The Blessed Realm

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Eight: More important than the whole world

When Naruto opened the door he found one of Juugo's fostermothers standing outside.

“I am just passing by to invite you and Sasuke to have dinner with us tomorrow night,” she said.

“Thanks,” Naruto answered. “Won't you come in?”

She followed him to the living-room and kitchen, took place at the table, and Naruto served her tea. He also placed a cup of tea in front of Fukasaku.

“You have a new pet?” the woman asked. “A frog? Shouldn't he be in a terrarium? Isn't he in danger of drying out without any water to jump into? Do you really think it is a good idea to serve him tea? Shouldn't he drink water instead?”

“He prefers tea,” Naruto replied. “As for jumping into water: he's no Mist Nin, so he won't dry out.”

The woman remained sceptical. “As long as you don't serve him a cookie to go with the tea...”

“He eats flies. He catches them himself."

“So that's all right.” She looked around, checking the room for insects. “I hope he's not too hungry. Maybe you need to buy some fruit and let it rot, so that it can attract flies for your frog.”

Naruto did not answer.

“He's really cute, your frog. You know, our kids want a pet too, preferably a dog. We try to persuade them that a guinea pig will do too. Maybe I could get the boys interested in a frog. They'd think it cool. I guess the smaller kids will prefer a pet they can cuddle, so a frog won't do for them.”

“It's a toad,” Naruto said. “And I have Sasuke for cuddling.”

“Yes, of course. So we want to invite the two of you for dinner tomorrow night. Nothing fancy, just having dinner and then talking or playing some board game.”

Naruto considered it. “I'll come,” he said. “I can't tell about Sasuke: he's really busy these days, and he does not inform me about his plans.”



“That's understandable,” the woman said, making clear that she found it perfectly normal that Sasuke did things on his own without telling Naruto, but that she was irritated by Naruto's tone.

“He goes shopping with someone else.”

“You're not jealous, are you?”

Naruto did not want to admit that he was. Being jealous was considered a major flaw of character among his new friends.

“There's no reason for being jealous, really.”

“So you know what's going on?”

“Yes. But I won't spoil the surprise.”

“What kind of surprise? That he'll soon present me his new lover?”

“No, definitely not.”

“You'd tell me if he had a new lover and was keeping him hidden from me, wouldn't you?”

“I would, really. But there's no such lover, at least none that I know of. Just wait for a few days, then you'll understand. So will you come and visit us tomorrow night? With Sasuke or without him – the invitation is mainly for you.”

Naruto felt flattered. “I'll come.”

“It will be much better than sitting here alone in your flat, waiting for Sasuke to return.”



Naruto could well imagine this.

“You may bring your frog too. I'll make sure there's a large bowl of water for bathing, and some flies he can catch.”

“Yes, thanks. I'll come.”

Naruto accompanied her to the door. When he returned to the table Fukasaku spoke up. “Why did you accept the invitation?”

“Why should I have declined it?”

“Because you should leave this place as soon as possible. You should not linger around any longer. Tomorrow morning at the latest you should depart and set out to save the world.”

“It's not too late if I start saving the world a day later or two,” Naruto replied.

“You're just putting it off again. You can't escape your destiny.”

“She's a good friend. She means well. I like being with her and her family: there's no reason why I should not accept the invitation. I'd hurt her if I rejected it. I'll start saving the world the day after.”

“You should not postpone it any longer. The day after you'll find a new excuse.”Naruto knew that this might be the case, so he did not answer. He heard the key in the front door:

Sasuke was returning. Naruto tried to discern whether Sasuke looked as if he had just had some enjoyable sex, but mostly he looked angry.

“You again” he said when he saw Fukasaku. “You're not again trying to convince Naruto that he should leave me in order to save the world?”

“It's his destiny,” Fukasaku replied. “He cannot run from it any longer.”

“He has made the head of Akatsuki admit that he is not Madara. What else do you want?”

“He still needs to establish peace between the ninja countries.”

“He's learning about peace, too. We have both participated in a seminar for settling conflicts between kindergarten kids. People here think they're quite similar to conflicts between politicians.”

Sasuke had accompanied Naruto to that seminar, as they always went together to everything that was important to either of them. They had again done a lot of role-playing, and even Sasuke had had a lot of fun playing a kid and being as stubborn and irrational as he could imagine. Naruto had enjoyed it even more, and he had been even better at playing a kid, making all the women around them laugh, so that they had to calm down before they could even start trying to solve their conflict. (There had only been two more men, and they had remained in the background.) They had learnt how people here dealt with conflicts between kids: they did not get preachy (Naruto's normal approach to the problem), nor did they just tell them to shut up and stop (which was what Sasuke did), but they asked them what had happened, they allowed them to express their emotions (though without the other child listening), they helped them to calm down again and then to find a viable compromise.

“You don't take that seriously,” Fukasaku said. “Solving conflicts between kindergarten kids as a substitute for creating peace between nations.”

“It was an interesting experience,” Naruto replied.

“People here can teach him what he needs to know,” Sasuke said.

“He does not need all this,” Fukasaku replied. “He is the child of destiny. He will bring peace to the world, if you don't insist on keeping him for yourself.”

Sasuke sat down at the table, laying his arm around Naruto's hips.

“I insist on keeping him for myself,” he said. “Just as Naruto insists on keeping me for himself.”

Naruto was glad to hear it.

“I need Naruto. The world does not need him as urgently as I do.”



He was leaning heavily against Naruto now. All the same Naruto sensed that far from relaxing Sasuke was very much on his alert, ready to fight for Naruto if necessary.

“I told you the same, didn't I?” Naruto said. “Sasuke needs me. Without me he would have left Music Town a long time ago.”

“That's true,” Sasuke said. “Without him, I could not live here and feel at peace. Without him life in Music Town would be meaningless.”



“You take yourself far too important,” Fukasaku said. “What is a single person against the whole world?”

“It's not just me,” Sasuke said. “There's also those kids we work with on Friday afternoons. They need him too. They adore him because he's cool and strong and funny and because he cares for them and takes time to teach them taijutsu.”

“They'll adore him even more when he saves the world.”



“But then he can't play with them any more. Also, as I told you, he teaches them to live peacefully and to solve their conflicts without fighting.”

“Kindergarten kids,” Fukasaku said, speaking to Naruto again. “You're teaching peace to kindergarten kids when you should teach peace to the nations of the ninja world.”

“Actually they are a bit older,” Naruto said. “They're between ten and fourteen years old.”

“Still they're just a few kids. What are a few kids when you should be busy saving the whole world?”

“You should not speak derogatively of those kids,” Sasuke said. “We like them, actually.”

It was true: He liked them too, and enjoyed teaching them taijutsu, even though he did not enjoy being in the focus of attention as Naruto did, and even though he did not enjoy playing the wild loud games Naruto loved to play. He preferred making them train hard, dealing with one of them at a time.

“Even if you like them they can't be as important as the whole world,” Fukasaku said.

“You should be more careful about what you're saying. These kids are not so different from Naruto or myself when we were the same age. You're telling Naruto that he's not important.”

“Naruto is important because he needs to save the world. He's the child of destiny. These kids aren't.”

“They are important too.”

“They can't be as important as the whole world.”

Now Sasuke had to think. His main purpose was to keep Naruto with him in Music Town, mostly because he thought that Naruto was happier with him in Music Town than roaming the world as some kind of wandering priest, preaching peace to people who did not take any interest in his words. Naruto thrived when he was with people he liked, and though he was good at making new friends he would suffer if he had to leave them again after a few weeks in order to preach peace to other people. Of course he also wanted Naruto to stay with him for his own, Sasuke's, sake, but this sounded just too selfish, which was why he had put forward those kids, only that in Fukasaku's opinion they could not be as important as the whole world. Then something else came to his mind. He leant back and smiled.

“Every single child is as important as the whole world,” he said. “I read it in one of the brochures Naruto brought from the religious communities of Music Town. If you care for one of them you care for all of them. I don't remember which religion this was from.”

“It was actually a quote of the Rikudo himself,” Naruto said. “There's similar quotes from other religious leaders, as they all copy each other and then claim that it was divine inspiration. Some people believe that the fact that a lot of their most important messages are the same is proof that there's really some divine being who's inspiring them, but most scholars think it's just proof that they read each other's texts and learn from each other and copy each other. Anyway, this quote is originally from the Rikudo, and others copied from him: Every child is as important as the whole world, and if you care for one of them it's as if you care for the whole world.”

“This does not make sense,” Fukasaku replied. “It's not logical. How can a single child be more important than all children of the whole world?”

“It's wisdom. It does not need to be logical, at least not in the ordinary way. I wonder that you don't know that. I wonder that you've never heard of the quote.”

He smiled: he felt certain of himself again.

“Sasuke needs me here in Music Town, so I will stay with him. I'll continue working with those kids who rely on me. I won't leave Music Town in order to save the world.”

 

A/N: Thanks again for your reviews and your plusses! You can find my answers at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/14965-blessed-realm/ .It is now possible to access the thread without registration at the forums.