18: Chapter 18 Tree Climbing Training and the Secret of Ice ReleaseThe morning sunlight streamed through the windows into the Tazner family's simple living room.
Kakashi Hatake lay on the bed, his face pale.Clearly, the battle with Zabuza yesterday had taken a toll far beyond his expectations, and he would be unable to move for the time being.
"Kakashi-sensei has fallen, but we can't just sit idly by!" Naruto Uzumaki was the first to jump up, announcing energetically, "I have a great idea that can make us even stronger before the next battle!"
Sakura Haruno cast a suspicious glance at him, while Sasuke Uchiha snorted and turned his head away.
Naruto didn't care at all.He led everyone to the forest outside the house and pointed to a towering tree that required looking up.
"Today's training is tree climbing!"
His proposal was ridiculously simple.
"Idiot, what kind of training is climbing trees?" Sasuke said dismissively.
"This isn't your average tree climbing." Naruto extended a finger, gathering chakra in the sole of his foot, and then, defying gravity, began to walk along the vertical tree trunk."It's like this: absorbing chakra into your feet to practice precise control over chakra!"
He deliberately took a few steps, then lost his footing, screamed, and fell to the ground, rolling several times and getting covered in dirt.
Sakura Haruno has the most solid theoretical knowledge among the three.
She immediately understood the principle behind it, closed her eyes, and carefully felt the flow of chakra.
A moment later, she opened her eyes, gathered just the right amount of chakra in the soles of her feet, and carefully stepped onto the tree trunk.
One step, two steps, three steps.
She walked steadily and easily, quickly surpassing the height Naruto had just "failed" to reach, and finally made her way to the thick branches at the top of the tree.
"Wow!Sakura, you're amazing!You did it on your first try!" Naruto exclaimed, looking up at Sakura with exaggerated yet "sincere" praise.
[Ding!You have received 150 [Joy] from Sakura Haruno!]
[Ding!You have received 100 "Gratitude" from Sakura Haruno!]
Sakura Haruno stood on the high ground, looking down at the two boys below, her face filled with barely suppressed smugness.
Naruto began his "attempt" once again.
Bang!
The first time, he used too much chakra, and kicked a tree trunk, creating a shallow crater.He was then thrown back by the recoil.
puff.
The second time, his chakra was insufficient, and he slipped after taking only two steps.
He grabbed his blond hair in frustration, looking clumsy and comical.
Meanwhile, Sasuke Uchiha had already begun his experiment.
He was extremely talented and mastered the knack of condensing chakra in an instant, but his problem was that he was too eager to succeed.
He wanted to be faster, to surpass Sakura, and to prove that he was better than that loser.
boom!
An overwhelming amount of chakra erupted from beneath his feet, blasting a huge gash in the tree trunk, sending wood chips flying everywhere.
"hateful!"
Sasuke let out a low growl and tried again.
The result was still destruction.
The more impatient he became, the more violently he controlled his chakra, falling into a vicious cycle.
Each failure added an indescribable frustration to his gaze as he looked at Naruto, who was still clumsily trying.
[Ding!You have received 300 units of [Irritability] from Uchiha Sasuke!]
[Ding!You have received 400 units of [Jealousy] from Uchiha Sasuke!]
While performing his own defeat, Naruto happily counted the backstage revenue.
After yet another "difficult" attempt, Naruto finally "exerted all his strength" and staggered to the top of the tree.He sat down next to Sakura, panting, looking completely exhausted, successfully maintaining his "hard-working underachiever" persona.
Now, only Sasuke remains under the tree, still struggling against the poor giant tree.
Night fell.
The atmosphere at dinner was somewhat somber.Tazuna's grandson, Inari, remained as numb as ever, having lost all hope in everything, shoveling rice into his bowl without uttering a word.
Sasuke didn't attend dinner; he was still outside practicing like crazy.
After the meal, Naruto strolled leisurely "passed by" the training ground.
Under the moonlight, Sasuke was covered in sweat and breathing heavily.The large tree in front of him had been riddled with holes by his attacks.
"Sasuke, are you still training?" Naruto leaned closer, his signature silly grin on his face.
Sasuke ignored him.
"Let me tell you, I think I've found the trick," Naruto said to himself, in a tone of sharing a secret."It's about not thinking about anything, concentrating your chakra in the soles of your feet, holding your breath, and then charging forward in one breath!I tried that more than ten times before I succeeded!"
He offered the most wicked advice with the most naive words.
Don't think, just go for it.
This was nothing short of a provocation to the proud and arrogant Sasuke.
He will subconsciously want to complete the task in less time and with fewer attempts, which will only cause him to deplete his already limited physical and mental energy more quickly.
Sasuke's body stiffened for a moment, then he began to form hand seals and mobilize his chakra at an even faster speed.
Naruto watched his stubborn back, his smile unchanged, and turned to leave.
An actor's self-cultivation means striving for perfection in every detail.
It was late at night, and everyone was fast asleep.
Naruto sat up quietly, went outside, and made sure no one was around.
"Possessed by evil spirits."
Black biological armor instantly covered his entire body, and then his figure and the armor became transparent, completely blending into the night.
He once again ventured deep into the forest.
He saw Bai in that clearing in the woods last night.
The handsome young man was cultivating alone under the moonlight.
He quickly formed hand seals, and the surrounding air temperature suddenly dropped.Crystalline ice crystals appeared out of thin air, spinning rapidly around Bai Fei before finally converging into smooth, mirror-like ice shields in front of him.
Magic Mirror Ice Crystal.
Naruto, hidden in the shadows, calmly issued a finger strike.make.
"System, analyze that technique."
[Ding!Bloodline Limit: Ice Release detected.Its core is formed by a specific combination of wind and water chakra.]
[Analysis in progress.]
[The "Possessed by Evil Spirits" ability can absorb this bloodline factor to evolve attributes, but requires the target to die or voluntarily sacrifice their essence.]
Naruto quietly looked at the information that popped up on the system panel.
Attribute evolution.
A slight ripple stirred within him.
His original plan was simply to corner Zabuza and Haku, and harvest the most extreme and purest [sorrow], [despair], and [loyalty] that erupted in the moment of their death.
But now, he has a new goal.
Emotions, bloodline.
Only children make choices.
He wants them all.
Naruto quietly returned to Tazuna's house.
He had just removed his invisibility when he heard suppressed sobs.
It is Inari.
The little boy was sitting on the steps of the corridor, hugging his knees, burying his face deep in his knees, his shoulders twitching.
"Crying won't solve anything." Naruto walked over and sat down next to him.
"What do you know!" Inari shouted at him, her eyes bloodshot."You ninjas don't understand anything!There are no heroes!Effort and perseverance are all lies!In the end, the bad guys will still win!Gato will kill you all, just like he killed my father!"
Naruto neither refuted nor lectured.
He simply extended a finger and, with a wisp of chakra so faint as to be almost imperceptible, constructed a blurry illusion in the air in front of the two of them.
It was a corner of a village, a swing set.
A blond child who looks exactly like him is sitting alone on a swing.
He was surrounded by the laughter and chatter of other children, but no one approached him; all the gazes directed at him were filled with rejection and disgust.
"Let me tell you a story," Naruto said slowly, looking at the illusion."A story about an idiot."
"That idiot, he's been hated by everyone since birth.Nobody wants to play with him, and everyone avoids him.Everything he does is wrong; he's always causing trouble and is a nuisance in everyone's eyes."
Inari's crying gradually stopped, and he stared blankly at the scene.
"But that idiot, he never cries." Naruto's voice was soft."He only responds to those glares with the loudest laughter.He plays pranks every day, just to get people to look at him.He tells everyone over and over that he wants to become the greatest hero in the village, that he wants everyone to acknowledge him."
Everyone laughed at him for being delusional, but he never gave up.
The illusion slowly dissipated.
Looking at Naruto's warm and pure smile, Inari felt as if he were seeing the idiot from the story sitting right in front of him.
The ice in his heart began to crack.
[Ding!You have received 500 [Worship] from Inari!]
[Ding!You have received 300 [Hope] from Inari!]
very good.
Another high-quality source of emotion has been successfully cultivated.
Just as Naruto was about to say something more to maximize the effect, he suddenly stopped.
His extraordinary perception allowed him to capture the changes taking place in the village.
In the darkness of night, there appeared many chakras that shouldn't exist, carrying pure malice and violence.
Like a pack of hungry wild dogs, they roamed every corner of the village, making no attempt to conceal their presence and spreading panic with impunity.
Cardo's men.
The prelude to the decisive battle has begun.
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