Till the end of time, a Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden Fanfiction

Lessons in Philosophy

Due to a very nice trip to Istanbul, and a half refurbishing of my flat, a short chapter for you to shorten your waiting :-)

Lessons of philosophy:

"Slow down boys, is no use to scoff all that food. You'll just throw up later." Sakura advised her two teammates.

They were currently sitting around a small, wooden table back at Tazuna's house. The whole party had gathered, Team Seven and Tazuna's family, excluding Tsunami's soon and therefore Tazuna's grandson Inari, who excused himself due to Naruto's comment about his father and Tsunami's former husband, a seemingly tense topic. The so called "Hero of drunken men" hadn't been some fellow who has spent his days in the village's inn, drinking with his mates, no he was, contrary to Sakura's believe, a lifeguard who had saved people drowning in the deep water surrounding the village. Praised by everyone, he had been the first to stand up against Gato's reign, hoping to stop the upcoming tragedy. Supporters of the whole village, young and old, rich and poor had followed him to the front gates of Gato's mansion, proclaiming themselves as the only leaders, thus declaring a policy without a leading group raised by money, but by fair and equal election. As the first to stand up, he had been the first to fall: Gato who had expected a possible protest had already gathered soldiers to stop any attempt to bring him down. As the gates had opened signaling the surrender of the powerful merchant, the insurgents had entered. In truth, the open gates had simply been a signal for the hired soldiers to seize the rebels. The following imprisonment had been short: while the majority got released - even Gato couldn't afford eliminating half the village - others had gotten banned from the country. The "Hero of drunken men" however, has been used as a warning: his public execution had taken place only two days after his imprisonment and had erased every last spark of resistance inside the townspeople. Inari who had seen his father as his hero and model, was had been devastated after he had witnessed his father's death. He never entirely recovered from his loss and lost all believed in heros or the like.

"But Sakura-Chan, I need this food to be strong. Eating much helps me to restock my energy, thus training will be more successful. I must best that teme, by the way, must get to a higher branch than him. Hence I need to eat much." Even while talking he continued devouring an enormous amount of food. Miraculously his little speech was quite understandable - although disgusting to look at due to salvia slowly dripping from the corner of his mouth - despite talking with full mouth.

"While I do understand that you must eat to top up your energy reserves, I do not understand your need to eat so fast. Don't you think eating at least somewhat more slowly - and more courteous - would get the same results? Or even better, given that you will throw up sooner or later?" Sakura scowled growing more and more annoyed with the boy's antics. "You're not better Sasuke, the same reasons I assume?"

"Hn." was the only answer, although vacuous in general, the meaning was quite obvious.

"You're indeed not better. Even worse one might assume, considering Naruto being polite enough to answer in full sentences. Unlike you. Even a bottle with a hole is better than one without bottom."

"Oh, did one read too many books about philosophy?" Kakashi participated in the conversation, causing Sakura to turn red, resembling the color of the tree her name came from.

"No, I mean... I just..." Sakura stammered, turning into a even deeper shade of red. "Just because I like to read, doesn't mean..." She started to defend herself but was interrupted by her teacher.

"Uh, I quite understand. No, really." He quickly added seeing her disbelieving face." I do understand. You just love so much to read that you memorize every single word." He mocked the girl trying - unsuccessfully - to cause her blushing even more.

"Memorizing always contains - at least partial - understanding. And understanding means - at least partial - that you acquire the skill. One might ask what kind of skill one acquires while reading books about philosophy, but to understand this, one must read books about philosophy. Ignorant people might try to argue work a reader - me for example - and might realize that their level of rhetoric is far below the ones he argues with. Even more ignorant people might not even realize that their own level of rhetoric has been surpassed by far by the level of rhetoric of the person they argue with, then, the chance to raise their level by reading books on philosophy is only slim, however even a number close to zero is still beyond the zero so hopes shouldn't be held high, but shouldn't be entirely lost. Even from the deepest hole, it is possible to climb the mountain of knowledge, more difficult of course, but not impossible. And while a normal person, starting from the very top of the hole might need one eternity to get to the top of all knowledge, to achieve infinite wisdom, the people out of the hole need two and will just stand as high as everyone else. At the top of the mountain all are equal, none is higher than the rest: No one is above you and might be king of the mountain, no, all are kind and queens and rule from the top. As long as the action of climbing continues, though, the hierarchy is alive, pressing on the climbers, creating competition. The higher ranked, the ones above the other, climbing on higher levels, these are the rulers. Being above everyone else, alone, not sharing the privilege of being the sole leader, this is power comparable to nothing else.

Now, does anyone want to argue with me, about my point of view?"

Naruto opened his mouth - not to eat -, but whatever he wanted to stay was lost in Kakashi's gloved, right hand covering his mouth, sealing it effectively.