lead me around when I was getting used to this blindfold, and now you are teaching me to fish" O replies and I nod my head seriously.

  *wobble*

  I see my fishing line wobble and tug- *Swish!* I swing it back and pull up the river fish that caught on!

  Yes! Now me and Kenzo can eat a fish each! Lets get another! Dattebayo!

  "Hey Kenzo! You want this turn?"

  "Nah- you keep going, I will attack these fish and find out if I have talent in cooking" He replies and I throw my line into the water again.

  *Plop!*

  Alright!

  ...

  "Hey Naruto, have you been attending csses tely? I haven't been able to check in the afternoons" O asks me and I stand straight.

  "Uhhh... yes?" I answer.

  "So no. Got it, I will ask Iruka-sensei how many days you missed so I can help you catch up"

  "Awww man~" I whine out.

  "And if you do really good I will help you get an early start with the three academy jutsu you will be learning the basics of in a year"

  "Alright! I will do my homework quick dattebayo!"

  Kenzo lets out a ugh and I chuckle along with him.

  Time passes and Kenzo hums a tune as I fill our bucket with small fish- I don't recognize the tune from anywhere... but it certainly is soothing and catchy.

  The fish tastes great and Kenzo compliments my cooking skills as I am the superior cook!

  This was great! I have to invite Kenzo to do more stuff again sometime soon!

  ---

  -one week ter-

  Pov: Kenzo

  I successfully negotiated with Naruto that we can go eat Ichiraku's tomorrow and prank someone together so that I may have a free day today... to use that Instant A rank scroll... which will be my second strongest skill- I can upgrade something previously or I can get a new skill entirely.

  ...

  Lets test my fantasy skill theory shall we?

  I wont be using it on a point- I thought about it and I will save that for ter, right now I need a combat skill to complete more challenge scrolls and it's less then desirable to get a skill that's going to have me stuck again.

  I sit on my bed and cross my legs- I leave a note in front of me that says not to panic as I am just going into a deep meditative state for a while.

  That covers me if anyone runs in or I am te to Danzo's wall climbing training... should I get climb as a skill? No, lets not be that petty.

  I shake my head and clear my thoughts, lets think about a fantasy skill... not chakra or ninja stuff, something like wizards and knights- something more mystical than practical, something arcane and less natural.

  ...

  'Dragons Breath'

  A typical fantasy creature of myth and unparalleled strength, magical breath that can shoot the elements with intensity.

  The scroll warms my finger tips.

  And I blink.

  Opening my eyes to the long missed orange box I look around and smile- my blindfold is undone and I stop having to stare through it.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'Breathe hard and move the fan bdes for ten minutes straight, fail and I will remove the oxygen from this box'

  The familiar scratch writes down and my eyes glow in anticipation- how I missed dying for my skills, a podium rises and on it is a fan.

  Let out a ten minute breath? Sounds impossible, lets do it.

  Haaaaaaaaaaaaa- I suck up the biggest breath I can muster and with the help of my training of burst breathing I let out a breath that sts for two minutes.

  Kagck- Kagrc- cahshh- zhaaaaa-

  I strangle on nothing as my throat contorts and I cannot breathe, my mouth makes horrid noises as my body slowly loses oxygen and my eyes roll back as I fall and die.

  *SNAP!*

  Suddenly I snap back into standing again and I can breathe...

  Haaa- Haaa- Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

  *FWOOOOOOOOOOO!*

  I let out my breath again and seemingly holding a breath is much easier to manage, I am surprised I managed to get to two minutes the st chance I had.

  ...

  Two minutes ten seconds.

  This is only E-rank at the moment... lets hope this turns into something incredible.

  -four weeks ter-

  *Fwooooooooooooooooohhhh!*

  I let out my breath that I have been training for four weeks straight, might have been months or years without burst breath training.

  ...

  Ten minutes pass and I successfully complete the training.

  I fall to the ground and start breathing heavily... Haaa- Haaa- Haaa- thats much better now.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  Above me a message reads.

  'E-rank portion complete'

  *Scratch* *Scrawl* *Scratch*

  the message continues on.

  'You have no 'MANA' to use dragons breath, this injection will be painful- do note that you will need more mana through statistic scrolls to use this skill outside my box'

  Damn. High cost for power is it? I will have to spend some scrolls on mana... which is cool I suppose, being in a ninja world and having mana for spells and stuff will be amazing, definitely giving me an edge against others... if I decide that another mana based skill is necessary. I wonder if I could have used Chakra instead if my thoughts where a chakra based dragon breath instead of a arcane and unnatural based one?

  I turn to my side and see a small needle filled with something glowing purple that rises from the ground... I have to aim it myself? I pick it up and take off my jacket, pointing the needle at the veins on my wrist.

  I inject myself and pump the substance into my blood.

  I regret that.

  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH@%@%@^#&#^@&÷*#*@^@%@^#^#&@*￡÷€#&#_×_@^@&@*#^"

  I let out a primal yell and writhe on the floor like some diseased animal trying to escape its bindings- and yet my only bindings is my own stupidity to have ignored the warning of pain!

  My blood boils and that travels everywhere in my body! EVERYWHERE! EVERYWHERE HURTS AND MY EYES SINGE! MY SKIN CRACKS AND MY MUSCLES BURN! MY LUNGS CATCH FIRE AND MY CHAKRA VEINS SHAKE IN AGONY! MY BRAIN MELTS AND MY LIMBS GO NUMB!

  ........

  ....

  ...

  Never again.

  I will never get another special energy to enter this body, I can tell it hurt more due to my chakra already filling my body.

  ...

  Mana and Chakra, that's it.

  I wipe the sweat from my brow and look around.

  'D-rank portion complete'

  Thanks... I feel like I need a break.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'Eat the dragons heart- become something not human'

  The scratching taunts me and I look up to see a giant heart appear on the floor in front of me... roughly the size of a house- damnit, another heart I have to eat?

  The heart looks more animal than human and still pumps blood into a none existent body, it crackles with lightning... Orange lightning scatters across it.

  I do like Orange I suppose.

  I get up and shake off the need for a small break, I touch the heart and it nearly scalds my hand its so hot... the lightning makes my hairs stand and I feel my head of hair float.

  *Crunch!*

  I close my eyes and bite into the dragons heart- I devour the piece and my throat burns... but my body continues to bite.

  *Crunch!*

  *Bite!*

  *Tear!*

  This heat is nothing compared to eating the heart of truth, that is helping me devour this thing... my blood boils and I can feel the mana wiggling in joy, only a small amount and I can feel my blood changing rapidly.

  Halfway through and my teeth feel sharper... my nails too.

  Three quarters down and I can certainly tell that while my teeth and nails have become more sharp and tough- the true change is on the inside, my blood now carries and morphed that lightning energy from my previous Burst breath skill into this orange variant- I let out a breath and my lungs release hot air, my breath permanently changed.

  I finish the heart and my own heart stops beating.

  ...

  *thump*

  It beats once.

  ...

  *Thump*

  Twice.

  I focus on my mana... I watch it boil my blood and I watch my heart stop pumping it...

  *Thump!* *Thump!* *Thump!*

  And just as I say that it starts pumping even harder- twisting and thriving as orange mana starts to shock and scatter across it- my heart turns into a mana core... and my blood pumps alongside it.

  I let out a breath- capable of not using my dragons breath passively and making it scorching hot.

  I then focus on the skill and breathe out.

  *CRACKLE!* *VVZZZ!*

  Lightning sparks from my throat and the strands of light crawl to the edges of my mouth.

  *Fwooh!*

  I let it out and a small torrent of orange lightning escapes me *VOOOOZZZT* the breath extends from my mouth and covers an area right in front of me.

  Nice.

  But it does sap at my Mana and I can feel it all drain up with one skill use- I definitely need more statistic scrolls.

  The orange room fills with mana and my own core is restored as it sucks it in, perks of training in here I suppose- nearly forgot I could learn until death here... maybe my mana core has less outside than in here? It is possible that I am learning a skill that cant be used by a novice.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'C-rank portion complete'

  Haaa- onto the next one.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'Hone your breath- not a cone of lightning, but rather a line that can hit accurately'

  A target appears ten feet in front of me... I let out my breath same as before and see the problem immediately.

  My lighting expands and tries to escape as soon as it leaves my body, it barely moves three feet before dissipating and fizzing out.

  I need to focus and control that lightning into a single strike- like real lightning hitting the earth!

  .......

  .....

  ...

  The first few weeks is spent shaping my body and changing my stance, making it wide and preparing for kickback- mouthing an O instead of a fully unhinged jaw from all the power coursing through it.

  The next few months is managing the mana within me- I spend hours of my time testing different shaping techniques and boiling that mana at different temperature's, it hurts and it works... my breath extends to five feet now and my radius is shrunken from extra wide to just wide.

  ...

  Shaping mana is much like Chakra, except it feels a little bit different.

  Chakra feels like using your mind to imagine a shape and your body to actually shape it, like a bit of teamwork to mould Chakra into a jutsu.

  Mana feels like I am training a muscle to work better, constantly shaping it into the desired shape like a bcksmith to metal- it feels less intuitive and mentally woven and more aggressively smmed into a shape that never changes- I then memorize that shape and use it again and again.

  So mana techniques require constant training and upkeep... probably about twenty minutes a day so they don't lose shape and value- simple to keep up with one skill but I am sure that learning multiple will bring me constant annoyance through maintenance- so only a select few mana skills at a time.

  And about one more year ter.

  *VVVVVTTZTZTZTZTZTZTZTZZZZZZ!*

  My breath exhaled hits the target dead on, like a beam of light with crackling strands of erratic electricity that surround it.

  ...

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'B-rank portion complete'

  I missed learning these skills in here... but I cannot wait to see Naruto again, tomorrow I will treat him to as much ramen as he wants.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'Dragons breath requires concentration and focus. Sit still with a storm, do not lose focus'

  All of a sudden I blink and am transported to a pinpoint mountain top, barely a few pces to sit around me, a storm strikes around me and the wind picks up.

  I sit down but even that is a struggle as the winds threaten to loft me away- *Sm!* a tree flies and sms into the mountain side and I nearly get brushed by its leaves.

  I close my eyes that are now full of dust and dirt, I wince as pebbles fly and hit my body, I grit my teeth when lightning strikes right next to me and I hold my knuckles when water sprays my entire body as rain rages down.

  I sit still and yet I am unable to, no matter what I try I get drenched and shiver- struck and damaged- ears bleed when thunder booms.

  I hold my eyes shut.

  And I try my best.

  ...

  -Three years ter-

  ...

  I'm growing.

  Older that is- I believe that I know the punishment for this training, I will continue to grow old until I get it done and for some reason I don't feel as though I will be safe if I reach the day my body gives out.

  I do not hunger.

  I do not thirst.

  And yet I crave to learn.

  Hunger for this breath.

  Thirst for lightning.

  I am drowning in its raw power all around me and I keep drinking.

  My mana soaks up this environment- storms apparently make it easier to shape it, cast it and use it, I want to desperately use my dragons breath but I have to remain completely still.

  ...

  That is if I could remain completely still.

  -ten years ter-

  Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

  I did it! For a whole minute I remained still! Completely! That was amazing! Is this what people refer to as enlightenment? That was so... powerful.

  It felt like time slowed down... or maybe my perception of it? It wasn't as if I suddenly gained a new ability, it just felt like I was in tune with the storm around me- like a fly seeing a human be so slow as it flies super fast.

  It felt so sweet.

  But only for a moment.

  -twenty years ter-

  Hahahahahaha! I have a beard and my long hair sways around me in the wind- my eyes unmoving against the droplets of storm and my body not even twitching at the sound of thunder.

  I can manifest a focus but not for long- the minutes pass and I feel angry every time I fail, like I am being scraped across a desert floor and every so often meet a perfect oasis... but only for mere moments, as I get dragged away into the rough terrain once more.

  -ten years ter-

  Am I doing something wrong? I keep getting those minutes but nothing more, each moment a hell atop this mountain, the storm never ceasing and the winds ever blowing.

  Maybe I will fail... if ten years did nothing maybe more will do nothing else- my beard flows down wet and messy, long hair tangled and my jacket a wet torn mess... my shirt has basically fallen off and my pants shredded, mud covers me from head to toe and scratches bleed down from many pces.

  My body is bruised and luckily I haven't been hit by anything rger than a small brick.

  -twenty years ter-

  Jacket is gone.

  Everything else too.

  ...

  I can feel my body giving in.

  Sitting still in a storm is not good for the body.

  ...

  My beard sways and my hair fres.

  ...

  *Booooooom!*

  Thunder calls.

  *Crackle!*

  And lightning follows.

  ...!

  Lightning is striking me? I can see the light around me... so slow, ah- I am witnessing my final moments within the focused minutes.

  The lightning rips my flesh apart and sunders my skin.

  I would be blinded if I couldn't stare.

  ...

  I blink and open my eyes.

  I feel young and small, my clothes not torn and my hair not so long.

  I am alive...?

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'An experience of death that you believe to be the end... is mighty helpful to your training'

  Hahahahaha! Of course! Hahahahaha! Why would the helper ever try to kill me?! He is always just teaching me something... I feel guilty for not trusting him.

  I take a breath and focus. This lifetime I will succeed and if not, the next.

  -seven lifetimes ter-

  'A-rank Dragons breath completed'

  I open my eyes to my room.

  I stretch out and I look around... no one is watching me... and there is a new note on my bed, right next to my own.

  'Wake up soon!

  -Naruto!'

  I smile and see that Naruto sleeps on the bed next to me, so its been a day? Gd I didn't miss spoiling Naruto to Ichiraku.

  I close my eyes and feel around for my mana... before exhaling.

  *Vzz*

  ...

  Well. I need more mana for certain, that was full power and the size of a blowtorch.

  Dangerous.

  But ridiculously small.

  Haaa- need some statistic scrolls.

  Thanks for reading :)