"Well, this is the way to cultivate chakra. You have to practice diligently. Once you successfully extract chakra, I'll teach you an interesting ninjutsu."
"What is ninjutsu?"
The moment Naruto heard he could learn ninjutsu, he lit up with excitement.
"Ah, you'll understand when the time comes. Just remember—you must concentrate while training your chakra. If you don't, you'll never get it right."
"Brother White Fang, actually... I still don't quite get it." Naruto scratched his head with a sheepish look.
Kakashi sighed. Naruto's ability to grasp things conceptually was... honestly painful.
If he can't understand it with words, then his body will have to remember it.
Kakashi placed a palm gently on Naruto's back and said, "Naruto, focus. Remember this feeling carefully."
Before Naruto could ask what was happening, he suddenly felt a warm current surge from his back. It coursed through his body, finally pooling in his lower abdomen.
The whole sensation lasted only about five seconds—but it was unforgettable.
Kakashi withdrew his hand and asked, "Did you feel that?"
"Yeah! I remember it!" Naruto replied with excitement.
While Naruto might struggle with mental comprehension, his physical instincts and perception were incredibly sharp.
"That's good. It's getting late now—you should head home."
Kakashi looked up at the sky. It had grown dark without either of them noticing.
Naruto's bright expression dimmed a little at the mention of going home. Back to that cold, empty place... He couldn't really call it a home. It was just a house.
Kakashi didn't comment. This was Naruto's path to walk. He could offer guidance, maybe a little warmth—but he couldn't bear the burden for him.
Everyone has to walk their own road.
"Naruto, I'll be here at 2 p.m. tomorrow. I hope by then, you'll have extracted your chakra."
With those words, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke using the Body Flicker Technique, leaving behind only a swirl of wind.
But Naruto didn't seem disappointed. Instead, he grinned, clenched his small fists, and a determined light ignited in his eyes.
"I'll do it! Just wait and see!"
The promise of seeing Kakashi again tomorrow erased all his earlier loneliness.
He really had made a friend—even if that friend was older, and a bit weird.
But so what?
With that thought, Naruto dashed back to his apartment, filled with new purpose. His journey had begun.
Meeting Naruto had been unexpected. For over three years, Kakashi had buried himself in missions and Anbu assignments. He simply hadn't had the time to seek out the Child of Prophecy.
But now that fate had placed Naruto in his path, Kakashi couldn't just walk away. He couldn't erase Naruto's pain—but maybe, just maybe, he could bring a little light into that dark childhood.
Thinking this, Kakashi arrived home.
It was still early, and he had no intention of sleeping yet. Nor did he feel like practicing kenjutsu.
His swordsmanship was already refined—at the level of Hatake Kakashi, daily review was enough. Hard training wouldn't help much anymore. Growth now depended on insight and enlightenment.
He reached into his ninja pouch, retrieved a scroll, and unrolled it. Upon it was a large kanji for "Sage," surrounded by complex, esoteric symbols.
This was the sealed Senjutsu Chakra Kakashi had obtained from Orochimaru's laboratory—locked away with a powerful sealing technique.
And it originated from Ryūchi Cave—one of the three legendary Sage Regions.
Senjutsu was among the highest forms of chakra mastery in the shinobi world, and Kakashi was deeply intrigued by it. It had become one of his personal goals.
That said, Kakashi suspected the Senjutsu of Mount Myōboku might suit him better than Ryūchi Cave's.
After all, Jiraiya was far easier to talk to than Orochimaru.
As for the White Snake Sage's Wet Bone Forest… Kakashi had no idea how to even bring that up to Tsunade.
Jiraiya remained his best bet. And with Kakashi being something of a disciple and spiritual grandson of Jiraiya, he already had a solid foundation for requesting Senjutsu training.
The only problem? Jiraiya was a wandering sage—he hadn't been seen for three years. Kakashi hadn't encountered him even once.
Still, Kakashi wasn't worried. If memory served, the book that would become his guilty pleasure—Icha Icha Paradise—was a birthday gift Jiraiya would give him when he turned eighteen.
By that timeline, it meant Jiraiya would return within the next six months.
Half a year—Kakashi could wait.
Three years of rigorous training had greatly increased his chakra reserves. He believed he now had the foundation needed to attempt Senjutsu.
His Sharingan was also under much better control. With the help of a seal he had developed, the burden of the Sharingan was largely neutralized.
However, maintaining the Sharingan in battle still consumed an absurd amount of chakra.
There wasn't much he could do about that—the Sharingan just didn't come cheap.
He turned his gaze back to the scroll and peeled away a small seal.
A flicker of white chakra emerged in his palm. It pulsed faintly, exuding an eerie presence.
"So this is Senjutsu Chakra... Definitely different from ordinary chakra. It even carries the distinctive snake-like energy of Ryūchi Cave."
The white chakra flickered like a candle's flame—unstable and hard to focus on.
Kakashi tried to sense it with his own chakra, but—just as he expected—his chakra was immediately repelled.
"Yep, Senjutsu isn't something you just mess with."
Kakashi realized he couldn't interact with this chakra on a meaningful level yet. He couldn't even glimpse its inner structure.
But then it hit him—he had a tool for exactly this kind of peering: the Sharingan.
He lifted his forehead protector, and the scarlet Sharingan flared to life.
Now he could see the Senjutsu Chakra in much clearer detail.
"This sensation… it's incredibly complex."
Even with the Sharingan, the white chakra felt like a twisting labyrinth. But Kakashi wasn't one to give up. He poured more chakra into his eye, sharpening its focus.
In an instant, the design changed.
Mangekyō Sharingan!
"I see it now! So that's how it's structured!"
He quickly deactivated the eye, letting the fatigue settle in, and covered it once more with the forehead protector.
"Senjutsu Chakra is incredibly dangerous. A small mistake and you could lose yourself to it. It's too reckless to try absorbing it directly. I'll have to go to Mount Myōboku and learn the proper method."
If he could master their Sage Mode, he might be able to integrate it with the chakra from Ryūchi Cave. The thought of blending the arts of two sacred lands stirred his imagination.
Kakashi couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
He resealed the Senjutsu Chakra back into the scroll and stored it inside a specialized box.
This box was rigged—anyone but Kakashi who tried to open it would trigger a self-destruct seal. The contents would burn instantly.
Inside that box were Kakashi's deepest secrets—including a journal titled Naruto's Diary, written in a script not of this world.
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