Chapter 32: The Journey to the West Quartet

"This is a blessed land within the Cave of the Slanted Moon and Three Stars on Mount Lingtai Fangcun. Its master is Bodhi Patriarch, and he has many disciples under his tutelage."

Naruto's introduction was cut short.

"Naruto!"

A voice drifted down from the sky. The three of them looked up and saw a lean, middle-aged man descending with the ethereal grace of an immortal.

"The teacher is here."

Naruto led the other two to greet him. This manner of arrival left a profound impact on young Sasuke and Sakura. No matter the world, the ability to fly was always a sign of great power.

The man landed lightly on the ground.

"Greetings, Teacher."

Naruto led the way, and the other two followed with hesitant, scattered greetings.

"I... I am not worthy of being called teacher."

Judging by the stutter, one could easily tell that this was none other than Shen Gongbao. This was a manifestation created by Naruto using a shadow clone to handle the teaching; as for how he would teach, "Teacher Leopard" would decide that for himself.

Naruto introduced him: "This is Shen Gongbao, Teacher Leopard."

"Greetings, Teacher Leopard," the two echoed.

"So it is you... you who wish to learn ninjutsu from me?"

While the others weren't looking, Naruto rolled his eyes at him in silence. It was uncanny—the clone was so realistic that it even precisely mimicked the stutter.

Sasuke and Sakura were quite excited and nodded rapidly.

"Very well. Since Naruto recommended you, I shall accept you." Shen Gongbao assumed a starting stance. "Now, attack me with all your might."

Sasuke and Sakura had seen this scenario before; having just completed their tests that morning, they were not surprised.

"Be careful, Teacher Leopard."

Sasuke shouted, eager to test the strength of this flying instructor and see how he measured up to Kakashi. Habitually reaching for his waist, Sasuke was surprised to find shuriken there. He quickly drew a few and threw them with pinpoint accuracy.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Since he wasn't short on chakra, he didn't worry about conservation or control, unleashing his full power.

Alas.

Whether it was the shuriken, the fireball, or the subsequent fire techniques, everything was swatted away by Teacher Leopard with a single flick of his hand. Even Sasuke, who had rushed in for close-quarters combat, was swatted into the lake after testing the waters for a mere two exchanges. Sakura followed suit, falling into the lake right after him.

By the time the two crawled out, soaking wet, Shen Gongbao waved his hand again, and they were instantly dried. Just as Sasuke and Sakura were marveling at the power and kindness of their teacher, a storm of criticism descended upon them.

"N... nothing achieved, absolutely nothing! You two are already twelve years old, yet your chakra control is still an... an utter mess..." After the test, Shen Gongbao began his stern critique.

***

Teacher Leopard was truly strict. Naruto felt nervous for them.

*Forget it, none of my business.*

Naruto ran off to play with the Nine-Tails. Meanwhile, the two continued their training, starting with mastering chakra control, followed by specialized tests and career planning.

Four hours later.

Sasuke and Sakura felt a blur before their eyes and found themselves back in reality. Teacher Leopard would only teach for two hours, leaving them to practice on their own for the remainder.

Returning so suddenly, they hadn't quite adjusted.

"Why are we back?" Sasuke’s voice was somewhat urgent. He had just realized what a fantastic place this was and had been planning to train all night. Why were they back already?

"I'm going to sleep." Naruto yawned, rejecting Sasuke’s request to pull an all-nighter.

"Can we go back to train with Teacher Leopard again?"

Naruto gave a firm nod. "Of course, but let's get this straight: I am the eldest disciple. As for you, Sasuke..." He pointed at Sasuke, emphasizing, "You are the second disciple. And Sakura, you are the third disciple—no, the third junior sister."

Sakura: *You just said junior brother, didn't you?*

Her dark persona wanted to use the newly learned super-strength taijutsu to "open up" Naruto's head. Naruto glanced at Sakura with surprise. He hadn't expected her to have such talent for chakra control. He knew this talent could be developed in many directions: medical ninjutsu, counter-genjutsu, or his own self-invented super-strength taijutsu. Sakura’s low chakra pool was a weakness, but if he could develop a set of seal-based ninjutsu for her to store chakra for future use, her potential would be immense.

"Hey, are you two going to agree or not?" Naruto laughed mischievously. He could already imagine the scene where the three of them addressed each other as Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, and Third Junior... Sister. The image was so beautiful that he nearly laughed out loud. Their team would be the "Journey to the West" group. *Perfect, I’ve got inspiration for the next mural on the Hokage Rock.*

Naruto's smile made them both feel suspicious. They exchanged a glance and said firmly, "We do not agree."

"Fine... then." Naruto sighed in disappointment. *Was it too obvious? I'll be more careful next time.*

Though he hadn't achieved his goal, he wasn't a bad person; he wouldn't deny them the chance to train just because they refused.

"Let's leave it at that for now. Same time tomorrow, four hours, at my place." With no more fun to be had, Naruto lost interest and began shooing them away. "If there's nothing else, you two should go. I'm going to sleep."

***

"Naruto, how long have you been training in the Immortal Realm?"

*Immortal Realm?* Was that what Sasuke called that place? Naruto thought for a moment and decided not to correct him. "Since I started school at six, about six years now."

"That long? And you were still... back at school?" As he said this, for some reason, Sasuke suddenly recalled the "Uzumaki Itachi Incident" from the first grade.

"The Master told me not to be overly competitive, otherwise I wouldn't have waited until graduation to show my strength."

Sasuke nodded. Calculating it, Naruto had been training for six years. If he worked hard, he should be able to catch up in three.

Sasuke asked his final question: "Will you still go in to train tonight?"

"Of course," Naruto replied as if it were obvious. "I train in there while I sleep. How else do you think I got my strength?"

*Sasuke: You train while you sleep? I want that too!*

Seeing this, Sasuke looked at Naruto with a mix of expectation and bashfulness. "Naruto, I... I want..."

"No, you don't!" Naruto interrupted before he could finish. *This guy really has the nerve to ask.* "I haven't even slept with a woman yet, and you want me to sleep with a stinking man? Hard pass. We aren't that close yet."

"Get going, you two. I'm going to take off my clothes. You'll get styes if you watch me undress." Naruto began pushing them out.

Finally, looking at the empty room, Naruto was surprisingly used to it. Sensing his surroundings, the two were far away, and the surveillance had ceased. Naruto created a shadow clone. The clone was quite happy when told it just had to sleep and went off to do so promptly.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto vanished using the Flying Thunder God technique.

For the past few days, the "Lao Gan Die" fast-food shop had been closed. This had caused many children in the village to lose their smiles, but it couldn't be helped; Naruto needed a clone to go out and hustle. Primarily, he needed to find materials to help him create more clones. Needless to say, these materials were living human beings. Of course, they were certainly not good people, or Naruto wouldn't have chosen them as raw material for his clones.

Just a moment ago, Naruto had received notification that the materials had been found.