More than three months passed in the blink of an eye.
While Hinata continued her training—practicing how to dissolve the force of a bird's attempt to take flight—Tom stood alone at a shallow river in the backwoods of Konoha, deep in thought.
The clear water barely reached his waist, but Tom could feel the flow and resistance pressing against his body. Slowly, he began to spin, letting the water swirl around him as he moved.
"I remember… there was a TV series in my old world that used a whirlpool technique," Tom muttered. "The key was mastering how to borrow force."
Below the surface, a small stone began to drift toward the swirling current. The vortex that Tom had created pulled it gently toward the center. Rather than sinking to the bottom, the stone hovered within the spiraling water, rising and falling as if suspended in air.
Someone standing at the riverbank would have seen a mesmerizing sight: a single stone dancing rhythmically in the center of a whirlpool, neither sinking nor escaping.
Tom had balanced the forces precisely. The stone's downward weight was canceled out by the buoyancy and the centrifugal force of the water, while his chakra subtly adjusted the flow to prevent the stone from slipping away.
"Seems simple," Tom said, "but this level of control is anything but."
It required total understanding of external force, flow, and chakra sensitivity. He had to borrow strength, not resist it—to let it move through him.
"This… this is the second stage of the new ninjutsu," he realized.
Although complex, Tom believed Hinata could master it too. Her quiet determination rivals even Naruto's. These past three months, Tom had finally found the 'stickiness' and 'entanglement' within the softness of Tai Chi, adapting it into actual combat use.
He had already begun fusing elements of Xingyiquan into this developing art, aiming to create his own physical style: Taiji-Xingyi Fist—a balance of fluid defense and explosive strikes.
At the same time, Tom had continued his research into Wood Release clones.
By combining the Ghost Bud Luo Technique with fragments of the mask that contained the power of the Outer Path, he had managed to infuse his Wood Clones with a strange vitality. These new clones didn't simply turn into dead wood when they ran out of chakra.
Instead, they remained frozen—paralyzed, like a living body without energy—yet still "alive."
It was a breakthrough. The consciousness transmitted through the clone didn't disappear. It was simply dormant, trapped until chakra was reinjected.
"The shadow clone is like a disposable battery… the regular wood clone is like a high-capacity alkaline battery," Tom mused, "but this one—it's a rechargeable battery. The question is: can it become like White Zetsu? A clone that can generate its own chakra?"
Despite the innovation, the clone could not yet produce chakra independently. Frustrated by another failed experiment, Tom wandered listlessly through the village streets.
That's when trouble arrived.
From the corner of the road, four familiar figures burst forth with chaotic energy: Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba, with Akamaru barking at their heels.
"Hey, Tom! Let's go grab some Ichiraku Ramen!" Naruto called out excitedly. His right hand was wrapped in bandages.
Tom blinked. "You four again… what are you up to now?"
From experience, Tom knew that whenever these four troublemakers appeared together, it could only mean mischief.
"I don't have any pocket money left," Choji said, completely shameless.
Tom raised an eyebrow. "Except for Naruto, you guys always do have pocket money, don't you?"
Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "Well… it's just too troublesome to explain to our parents where it went."
"Exactly! So you'll cover us, right, Tom?" Kiba grinned, while Akamaru barked in agreement.
A shadow crossed Tom's face. "You guys…"
Still, despite the theatrics, he sighed and relented. "Fine. But this is the last time."
"Yeah!" The four shouted together, nodding with exaggerated innocence. Anyone passing by would've mistaken them for model students.
Since Tom had cooked hot pot for them months ago, the four had unofficially declared themselves a squad. They met often, sometimes just to eat, sometimes to mess around. Despite the chaos, Tom enjoyed their company.
Though his mental age hovered around thirty, he had once been an orphan too. In the shinobi world, having friends—even noisy, food-hungry ones—was a gift.
At Ichiraku Ramen, as they devoured their food, Tom finally turned to Naruto.
"Hey, what happened to your hand?"
Naruto lifted it with a grin. "Oh, I was practicing shuriken today. I messed up and cut myself, but I always heal faster than most people anyway."
Tom's eyes narrowed. Injured, but healing fast… that's right.
A thought thundered through his brain like lightning. What if… I fused my own flesh and blood into the Wood Clone enhanced with Outer Path power? If the tissue still had chakra activity…
After ramen, he rushed home to test the theory.
Because of his healing abilities, Tom's body could recover from damage at incredible speed—he had even regenerated limbs before.
He used the Ghost Bud Luo technique again, fusing a part of his own flesh into a Wood Clone enhanced with the mask's power.
The results were immediate.
The clone began producing chakra—slowly at first, but unmistakably. The more of Tom's tissue fused into the clone, the more chakra it could produce.
"Even if it weakens me temporarily… I can grow it back," Tom muttered.
He raised a blade—Broken Fang—and without hesitation, sliced off his left hand.
Crack!
Blood splattered, and the hand dropped to the ground.
Gritting his teeth, Tom activated his healing abilities, enhanced with Wood Release and medical ninjutsu. A new hand rapidly began to form.
It would take about three months for it to fully return to normal, but the clone had already accepted the severed hand.
And then something strange happened.
The clone, now infused with Tom's living tissue, began to melt the hand. Not in destruction, but in absorption. The melting occurred in rhythm with Tom's heartbeat, and the hand's energy—a translucent, jelly-like chakra—spread throughout the clone.
Soon, it reached every limb and organ the clone possessed.
Tom could feel it: the clone had developed bones, meridians, muscles—everything.
It was no longer just wood.
It was alive.
"Can it reach the chakra level of Iruka-sensei?" Tom murmured in awe. "Yes… it's a success!"
---
Two months passed.
After returning from a mission in the Land of Wind, Tom could still feel the clone's presence—stable, autonomous, alive.
It even had the equivalent chakra of a mid-level chunin.
Tom examined his own new left hand. Fully regenerated. But the original had been used as the base for something far greater.
At last, the new jutsu could be named.
A clone capable of independent action, chakra generation, and retaining personality, even when far from its origin point. A clone that was neither human nor plant.
He would call it:
True Clone Technique (Shin Jibun no Bunshin no Jutsu).
This technique was unique to him. It consumed the last of his Outer Path-infused mask fragments, so for now, he could only make one.
But that was enough.
This clone wasn't just a tool. It was an extension of himself, one that could grow, learn, and act on its own.
Its chakra couldn't scale infinitely, but it was steady—reliable.
"I'll save this one for when it counts," Tom said, watching his clone disappear into the woods.
He turned back to his scrolls.
It was time to shift his focus.
Next… he would study the Uchiha clan's greatest trump card:
Susanoo.
Could he create his own version—a Wood Release-based Susanoo?
With Ghost Bud Luo, the Will of Fire, and a spirit forged in two worlds… he believed the answer was yes.