"Lord Hokage, Kamikawa Aoba has taken the Jinchuriki to the woods outside the village. Should we intervene?"
"No need. Just maintain surveillance from a distance."
Every move Aoba made was under the Third Hokage's watch. He had, of course, seen Aoba's actions.
The Third turned to the man beside him—no longer the two advisors, but the strategist Nara Shikaku.
"He's doing it on purpose. He might still hold a grudge. He's deliberately distancing himself from Konoha's core."
Meanwhile, Aoba led Naruto to a riverbank.
"Watch closely." With that, Aoba stepped onto the trunk of a tree and walked vertically upward. This was the basic chakra control training—tree-walking—with water-walking as the next stage.
In the original timeline, Naruto wouldn't learn this until after graduation, during the Land of Waves mission under Kakashi's guidance.
But as a transmigrator, Aoba had no reservations. If he thought of something, he just did it.
Truthfully, if not for Konoha's vast resources—which he coveted—he would've long since fled this decaying village.
But there was no helping it. Konoha's foundations ran deep. Even with fools taking turns running it into the ground, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse.
"Whoa! How'd you do that?!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes wide.
From childhood, aside from his academy teacher Iruka, no one had ever seriously taught him ninja skills.
So even if he struggled to grasp it, he listened with rapt attention, giving it his all.Due to the presence of the Nine-Tails within him, even a small leakage of its Chakra was an enormous amount of energy for Naruto at this stage. The Nine-Tails' Chakra interfered with his own, making it extremely difficult for him to control despite having vast reserves.
However, the kid was tough-skinned and thick-headed. Once he put his mind to it, he didn't fear falls or pain. By the afternoon, he could already manage to climb a few steps up a tree.
"Alright, that's enough training for today. You're still young—overdoing it could stunt your growth."
"Really? It's already afternoon? Then we should start preparing dinner."
Before Aoba could react, Naruto turned and jumped straight into the nearby river.
Only then did Aoba realize he must have gone to catch fish.
After splashing around underwater for a while, Naruto resurfaced, clutching a palm-sized fish.
"Look what I caught… but it's kinda small."
Aoba reached out and pulled him from the river.
"Fish for dinner sounds good. Let me give it a try too."
With that, he dipped his right hand into the water. A Flash of electricity later, over a dozen large fish floated to the surface.
"Whoa… that's amazing, Aoba-nii!" Naruto whooped as he rushed into the river to scoop up the fish. Then, with practiced ease, he began cleaning them.
He was clearly experienced at this—a common sight in Konoha.
One of the village's infamous scenes: Naruto Uzumaki, son of the Fourth Hokage, legacy of Konoha's hero, and the village's deterrence-level combat potential, having to catch his own fish to eat.
Later, the internet would spin endless theories about this—claims that the Third Hokage had politically manipulated Naruto, and so on.
But to Aoba, all such explanations were pure nonsense. In reality, it could be chalked up to the original author's idiocy. But in this real world, there was only one explanation: the leadership was simply a bunch of morons. No second interpretation—that was the truth.
Aoba could understand, though. After all, the shinobi world's village system had only existed for just over fifty years. Within that time, three world wars had broken out.
This meant the leaders of these villages could only operate at this level. Expecting a bunch of battle-hardened killers, raised on warfare since childhood, to govern effectively? That was pure delusion.
Naruto grilled the fish while Aoba ate. Truthfully, Naruto's cooking skills were mediocre at best. But Aoba still offered polite praise.
He knew even this small compliment might keep Naruto happy for a long time.
Many of Naruto's later actions in the story were things Aoba disagreed with. By then, the boy had been brainwashed to an extreme—forgiving anyone and anything, often even speaking on behalf of others to pardon wrongdoers.
Some of his choices were downright absurd.
But the Naruto of now, aside from pulling pranks to get attention, had no real flaws. In Aoba's eyes, he was just a mischievous yet pitiable kid.
"Alright, Naruto, it's getting late. You should head back and rest. You're still growing—sleep well if you want to get taller.""Ah... You're leaving already, big brother. Can we train together here again tomorrow?"
"Of course, I still have one more day."
"That's great! See you tomorrow." Naruto said cheerfully before running off.
Aoba stood still for a while, but nothing happened. He glanced back at the woods behind him, thought for a moment, and ultimately left without saying anything.
Returning to his long-unoccupied home, he didn't bother with much cleaning since he would be leaving on a mission the day after tomorrow. He simply created a few shadow clones to tidy up the bedroom before sitting cross-legged on the bed.
Aoba was about to begin his training—though his method was different from others.
As a transmigrator, Kamikawa Aoba had no conventional "golden finger." Even his body was that of an ordinary civilian shinobi. Without any cheat-like abilities or a Bloodline Limit, how could one survive in such a perilous world?
Aoba had once agonized over this. Fortunately, he had a slight advantage—his soul and mental energy were exceptionally strong.
This benefit came from the fact that, upon transmigrating, he had devoured the residual soul and mental energy of the original body.
As a result, he not only inherited most of the original's memories but also greatly enhanced his own soul and mental strength.
This was also why he had been able to evade interrogation by the Torture and Interrogation Force. The Yamanaka clan's mental techniques were a variation of Yin Release—extremely refined, but that didn't necessarily mean their mental energy was overwhelmingly powerful.
He couldn't resist the Yamanaka clan's techniques invading his mind, but once invaded, he didn't completely lose control. Instead, he deliberately concealed a portion of his memories, allowing him to slip past the investigation.
In the world of Naruto, methods for cultivating mental energy were exceedingly rare, and even if they existed, he had no way of learning them.
But as a transmigrator, Aoba knew that mental energy played a crucial, albeit hidden, role in this world. Many jutsu, even Bloodline Limits, required mental energy to function effectively.
Thus, during his training, he attempted to explore the use and cultivation of mental energy. It yielded no results—he discovered nothing.
However, in the process, he stumbled upon an unexpected gain.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, faintly glowing wisps of mist began to gather around Aoba's body.
This was the manifestation of natural energy.