Chapter 22 The way to become stronger
Uchiha Makoto continued his days at the Ninja Academy, but he had already considered whether to let a shadow clone attend classes while his real body stayed hidden away for training. After the incident with Danzō Shimura, however, he felt it was far safer to maintain his own personal security as much as possible.
The Ninja Academy was, after all, one of the most heavily protected places in Konohagakure. What puzzled Makoto most was that Danzō, known for his ruthless pragmatism, hadn't dispatched Root operatives openly against him. Danzō's silence was suspicious, and Makoto raised his estimation of Danzō's danger level by one degree. A man who could take a loss without retaliating immediately, and instead lurk in patience, was more dangerous than one who lashed out in anger.
"Among all the shinobi I've observed so far, Danzō Shimura," Makoto thought grimly, "you are without question the most insidious."
His instincts had sharpened after experiencing real combat, and his perception was now more sensitive than before. At that moment, he could feel a presence—eyes fixed on him from roughly forty meters behind. He immediately recognized the sensation as a Root operative's surveillance. At the same time, the village atmosphere had grown tense, as though under martial law. His senses detected multiple powerful chakra signatures positioned around Konoha, especially around the barrier teams and the watch posts.
Makoto didn't fully understand Danzō's thinking. He suspected Danzō had mistakenly assumed that an external shinobi had infiltrated the village, which explained why the Barrier Corps was on high alert. For now, Root operatives were permitted to follow him in secret, but since Makoto had not done anything out of line in the past few days, he chose not to provoke them. If another Root operative ended up dead or disappeared mysteriously, even a fool would know he was involved. For the sake of preserving his safety, Makoto forced himself to endure the discomfort of being watched.
Yet he noticed something peculiar—while Root stalked him outside, once he returned to the Uchiha compound, the presence he felt shifted. The ones monitoring him within the clan's grounds were clearly Anbu operatives loyal to the Hokage. Perhaps because he was still an Academy student, one of the Anbu deliberately leaked their chakra signature once, as if to send him a subtle warning.
Would the tension between the village and the Uchiha clan soon break into open conflict? Makoto pondered this question constantly. But in his heart, he clung to one hope: as long as Shisui possessed the Kaleidoscope Sharingan, perhaps the clan's tragedy could be avoided.
After a few days of quiet observation, Makoto finally put his original plan into action. He began sending shadow clones to the Academy while his true body secluded itself at his hidden training base. There were, after all, many paths for a shinobi to become stronger.
The first was to increase the sheer volume of one's chakra. The difference in chakra reserves between a jōnin and a chūnin was often vast. The second was to refine chakra control. With the same amount of chakra, superior control meant conserving energy, avoiding waste, and amplifying ninjutsu's destructive potential. The third was the use of external support—legendary weapons or ninja tools, much like the Uchiha clan's treasured blades. And finally, one could improve through learning or creating new jutsu, which directly elevated combat power.
Makoto had prepared thoroughly. Tree climbing and water walking were chakra control exercises Shisui himself had taught him—methods that had been handed down since the time of the First Hokage. He vividly remembered watching Shisui and even young Itachi fight; the way they moved across rivers and vertical cliffs as if they were solid ground had shocked him deeply. Chakra truly was miraculous, and that realization fueled Makoto's burning enthusiasm for training.
"Climbing trees is one of the foundational ways to practice chakra control," Makoto recalled Shisui's calm instruction. "Chakra is the source of all ninjutsu. But if a person only has a large supply and cannot shape it with precision, then techniques weaken, misfire, or fail to activate altogether."
Shisui had explained further: "Many shinobi lack fine control. In combat, that means burning through chakra reserves too quickly. Without mastery, you'll be strong in bursts but unable to fight long battles." As he spoke, Shisui had demonstrated with his hand seals, his tone measured and encouraging.
"The first step," Shisui said, "is to climb a tree using only chakra at the soles of your feet. Too much chakra will repel you and cause you to fall—like this." He then deliberately slipped, flipping gracefully as he landed. "But too little chakra won't hold you at all, and you'll slide down before reaching the top."
"Once you master that," Shisui continued, "the next stage is water walking. Because the water surface is never still, you must release chakra continuously in stable amounts to maintain balance." He had smiled at his apprentice. "These two exercises alone will take time, but they are the foundation of every great shinobi."
And so, Uchiha Makoto incorporated both drills into his daily regimen, determined to rise stronger with each passing day.
Uchiha Makoto now deeply felt that his strength was still far from enough. If he had been able to travel back in time earlier into this world, perhaps he wouldn't need to push himself as desperately as he was doing now. He had almost managed to climb all the way to the top of the massive training tree in the Uchiha forest—by visual estimate it was over forty meters tall—but his thoughts kept drifting. He remembered there was still something else that demanded his attention.
In addition to sharpening his chakra control, he had also begun investigating the so-called Jinchūriki, the "power of human sacrifice" that was whispered about in the village. Yet he knew this was not something that could be rushed. The Jinchūriki were among the most important assets of any hidden village, and in Konoha the Nine-Tails was guarded with the utmost secrecy. Approaching it would be nearly impossible.
Still, through observing and listening to the villagers, Makoto had already discovered who the current host was. To ordinary people in Konoha, there was a boy shunned and hated as the "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox." If his deductions were correct, that child was none other than the Jinchūriki of Kurama, the Nine-Tails.
As he scaled higher on the tree trunk, Makoto couldn't help but brood over the cruel irony. The beast sealed within the host was indeed dangerous, but the Jinchūriki himself was still just a human being, still a child of the village. By all logic, shouldn't the villagers show him compassion instead of disdain? Wasn't anyone in the village afraid that such mistreatment would drive him to resentment, and that one day he might unleash the full power of the Nine-Tails against them? The more he thought about it, the more incredible it seemed.
Didn't the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, care about the villagers bullying a child? Makoto found it hard to believe. Even if Kurama had slaughtered countless shinobi and civilians during the Nine-Tails' rampage, what fault lay with the infant who had become its host? Yet, according to the stories, this boy had been born on the very night the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had died sealing the beast. Because of this, the ignorant public branded him not as a victim, but as the very incarnation of the fox itself.
With such obvious clues, Makoto needed no further confirmation: Uzumaki Naruto was without question the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki. He tried to recall everything he knew about Naruto from memory. Apart from the fact that Naruto was the protagonist of the tale and carried the Nine-Tails within him, the details of his fate were hazy to him now. He did remember, however, that Naruto would one day forgive the very villagers who scorned and mistreated him, and would eventually gain their acknowledgment. Even knowing this, Makoto found it impossible not to feel disbelief.
If he himself had been in Naruto's position—shunned, bullied, and ignored since childhood—he could never forgive such a village. To repay cruelty with kindness? That saying about "repaying grievances with virtue—what then to repay virtue with?" echoed bitterly in his heart.
No, in Makoto's mind, the power of the Tailed Beasts was something he absolutely had to obtain. Though he was still gradually unlocking the strength of his own bloodline and weapons, true shinobi never considered themselves to have too much power. Even if he could not seize Kurama, he would seek another Tailed Beast. And if that failed, then at the very least, he would draw Uzumaki Naruto into the same camp as himself.
One way or another, Konoha's fate was already hurtling toward its end.