Eternity

"I just need to take a nap."

Having said that, he closed his eyes.

Hinata's eyes remained filled with worry, but seeing that Naruto Uzumaki wanted to sleep, she felt it wasn't right to disturb him.

The bell for class rang, and Iruka walked into the classroom. Seeing Naruto Uzumaki sleeping on his desk, he felt a splitting headache.

"What a problem student..."

Although his interpersonal relationships with his classmates had improved, his attitude toward learning remained terrible.

However, because of Naruto Uzumaki's special status, Iruka found it difficult to discipline him strictly.

Sigh!

Sleeping until noon, Naruto Uzumaki left the Ninja Academy, went home to stir-fry two dishes, and then sat at the dining table to eat lunch.

"Naruto Uzumaki, can you take me out this afternoon?"

A calm voice rang out in Naruto Uzumaki's mind.

This was the telepathic transmission of Shadow.

That she could do this... was not because Shadow had special abilities, but because as Naruto Uzumaki's creation, she could innately communicate mentally with him as long as the distance did not exceed one hundred meters.

The Raiden Shogun could do the same, and her voice soon rang out in Naruto Uzumaki's mind as well.

"I have the same intention."

"I can take you both out, but we must agree beforehand: do not move, so as to avoid being discovered as living beings."

Naruto Uzumaki stood up, walked to the sofa, and placed the wooden carving of the Raiden Shogun onto the dining table.

While eating, he asked in his heart: "Were you both very bored staying at home all morning?"

The Raiden Shogun said: "Bored? I do not possess such emotions; I merely wished to understand the environment in which I live."

Shadow said: "A foolish question. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, it is naturally boring to the extreme."

"Uh... I am truly sorry. Because of my status, I still cannot let you be exposed."

If Naruto Uzumaki were a Sand Ninja, the Raiden Shogun could appear openly, and others would simply mistake the Shogun for a special type of puppet.

Taking a step back, even if Naruto Uzumaki were still born in Konoha, if he were not a Jinchuriki and under no surveillance, the Shogun would still have plenty of room to move around.

Unlike now, being watched at every moment, it was truly difficult to even move an inch.

In the afternoon, Naruto Uzumaki did not train; he wore a mask and wandered around Konoha.

The Raiden Shogun stayed in Naruto Uzumaki's pocket, revealing only her head, remaining motionless and pretending to be an ordinary statue, while in reality, she took in everything and communicated with Naruto Uzumaki in her heart.

Shadow asked curiously: "The style is somewhat similar to Inazuma... is this place the Inazuma that needs our protection in this world?"

"No, Konoha is not Inazuma, and there is no Inazuma in this world; it does not need our protection."

Respecting the fate of others and letting go of the urge to help, Naruto Uzumaki did not care about the future of Konoha or the Ninja World.

"There is no Inazuma?"

Shadow felt a sense of emptiness. In her memories, Inazuma was a very important part of her life; without Inazuma, her life felt incomplete.

"There is nothing I can do about that. If it's not there, it's not there. I can't exactly conjure one up for you... wait, conjure? Is it really impossible to conjure?"

Naruto Uzumaki stopped in his tracks and pondered carefully.

Conjuring an identical Inazuma was impossible, but creating a country that bore the name of Inazuma was not something that couldn't be done.

"Shadow, wait. Within ten years, I will build you an Inazuma."

"Mm, thank you, Naruto Uzumaki."

At this moment, the Raiden Shogun suddenly said: "Naruto Uzumaki, I wish to pursue eternity."

Naruto Uzumaki was stunned, but he quickly understood the Shogun's meaning. He said with a wry smile: "I'm not Doraemon; it's useless for you to make wishes to me... besides, why do you want to pursue eternity?"

"To move forward is to lose; only eternity can allow all things to remain, and allow Inazuma to endure forever."

"That's just a setting, don't take it seriously."

"It is a setting, but it is also the meaning of my existence."

"But I remember that in the settings, you eventually changed."

"But I have adopted the earlier version."

Naruto Uzumaki was left speechless. You actually have several versions, even I, the creator, didn't know that.

"...Why didn't you choose the final version?"

The Raiden Shogun's indifferent voice rang out in Naruto Uzumaki's heart.

"The final version is only a very small part of my settings; the version of me that pursues eternity is who I am most of the time."

Very well, that is a powerful reason.

"Good luck then. I wish for you to achieve eternity soon, and I will provide you with all the support you need, except for actual help."

Time flew by, a year passed, and Naruto Uzumaki was now seven years old.

During this year, Naruto Uzumaki's life was extremely routine.

He went to school in the morning, occasionally chatted with his classmates, but often daydreamed during class.

Lying on his desk, his mind would sink into the Sealing Space to play mahjong with the Nine-Tails, the Shadow, and the General—three people and one fox.

The mahjong set was not a physical object; real matter could not be brought into the Sealing Space.

The mahjong in the Sealing Space was created from pure Nine-Tails Chakra sponsored by the Nine-Tails, life energy provided by Naruto Uzumaki's Rinnegan, and a tiny bit of soul energy.

The soul energy contained the knowledge of mahjong and the Transformation Technique.

Combining these five elements resulted in the mahjong set.

"Chakra, obey my command, transform!"

As the command was issued, the Nine-Tails Chakra automatically shifted into a set of mahjong tiles.

From then on, as long as he replenished the chakra in time, he could play to his heart's content.

Right, he also couldn't use too much force; if he did, the tiles would revert to their original form and turn back into a lump of chakra.

Yes, the Nine-Tails had fallen in love with playing mahjong.

To be more precise, the Nine-Tails had fallen in love with the atmosphere while playing.

It was lively and everyone treated him as an equal; they treated him like a friend, neither coveting nor fearing his power.

This deeply moved the Nine-Tails, who had been lonely for a millennium and tormented by the malice of humanity.

It was such a rarity!

Therefore, although the Nine-Tails was too stubborn to say it out loud, he had actually come to regard the Shadow, the General, and Naruto Uzumaki as his friends.

If Naruto Uzumaki were to ask to borrow the Nine-Tails' power for battle, the Nine-Tails would likely put on a show of reluctance for a moment before lending it anyway.

As for his daily afternoon training, the running exercises continued, but as for shurikenjutsu... since he felt he had practiced enough half a year ago, Naruto Uzumaki had stopped.

It was good enough to pass, and he could practice it slowly when he had time later; there was no need to set aside specific time for it.

After all, no matter how fancy one got with shurikenjutsu, it was still just at the Uchiha level. It might look cool, but it wasn't very useful.

Naruto Uzumaki spent more of his time training in taijutsu, ninjutsu, and chakra.

For taijutsu... Naruto Uzumaki stopped chopping trees and switched to punching them.

With the life force provided by the Rinnegan as a safety net, plus the nourishment of the Nine-Tails' Yang Chakra, Naruto Uzumaki could push himself to the limit. No matter how severe the injuries on his hands were, he could usually recover completely after a night's sleep.

For ninjutsu... the Three Basic Jutsu went without saying; without the Nine-Tails causing trouble, Naruto Uzumaki mastered them with ease.

Additionally, there was the Rasengan. Since the original work explained it so clearly, Naruto Uzumaki followed the instructions and secretly learned it within the Sealing Space.

For chakra...

Chakra control—water walking and tree climbing—Naruto Uzumaki mastered in just two days.

Chakra nature transformation—there was no need to practice it at all, as the Rinnegan naturally came with mastery over all seven attributes.