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The nearest Naruto clone wobbled, feet slipping off the bridge, with nothing more than a glance from Neji.
Poof!
Yamato sighed. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. Some things never changed Naruto still spooked around Neji like it was the Chūnin Exams all over again.
Frustrated, Naruto barked down at them, "Captain Yamato! Kakashi-sensei! This isn't enough space I can make more clones!"
Yamato glanced at Kakashi for approval.
"You sure you can handle it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked lazily.
"Of course! I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he said, thumping his chest with stubborn pride.
Before he could brag further, Neji turned. "Expand it. Even if he loses control, Yamato-senpai and I are here. Nothing will go wrong."
Naruto froze mid-sentence. "Wait, hold on are you implying—"
Boom!
Yamato's Mokuton surged, widening the waterfall into a roaring wall of water. The wooden bridge stretched with it, trembling under the sudden expansion.
Naruto flailed, scrambling to keep his footing, while Neji stood unmoved, calm as a stone.
When the roaring finally settled, Neji extended his hand. Mist dampened his palm, rainbow light bending in the spray.
"Listen carefully, Naruto. I'll say this once."
His voice carried over the thunder of water.
"Everything flows. Wind is the blade that cuts through that flow. Feel the current. Shape it into a sharper current. Cut the world itself."
He pressed his palm forward.
CRACK!
The waterfall split. For a breathless moment, the roaring torrent tore in two, sunlight catching the mist to paint a rainbow.
Naruto's eyes widened. Yamato's jaw slackened. Even Kakashi, half-hidden behind Icha Icha, let a smirk tug at the mask. Perfect. Exactly the kind of target Naruto needs.
The split collapsed with a crash, drowning the canyon in thunder again. By then Neji had already stepped down, finished. Wind Release: mastered.
Naruto clenched his fists so hard they shook. His breath steadied into determination. 'I'll catch up. Not just to Neji to Sasuke too. I'll bring him back.'
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Dozens of Narutos filled the bridge, each slapping a hand against the waterfall.
"Everyone together let's do this!"
"Yeah!" they roared back in unison.
Droplets sprayed as their palms began nudging the current, clumsy but insistent. The first tremors of progress.
Kakashi gave Neji a sidelong look. "Thanks. Alone, he'd still be thrashing at square one."
Neji shook his head. "I only hammered the basics into him years ago. Beating resilience into his body was the easy part. The rest… is his choice."
Leaving Naruto to his army of clones, Neji settled cross-legged nearby. Wind and Lightning, his two system-gifted affinities, came easily. But Fire, Earth, and Water would take deliberate work.
"Time to dig deeper," he murmured, focusing.
The hours blurred. For Neji, progress was steady. For Naruto, it was sweat, failure, and stubbornness.
Knowledge made the difference Neji drew on theory, analogy, and experience, while Naruto slammed himself against the problem until his body yielded answers.
By dawn, Naruto collapsed, exhausted but successful. Neji, meanwhile, had quietly gained something else experience harvested through his subtle connection to the Two-Tails' former jinchūriki.
Naruto groaned, rubbing his lower back. "Neji, did you have to hit me so hard during training? My butt's still sore I can't even sit straight!"
The group laughed as they wandered to Ichiraku for food. Even ramen had its obstacles that night, thanks to Teuchi's overeager new apprentice.
Afterward, they returned to the falls, Kakashi guiding Naruto into the next step: fusing nature transformation into the Rasengan.
---
Meanwhile, far away in the forests of Fire Country—
Team Asuma cut through the trees toward the black-market bounty station. Izumo and Kotetsu joked to keep the pace light, while Shikamaru walked alongside Asuma, sharp eyes missing nothing.
He caught the absence of a cigarette between his sensei's lips. "You quit? That won't last. A drag or two, and you'll be right back."
Asuma chuckled softly. Shikamaru wasn't mocking he was reassuring him.
But in the unseen script of fate, every word felt like a flag planted in the soil, a stage cue for tragedy.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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