Chapter 29: Interlude - Uzumaki Naruto
The green leaves of the trees moved slowly in the gentle, refreshing breeze of the wind. Thin branches moved slowly, almost like the soft, delicate movements of a dancer. The flow of a river could be heard from a little further away. The sounds of some insects could be heard from the ground if one paid enough attention. And, while the beautiful scenery and noise of nature continued, a pair of blue eyes looked up at the sky, watching the clouds slowly move.
The owner of the bright cerulean eyes had blond hair and his torso was bare. The only clothes he had were his orange pants. His hair was disheveled and a bit of sweat ran down his body and face.
"This is really relaxing...", Naruto murmured lightly, feeling the breeze of the wind as he lay on his back against the grass. Today was the day his training was over, or at least that of the morning. It had been almost a year since Harry and Rias had returned to their respective worlds. And, despite having hoped to be able to talk to them, Naruto realized that he would have to wait a bit long for that.
He didn't quite understand it, but when his new friends left, he saw the system message, saying that he could only use the chat until the two-year wait was up. That made him a bit sad, but just about two months later, he received a mission from the group chat app.
The mission itself wasn't too difficult in his opinion: he just had to fully master the Rasengan, without having to rely on shadow clones. However, in practice, he found that it was a bit harder than he thought. However, his determination and will made him try more than twice as hard as normal, completing a perfect Rasengan in just a month of training. And, to his utter surprise, the rewards were incredible.
He knew how chat points worked, so five thousand points would come in handy when he needed to buy something. The second thing he received was a Tantou that he kept in a secret sealing scroll. This weapon was actually created with a special metal that would allow him to imbue said weapon with chakra of any attribute. Finally, the third reward was the most impressive, which was called: Potential Awakening. This last reward had different benefits on Naruto, such as the use of Mokuton as one of them.
Naruto didn't know it, but he was the transmigrant of Ashura. The chakra and will of the son of the sage of the six paths had been reincarnated in various individuals generation after generation. However, even such a powerful chakra and will would slowly decrease over time, especially a thousand years. What the reward did was awaken all that potential as an Ashura transmigrant, and bring it out from the deepest part of Naruto. His affinities were now the five elements and he was able to use Mokuton. Of course, this didn't mean that Naruto was invincible or the most powerful in the world, he was currently barely able to grow at most five trees to a normal size. And, the only affinities he had trained were water, earth, and wind. Naruto was still weak compared to people like Orochimaru, Jiraiya, or enemies of similar levels.
Naruto's hidden potential had surfaced, but it didn't make his power levels rise to the top of the world. No, he now only had the potential to be the best in the world.
"Shut up...", a heavy voice growled at Naruto. "I'll kill you, Naruto."
"My god...", Naruto chuckled lightly before he closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them. He was now inside a huge gate, lying on a fur.
"You can't even move," Naruto smirked before letting his skin relax further.
"Grrr~...", the voice just growled, and if Naruto looked up, he would have been able to see the enormous nine-tailed fox with its eyes closed peacefully while a large line of drool ran down its snout.
Naruto's awakened potential, more specifically his Mokuton, made his presence more pleasant and relaxing. Not only that, when he was in nature, it seemed to embrace him lightly, causing a relaxing and peaceful feeling to fill him. Of course, this was also transmitted to the nine-tailed fox, causing his current relaxed state.
However, contrasting his current relaxed state, Kurama, or better known as Kyuubi, was thinking with a bit of curiosity in his mind.
"This kid... he's really gotten stronger thanks to that thing those otherworldly kids left him."
"He even awakened the Mokuton, and most importantly so far, his potential as an Ashura transmigrant. I had no idea this brat was the old man's brat's chosen one."
"But doesn't this make it more interesting?... That blond boy might be the one from the prophecy the old man left behind. Besides, even without having trained his Mokuton too much, he should already know that he can suppress me with how special the Mokuton is. And, while he can't just do it by force currently, he could still absorb my chakra little by little."
"And... yet... he doesn't do it..."
"I won't..."
"What?", Kurama slowly opened his eyes and turned them towards Naruto. The blond looked directly into the eyes that contained an enormous amount of hatred, and he just smiled at them.
"I know all the techniques that can be used with Mokuton... I know some memories of the first Hokage, even those of the man called Ootsutsuki Ashura. I've been catching glimpses of them every time I sleep," Naruto said, slowly closing his eyes before his face turned to face forward.
"With the few times I saw you in those times, I could tell that no one gave you a chance... Not even to meet you. And it may be presumptuous of me to say so, but I will give you that chance."
"I hope we get to know each other even a little more..."
Kurama stared at Naruto for a few moments, about to say something. However, he closed his snout and laid his head on his front paws, closing his eyes and choosing to stay quiet.
"You should get out... Brat. You're leaking a bit of your chakra, and that perverted human is coming your way. You don't want me to find out how you can grow trees, do you?"
Naruto just nodded before opening his eyes, controlling his chakra and causing the roots growing around his body to hide beneath the ground.
"Naruto, break is over! Time to get back to training!"
Slowly getting up from the ground, Naruto smiled slightly before walking towards Jiraiya.
"What do we do now?" he asked curiously.
"You still lack chakra control, so we'll continue with that until the end of the training. However, I want you to create clones to train your wind affinity and we'll focus on further improving your taijutsu," Jiraiya said, shrugging slightly.
"Anyway, there's still time for us to return to Konoha. I'll teach you other things later."
"Well...", Naruto nodded.
. . .
Jiraiya was rubbing his chin with two fingers of his right hand as he watched Naruto extend his arm atop a Konoha pole. He didn't doubt that his disciple missed the village, but he felt like he was forgetting something too important.
"Mmm...", he narrowed his eyes for a few moments before shrugging, "Nevermind! If it was that important, then I would remember it perfectly!"
Jiraiya smiled before walking further into the center of the village, but he only made it a few steps as he ran into Sakura and Konohamaru along with their team. What he didn't notice was Naruto looking at him with a bead of sweat on the back of his head.
"The damn pervert really doesn't remember anything!" Kurama exclaimed in amusement from inside Naruto.
Naruto only sweated harder. He remembered perfectly when he was training his Mokuton and Jiraiya found out. The experienced shinobi had pointed a finger at him about to scream, but a root wrapped around his foot and sent him flying into the trunk of a tree. Jiraiya hit his head so hard that he was knocked unconscious and when he woke up, he didn't remember ten minutes before he saw Naruto.
Of course, Naruto didn't intend to hurt Jiraiya. But, because of how shocked he was, he acted unconsciously and used a hand seal, controlling a root that sent him flying.
*Ding~ Ding~*
"Huh?" Naruto took out his phone and opened his eyes in surprise as he noticed that the waiting time was over. He took a photo of himself standing on the pole with the village behind him while smiling and making the peace sign before sending it.
"The wait is finally over–ttebayo!"
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