Nindō: Dominion

Naruto slept like a baby under his wife's love and care, as all his exhaustion completely vanished under her efforts. When he woke up in the morning, Hinata was already out of bed and cooking. After leaving her work to Naruto for the past two mornings, she wanted to make something good.

The morning quickly went by before Naruto made his way to the office, getting on with the proceedings of the day.

Once Naruto had given the mission assignments to the team leaders, he was greeted by an unexpected arrival at his office for the second day in a row.

"I thought you were going to spend time with your wife and daughter while you're in Konoha," Naruto raised his brow as Sasuke entered his office, his weak state clearly visible to Naruto despite his strong front. Unlike Temari, who couldn't even stand straight after losing all her chakra, Sasuke was someone on a whole other level and could easily trick most people into thinking that he was perfectly fine.

"I came to talk to you about Sarada's training," Sasuke said. "Specifically, the regimen that you've given her to follow. It's downright bad."

"As blunt as always," Naruto smiled. "Sit, tell me your concerns, then I'll tell you why I've given her that regime."

"While such extreme exhaustion is good for improving general chakra capacity, it is not a long-term solution. What you're doing is essentially forcing out her potential," Sasuke said. "Not to mention the thing she told me about you giving her your chakra to help her recover. There is a reason one shinobi doesn't just give someone their chakra to help with chakra exhaustion. The resulting reaction is detrimental and only weakens the recipient. Sarada doesn't need to focus so deeply on increasing her chakra quantity anyway. If you want to train her, teach her taijutsu or teach her to use her Sharingan in different ways. There is no need to take such extreme measures."

"I understand your concerns," Naruto said. "But first off, I'm not giving my chakra to Sarada to help her recover. I'm giving her Matatabi's chakra." Sasuke's one visible eye widened at Naruto's words.

"You're thinking of making her a jinchūriki of the Two Tails …" Sasuke said.

"Yes. Not only would Matatabi's blue flames be very compatible with Sarada's fire release, but the nimble nature of her form will also be very compatible with her form and taijutsu abilities."

"Since the Two Tails wasn't sealed into her at birth, you are trying to forcefully make her compatible with the tailed beast's chakra so that she would be able to accept it later."

"Exactly. That's why I am having her exhaust herself to almost the point of chakra exhaustion and then introducing a tailed beast's chakra into her so that it can slowly take root in her body and intertwine with her chakra. I also have to make sure that Matatabi's chakra doesn't cause havoc in her body, so I have to take time to administer it to her while keeping the violent chakra suppressed."

"You don't need to explain it any further," Sasuke said. "For her future protection, having a tailed beast sealed in her would be good. But it will also paint a target on her back."

"Do you have a plan for it?" Naruto said.

"I'm thinking of something," Sasuke said thoughtfully. "How long do you think it will take for her to become compatible with the Two Tails' chakra?"

"Six months, give or take. Why?" Naruto asked. "I will seal Matatabi into her as soon as she is strong enough to handle the sealing process."

"I'll see if I can develop some kind of technique in the meantime to allow her chakra signature to be modified in some way …" Sasuke said. "If the Ōtsutsuki can't even detect the presence of the tailed beast in her, that would be for the best."

"I agree," Naruto nodded. "But I would rather that you focus on teaching the Uchiha's legacy techniques to her as well. I am training her in what I specialize in— becoming a jinchūriki. Her fighting style would most benefit from learning your abilities."

"What would you say to me taking her away from Konoha for a while?" Sasuke said. "To train her and to give her some exposure to the real world. While I like the current peace we have established, I want my daughter to be the best possible version of herself that she can be. That will only be possible if I take her away to a more dangerous place and truly expose her to the harshness of reality."

"I'm not averse to your idea," Naruto said thoughtfully. "I can spend the next six months focusing on her training and teach her everything she needs to know about being a jinchūriki. Once I seal Matatabi into her, you can take her away. With you, she will be safe even if there are any complications."

"On another note," Sasuke said. "I found traces of a deep-rooted conspiracy in Ame. Not only did I find signs of that organization that calls themselves Kara, but I feel that there is something actively preventing Konoha from interfering with the village's development. It's more than just local discontentment that's preventing our efforts to develop them."

"Those two might not be mutually exclusive," Naruto said. "If their base is in Ame, then it's understandable that they prefer it to be a war-torn village where things are in disarray."

"I don't think that's exactly the case," Sasuke said. "Their base, from what I've gathered, is in a separate dimension. Ame seems to just be one of their footholds."

Naruto crossed his arms and leaned back, humming thoughtfully, "Spend whatever time you need to recover and set off for Ame soon. I want a detailed report about the exact situation there. I will assemble a task force of some of our best ninjas and collaborate with Suna to make a move on the village."

"There is a possible Ōtsutsuki-level threat in Ame, Naruto," Sasuke said with a raised brow.

"And I will prepare accordingly. You don't need to worry. Try to understand the exact situation in Ame and bring me a comprehensive report within two to three weeks if possible. If not, come back within a month with what you find so that we can continue on this goose chase that is the Kara organization."

"Understood," Sasuke nodded, standing up from his seat. "I'm going to train Sarada for a couple of days. Talk to Konohamaru to get him to free her from the daily mission work for the next couple of days."

"Will do," Naruto said. "Just make sure that she doesn't neglect my training exercises."

…

The same evening, Sarada came in with a guest, more like the guest was the one who brought her to Naruto's office.

"I see you're seriously spending time with your daughter," Naruto said with a raised brow, looking at Sarada's unconscious figure in Sasuke's arms.

He shook his head. "I told her about the situation without mentioning any of the jinchūriki stuff, and she practically begged me to help her completely exhaust herself. Plus, I wanted to see the process with my own eyes."

"Put her on the couch," Naruto told Sasuke, aware that the father was here to examine what exactly Naruto was doing. "It's understandable. Once you get used to the quick and quantifiable progress that she's currently making, you'd want to make that kind of progress every single day."

Sasuke didn't say anything, looking at his daughter's tired face with a frown. Naruto came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder and another on Sarada's forehead, passing his chakra into her while also tinting it with Matatabi's chakra to allow Sasuke to see his treatment.

"Don't worry," Naruto said as he formed the chakra tether and pulled his hand away from Sarada's head. "She won't stray to the wrong path. Unlike your sorry ass."

"I would hope so," Sasuke said, exhaling as he walked to the door. "I trust you'll send her back in time?" He asked.

"Of course. Once she wakes up, I'll feed her something and send her home," Sasuke didn't say anything and walked out of Naruto's office.

In the meantime, Naruto focused on Sarada's situation so that he could quickly get her to wake up.

[You didn't give the Uchiha the full story.]

Naruto walked to his window and looked at the night sky and his village illuminated by the streetlights before responding to Kurama.

[Of course not. I'm not telling him that I have put what he will think to be a cursed seal on his daughter. The only reason that I can so easily help her recover from chakra exhaustion is because her body perfectly accepts my chakra as if it were her own. It intimately melds my chakra with hers to not only enhance the quantity but even improve the quality of her chakra. As for the whole jinchūriki thing, I don't need to make Sarada compatible with Matatabi's chakra; I have another solution for that particular problem. Eventually, the quality of her chakra will surpass even mine, at which point, I will be the one benefitting from it.]

[What do you mean?]

[The members of the Uchiha clan, while low on chakra capacity, have very dense, high-quality chakra. That is what allows Sasuke to utilize abilities like the Susanoo without the presence of any tailed beast inside him. While I dwarf him in the quantity of chakra that I have, the quality that I possess is doubtlessly inferior. It will eventually be the same with Sarada. Once her chakra quality surpasses mine, I will be the one receiving the feedback from her that will allow me to improve my chakra's quality.]

[With how much you have, it will take you years for marginal improvements. That is looking at the girl's current pace.]

[Maybe. But as long as I have a direction, maybe I can brute force things. Maybe I won't even need to improve my chakra quality if I am able to successfully complete my experiment with Momoshiki's divinity.]

[What about Matatbi's situation? There is a reason that most jinchūriki are infused with their tailed beast early on in their lives. Without an affinity with the tailed beast's chakra, the jinchūriki will not be able to utilize the full potential of their beast.]

[I'm still working on that. It's probably going to take me a few weeks to come up with a concrete plan for that particular thing.]

Kurama didn't say anything further and grunted before closing his eyes again as he realized that Sarada was about to wake up.

***

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