Breaking the Mind Seal

After Naruto broke the mind seal, his consciousness entered the space within him.

He didn't see either of his two personalities. Standing in the space, he glared into the darkness and said angrily, "Are you two still not coming out? Are you ignoring me?"

"Hehe, don't be so angry. You finally decided to let us out, so how could we dare ignore you?" Good Naruto said with an innocent smile.

Naruto saw that only one of them had appeared. "Where's the other one?"

"I'm here." Dark Naruto appeared behind Naruto.

Naruto looked at the two of them. "I've decided to let you out, but there are conditions."

Dark Naruto replied coldly, "What are they?"

Good Naruto cut in. "You don't have to be so cold all the time. You should be grateful he's willing to let us out. You're not likable at all."

Then he smiled at Naruto. "Go on. If it's something we can do, we'll help."

Naruto looked at them. "I want to awaken the Rinnegan as soon as possible. Tell me, what can you do?"

Dark Naruto answered coldly, "Simple. Kill either Sasuke or Hinata, and you'll awaken it."

Naruto immediately blew his top. "What did you say? Do you want me to seal you up again right now?"

"Don't get so angry. What he said is the fastest way, but there's another way to awaken the Rinnegan. It'll just take longer." Seeing Naruto get angry, Good Naruto hurried to explain.

Naruto asked doubtfully, "What is it? Tell me. I don't mind if it takes a while. I still have time."

Good Naruto smiled. "The method is to open up the flow between your chakra and your eyes. Normally, chakra passes through the brain before flowing into the eyes. This flow reduces the strain on the eyes and holds back their evolution.

"But if you can open the chakra pathways connecting your eyes to your chakra core, you can make chakra act directly on your eyes and awaken the Rinnegan. You won't have to kill someone you care about. What do you think? Not a bad method, right?"

Naruto replied, "It sounds good, but how do I do it?"

Good Naruto answered, "Hehe, it's simple. Whenever you experience strong emotions, express them through your eyes. This guy and I will guide your emotions to open the pathways. If you keep at it, they'll naturally open one day. But it'll take a while.

"And you won't awaken the Rinnegan all at once. Just like the Uchiha Clan, you'll first awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, then evolve it into the Rinnegan. It'll take quite some time.

"If you go with his method, you can become like the Sage of Six Paths and awaken the Rinnegan right away. So, what do you choose?"

Without a second thought, Naruto said, "I choose the first method. It'll take longer, but I can accept that."

Good Naruto smiled. "You could choose the first method and then bring them back to life afterward."

"No. Although they could be revived, the conditions are too strict. One little mistake and it could fail. And even if the revival succeeds, it would cause them psychological harm. That kind of damage is the most devastating."

Good Naruto shrugged. "Suit yourself. The choice is yours. He and I will now use the emotions you've built up over this time to stimulate the pathways in your eyes."

Naruto asked in surprise, "I still have all my emotions from that time?"

Good Naruto smiled. "Of course. For ordinary people, emotions fade with time. But you're different.

"You have us two. I embody your kind and positive emotions, while he embodies your hatred and evil. We've grasped and preserved every emotion you've experienced. That's what makes this method of awakening the Rinnegan possible for you. No one else could do it."

After hearing him out, Naruto nodded. "Then get started."

Good Naruto smiled. "A word of warning first. Stimulating the pathways with these emotions will cause some pain and emotional upheaval, so you'll have to endure it."

Naruto waved him off. "Fine, get started. Stop talking."

When Naruto's consciousness returned to his body, the Nine-Tails asked, "How did it go? Did you succeed?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, they agreed to help me."

The Nine-Tails breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good." Suddenly, Naruto clutched his head and let out a loud scream.

The Nine-Tails asked anxiously, "Naruto, what's wrong?"

Naruto gritted his teeth and endured the pain. "N-nothing. It just hurts a little."

"What on earth is happening to you?" the Nine-Tails asked nervously.

Naruto's whole body was convulsing, and he was drenched in cold sweat. He couldn't answer the Nine-Tails at all. In his mind, he cursed every woman in that scheming guy's family.

In the end, Naruto couldn't take it anymore and passed out. At the moment he lost consciousness, his heart was filled with happiness.

I never knew passing out could feel so wonderful.

Who knew how much time had passed? When Naruto woke up, he saw a beautiful person. The person smiled at him and asked, "Little boy, why are you sleeping here?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just exhausted from training. By the way, my name's Naruto Uzumaki."

Haku smiled. "Naruto, huh? Nice to meet you. My name is Yuki Haku."

Naruto smiled. "Yuki Haku? Can I call you Big Sister Haku?"

Haku smiled. "You can, but I'm not your big sister. I'm your big brother. I'm a man."

Naruto said in surprise, "You're so pretty, and you're a man? The world really is full of surprises." At the same time, he thought, I can't believe Haku really is a guy. But why does he look so much like a girl?

Haku smiled. "Naruto, are you a ninja?"

Naruto pointed to the forehead protector on his arm. "Yeah, I'm a ninja from Konoha."

Haku asked curiously, "Then why do you train so hard?"

Naruto smiled as he replied, "Because I have a lot of people to protect. I need to be strong."

Haku smiled. "That's right, Naruto. Your strength will keep growing as you protect the people you cherish, so don't forget what inspired you in the first place. I believe you'll become very strong."

Naruto smiled and nodded. "I will, Big Brother Haku."

Haku smiled. "All right, Naruto. I have to go." Naruto smiled back. "Okay, goodbye, Big Brother Haku." Then Naruto stood up and helped Haku up from his crouch.

While Haku wasn't looking, Naruto placed a Flying Thunder God mark on him. "I'm off, Naruto." After saying that, Haku left with his basket of medicine, passing Sasuke, who had come looking for Naruto.

Sasuke frowned. He felt like he'd seen that person before, but couldn't remember where. He came over to Naruto and asked, "Naruto, who was that?"

Naruto smiled. "Hehe, his name's Yuki Haku. I just met him. What are you doing here?"

Sasuke said, "I came to see if you'd died, you idiot. You've been gone for two days and didn't even come back."

Hearing that two days had passed, Naruto was speechless. Inside, he roared, You bastard, don't play dead on me. Get out here! I promise I won't beat you to death, you jerk.

Good Naruto smiled. "What's wrong? Why are you so angry? And if I'm a jerk, what does that make you?"

Naruto retorted, "You bastard! I was unconscious for two days, and you told me it would only hurt a little. Does this look like 'a little' pain to you? You tricked me!"

Good Naruto smiled apologetically. "I didn't know, either. I didn't think it through and just used all the emotions you'd built up at once. But the results are obvious. Your Sharingan and your mental strength have both improved by a lot."

After hearing Good Naruto's explanation, Naruto checked how he was doing. Sure enough, his chakra was flowing much faster, and it felt much easier and smoother to activate his Sharingan.

Naruto was furious, but he couldn't bring himself to stay angry. All he could do was say helplessly, "Be careful next time."

Good Naruto smiled. "Hehe, I will."

Seeing Naruto staring into space, Sasuke asked, "What's wrong, idiot? Are you okay?"

Naruto came back to his senses. "Oh, I'm fine. Let's go back. I'm hungry."

Sasuke asked doubtfully, "You mean you've been here for two days without eating?"

Naruto smiled. "How could I? Besides, I have Military Ration Pills." Then he headed for Tazuna's house. Sasuke didn't press him and followed him back.

After they returned to Tazuna's house and finished eating, Kakashi smiled. "Naruto, training is important, but you have to remember to rest, too."

Naruto lay across the table and smiled. "Hehe, Kakashi-sensei, why are you nagging like some old man?"

At that moment, Tazuna said, "Thank you. I faked the difficulty of the mission, so why are you still helping me so much?"

Kakashi smiled as he replied, "Helping those in need. A strong leader has no weak subordinates. That's the teaching of the previous Hokage."

Just then, Inari suddenly burst into tears and asked, "Why?"

Naruto raised his head in confusion. "What?"

Inari slapped the table and stood up. "Why try so hard and fight with all your might? No matter how hard you work or how many nice things you say, you still can't beat Gato's men. In front of the truly strong, the weak can only be defeated."

Naruto said impatiently, "You're so annoying. I'm not like you."

Inari grew even angrier. "Shut up! Just looking at you makes me mad. You don't understand this country at all, yet you love showing off and spouting all those grand, noble words. You have no idea what suffering is. I'm nothing like you!"

Naruto said coldly, "So you should just keep thinking you're the tragic hero, crying and whining every day? An idiot like you should cry every day. Crybaby."

Naruto raised his eyes, now narrowed like a beast's pupils, and glared fiercely at Inari.

Sakura scolded him from the side. "Naruto, that was too harsh." Naruto didn't reply. With his hands in his pockets, he walked outside coldly.