Naruto: Journey Of The Strongest Teacher - Chapter 49

Naruto POV

It was mysterious how Ishizu-sensei suddenly disappeared and left me alone. It was pitch black and I had to move very slowly in fear of tripping.

Then I saw a small light and decided to walk to it.

Reaching the light, I saw a huge waterfall in front of me. It was exquisite and I would watch it for longer if I had nothing else to do.

“So what do I have to?” I asked myself as I stood before the waterfall, looking inside its clear water.

Then I heard a female voice speaking.

“Reincarnation of Asura, sit down and meditate at the Waterfall of Endless Happiness.

Let your mind cleanse and your soul awaken.”

“Waterfall of Endless Happiness? Why does in have such a name?”

With my eyes closed, I heard the water falling down before drifting into sleep.

Ishizu POV

My life couldn’t be better. I opened the door to my house to see my beautiful wife standing before me.

‘….al. It…..eal.’

“How has your day been, my beautiful husband?” asked my wife.

“It was perfect. Perfect like you,” I said before kissing her on the lips.

‘Thi….a….rap.’

I frowned. Those annoying words kept appearing in my head.

“Is something wrong?” asked my wife as she placed her hand on my cheek.

I shook my head.

“No, everything is fine. I just thought I heard things, but it is just my imagination.”

Kaguya smiled as she made her way to the kitchen.

“Well, I hope you didn’t forget what day it is. We can’t just stay here forever.

Have you bought the cake?” asked Kaguya.

‘An i…sion.’

“I will do it right now. Wait for me, just for a moment.”

I turned around to go back.

Naruto POV

A room I have never seen before. Where was I?

“My boy is everything ok?” I heard a voice calling me.

Turning around, I froze. Before me stood my mother.

In flesh and blood and not the cold cops made by the Edo Tensei.

“Mom?”

How was she here?

She came towards me and hugged me.

“How are you, my baby? Did you have a bad dream?”

“I-I-I missed you so much!” I cried into her arms.

“It is ok, my baby boy. Your mother is here. Nothing is going to happen.

Everything is perfect.”

I nodded under the sobs.

“Come, your father is in the living room. Your sensei and your teammates are also coming.”

I was beyond happy. I was so happy to see both my mother and father.

This was the best day ever.

Everything was perfect.

Ishizu POV

As I made my way to the bakery, the voice in my head became more annoying.

‘Wa….up.’

‘This is…..a….illu….on’

“Can I do something for you?” a voice brought me back.

I was in the bakery where I wanted to buy the cake.

“Yes, I had reserved a cake here. Can I buy it?” I asked.

‘Not real. T….is….is….not….real.’

“Sure. We have it here.”

She handed me a big chocolate cake.

‘W…k….up.’

I thanked her before walking back.

‘You ….ll…..die.’

I stopped. This had to stop now.

“Show yourself. I don’t care who you are. I will fight you.”

‘In y….mind.’

“My mind? So you are in my mind?

Well, I just know how to enter my mind.”

I sat down and meditated.

Opening my eyes, I was greeted with a large grass plane.

In the middle of it were 10 pillars that formed a circle.

Each pillar had a large purple orb with rings that looked like an eye producing a chain that went to a person sitting in the middle of the pillars, incapacitating him from head to toe.

“What is this place?”

Hearing my voice the other person looked up with a relieved face.

He looked a bit dehydrated and was not in good condition.

“Finally, you are here. You had no idea how long I had to shout for you to notice me.

I thought that fusing with that soul would get rid of my problems but he was right.

It was not over.

Then the next thing I remembered I was chained to this place and see that another version of me is walking inside an illusion completely unaware of it.

Who the hell made this place? It looks like somebody copied and pasted the Infinite Tsukuyomi.”

The person talked and talked before I interrupted him.

“Who the hell are you?”

He looked annoyed.

“I am you, sherlock. You have to free me of those chains so I can get back.”

“And why should I do that? I doubt you are me,” I answered.

“Don’t you get it? This is an illusion. Everything you do is not real.

So is food and water. You or rather I will die of dehydration if you continue living that life.

So let me out!”

I have had enough of his crazy talks so I closed my eyes to appear back where I was.

“I will deal with him later. I have a birthday party to prepare for.”

Inside Ishizu’s mind.

Ishizu screamed as he tried to move but the chains held him in place.

“ARHHHH! What is this place? Cave of deep d.e.s.i.r.es, my ***!

This is a murder cave.

I bet that fat sage panda knew about it and just wants me to suffer.

Hey, I got it. It fulfills the deepest d.e.s.i.r.es, but at what cost?

Pandas and humans die because they don’t want to leave.

I have to get this guy back here.”

Outside Ishizu POV

“Kaguya-chan, I am back and I have the cake with me,” I said.

Kaguya smiled as she took the cake with her.

“Wonderful. Let us go to the Namikaze residence and greet the birthday boy.”

We made our way to the house to find many people were there already and waited for the birthday boy.

“It is good to see you, Ishizu,” greeted Kakashi.

“Yeah, we thought you were late again, unlike me,” said Obito as he stood next to Rin.

They both were together but Obito didn’t have the guts to confess his love.

“Yosh. Let us run 1000 l.a.p.s on our arms around Konoha to celebrate Naruto-kun’s birthday, Lee!” shouted an excited Guy as he made his famous pose with a shiny tooth.

His mini clone was also hyped up.

“Hai, Guy-sensei. I will follow your orders until death!”

“LEE!”

“Guy-sensei!”

Both hugged each other.

Outside of the cave, Po had to use his power to hold the illusion in place.

*What the hell is happening? This is not their doing, but somehow an even stronger Genjutsu is being cast and it is fighting mine.

It is almost as strong as the real deal.

If not for me this would be all for naught.

Who the hell can do that?*

Naruto POV

I was so happy.

This was the best day ever!

I met my father and later Ino-chan and Hinata-chan came to me.

This was the perfect day. Everything was perfect, and I prayed that it stayed perfect.

I felt a little weak and my mouth was dry but this would not hinder me.

As I opened the door to go out of the house, I was greeted with a big surprise.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NARUTO UZUMAKI NAMIKAZE!” people I knew shouted.

I saw everyone I knew outside my house waiting for me.

“You guys.”

Tears started to roll down my eyes.

“This is the best birthday ever.”

Inside Naruto’s mind

One person or rather beast was not at all happy for the birthday boy.

“Damit, Naruto, wake up! This is an illusion!”

The Kyuubi roared as he slammed his claw against the seal, only for the seal to look unharmed.

“What happened? I am completely shut down from the brat.

This is bad, really bad.

Everything is so real that this boy doesn’t realize he is in an illusion.

If this goes on, he will die of dehydration and I can’t give him chakra as something is preventing me from doing so.

I hope the other human is also here because he is the only hope that’s left.”

General POV

Inside the Namikaze residence, people were chatting and eating.

Only one didn’t feel well.

Ishizu felt sick. Something was terribly wrong, and he didn’t know why.

His mouth felt dry and no matter how much water he drank the thirst didn’t go away.

He asked the others but they couldn’t help him either.

‘Com… t….me.’

There it was. Ishizu heard the voice of the man that was in chains.

Maybe he knew what was happening. He was his last hope.

Ishizu entered his mind to see the chained person.

“So, you finally came back. I told you this is an illusion.

My body is connected to your body and you are finally starting to get dehydrated too. You have to release me so we can go back to the real world.”

Ishizu frowned. What did he mean?

“What ‘real’ world. This is the world I live in.”

“You are wrong. This is but an illusion,” the man in chains said while shaking his head.

Ishizu shouted at the man.

“My world is not an illusion! How come my wife is with me?

Everyone is with me. I am happy where I am!”

The man with the chains smiled as he looked up.

“Every illusion has some flaws and so does this.

I’ve had enough time to recognize what they were.

Now, answer me a simple question.

Do you remember how you became the husband of Kaguya?”

Ishizu smirked. Of course, he knew.

She was his wife, his everything.

How could he not know that he met his wife in…

He met her in….?

Nothing. He couldn’t remember.

Ishizu clutched his head.

How could he not know where he met his wife?

He was here husband. Such things couldn’t be forgotten.

“See, you can’t remember or rather, this is the flaw of this world.

Nothing is perfect even if this one tries it to be.

This cave, although it looks complicated, has a simple design.

It finds your deepest d.e.s.i.r.e of life and creates a world that fulfills those things.”

Then the man smirked.

“But it forgets an important factor.

It is only through hard work that we remember our achievements.

You don’t remember the day you met Kaguya and married her because you didn’t have to do anything to get her.

She just was and there lies the contradiction of this world.

A world cannot be perfect.

Humans can’t be perfect.

It is in their very nature to be imperfect and that is what makes us so special.

We are not an exception!”

Ishizu’s mind started to hurt.

He tried to counter the arguments, but he couldn’t.

“You and I are the same. We both have the same goal, but what is there to be happy about if everything is already there and there was nothing to work for?

I failed once and let mother and father die. I let Rin die and didn’t intervene when Obito was brainwashed.

And I have to live with the consequences for the rest of my life but if you free me, we will try and make everything we can right.

Ishizu looked back.

“But… my wife.”

“Your wife is not real! Do you remember how you became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki?

Did you get Kaguya out of the God Tree?

Did you kiss her and she fell for you?

NO! This one is fake!

And you will never meet the real one if you don’t free me.”

Ishizu knew that he was right.

A world with no achievements was boring and dull.

It was only through our achievements could we create a purpose in our lives.

He walked towards the man before grabbing each chain and ripping them away.

The man jumped up and stretched himself.

The relief was clearly shown on his face.

“Finally! Now let us merge one more time and get the hell out of this place.”

Both Ishizu’s made a fist and connected them to each other.

Outside

Ishizu opened his eyes, Rinnegan shining as he looked towards Naruto’s home.

“Finally. Now, to get Naruto out of this hellhole.”