Sage's Resurrection

Chapter 43

When he woke up, all Naruto could see was the floor.

He blinked away the spots in his eyes before groaning. He wiggled a little bit, but he couldn't move. But why? His barriers had been erected perfectly!

He looked at the black boots in front of him.

"You failed. Again." The agent hauled him to his feet and split the binds. "Come on, you're better than this."

Naruto twitched.

"You know that you have to be able to do this."

Naruto grit his teeth and nodded.

"Look, I"m not going to lie to you. You get caught off guard as a sensor, you're not doing your job. I get that you can get caught once. And if it were anyone else, I wouldn't blame you a single bit. We all mess up. But you're a Jinchuriki. You have to be able to sense things in your sleep."

"I know." Naruto balled his fists once, twice, before settling down.

"Good day."

The agent left without another word.

---

"Okay, sealing. Let's do this."

Sakura sat down with reams upon reams of paper and a pot full of ink.

"Where should we start?" She asked, grinning.

Naruto slid a design over to her side of the table and unsealed a lamp.

"Seal this lamp."

---

Naruto shielded his eyes from another explosion.

Day had turned to dusk, and Naruto lit a lamp.

Sakura punched a hole in the table. "How come all of my seals keep blowing up? I'm not even trying to make paper bombs!"

Naruto took a quick look at the failed design while mending the table.

At this point, it's kind of pathetic. I'd think that she'd create that seal sooner or later, Kurama said.

"The structure of the seal is unstable. When you tried to seal the lamp, something broke."

"Shut it! I don't want to hear your explanation! Tell me how to fix this!" she shouted, gesturing at the now smoking paper.

Naruto shrugged. "You do it your way. Half the reason sealing works is confidence. If you can't get that, toss this idea in the bin and walk out that door."

"Show me how, then."

He shook his head. "It's a lot of struggle to find your personal style. I can't help you much there."

Sakura grit her teeth and continued to write. The array lit up, making the lamp disappear, and then reappear.

She pumped her fist, and Naruto unsealed dozens of pages of notes.

"Alright, that's the basics. This is all the stuff I could find in a few days worth of time that could help you."

"Thank you!" She frowned. "You have that communication seal with Sayuri and Sasuke, right? How does that one work?"

"That story's for another time... I can show it to you, if you want."

"Can you give it to me?"

"I'll ask them."

—

"Sayuri, can you help me out?"

She stepped out of the waterfall, completely dry. "Hm? You need something?"