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Chapter 14: How to Get Along with Satsuki
Naruto stood nearby, watching Satsuki's finger movements intently. Snake, Sheep, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger—he memorized the seal sequence, feeling slightly surprised.
He hadn't expected that his casual question "Could you teach me this jutsu?" would prompt Satsuki to unhesitatingly explain the Gokakyu no Jutsu training method.
The reason was simple enough. While the Uchiha clan always promoted this technique as their signature basic jutsu, Gokakyu no Jutsu was actually just a C-rank technique. Within Konoha's system, chunin and jonin could learn it after accumulating modest achievements. For ninja with fire affinity, their jonin instructors might even teach it directly.
Watching Satsuki's serious profile as she practiced, Naruto gradually figured out the secret to getting along with her. The Uchiha clan inherently revered strength, but he couldn't appear too much stronger than her—he needed to make her feel competitive pressure while keeping it at a level where "just a bit more effort could catch up."
If he pressured her too much...
Naruto glanced at Satsuki's tightly pressed lips. According to the original series, Satsuki had fallen into obsession and self-doubt precisely because the gap with Itachi was too vast. The current Satsuki didn't carry that vengeful fixation yet—hopefully she wouldn't repeat that tragic path.
Naruto slowly formed the hand seals. As the final seal completed, he clearly felt chakra beginning to flow within his body, gathering toward his mouth like an obedient stream.
Too smooth...
This fluid chakra circulation secretly astonished Naruto. He instinctively sensed that if he went all-out now, the fireball he produced would far exceed normal size. This clearly wasn't the performance of a beginner.
In the ninja world, most shinobi only had affinity for a single chakra nature. Like in the original, where he excelled at wind release while Sasuke mastered fire and lightning. Theoretically, all nature types could be learned, but talent determined the ceiling.
In all of Konoha, currently only two ninja could master all five elements: Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kakashi Hatake.
At this moment, the chakra within Naruto's body was abnormally compliant in transforming to fire nature, as if this were his innate talent. He immediately understood the reason—it was the system's reward, "Fire Nature Chakra Adaptation and Nature Transformation Mastery" taking effect.
Naruto quickly adjusted his chakra output, deliberately suppressing most of the power. Taking a deep breath, he then—
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"
A basketball-sized fireball erupted from his mouth, solidifying in the air for a moment before gradually dissipating. Though he'd intentionally controlled the power, successfully executing the jutsu on his first attempt made Satsuki's eyes widen in shock.
Satsuki's expression grew increasingly serious. Was this person... a genius?
While Naruto's first-try success left her feeling defeated, what concerned her more were the clan rumors—when Sister Itachi first performed Gokakyu no Jutsu, her fireball had been dozens of meters in diameter.
Father had gently comforted her afterward, saying that normally, ninja required extensive practice before successfully executing jutsu. Satsuki succeeding on her first attempt already marked her as a genius, just... her sister was an even more exceptional genius.
At this thought, Satsuki's small chest rose and fell slightly, her fingers resuming the seal formation stance. Her eyes blazed with stubborn determination to master the complete Gokakyu no Jutsu through practice.
Naruto observed Satsuki's serious profile. He knew it was time for his performance.
To become an excellent ninjutsu artillery, the key lay in properly utilizing internal chakra.
Naruto recalled experiences from the original series—first sense, then extract, then control, with nature transformation coming later. Sensing chakra's existence, refining sufficient quantities, precisely controlling its flow—the essence of all ninjutsu was precise chakra manipulation. And to practice this control, naturally they'd need to use that classic method.
"Satsuki," Naruto suddenly spoke up. "I have a method that can speed up learning jutsu. Want to try it together?"
"A method?" Satsuki paused her seal formation, turning toward him with curious eyes.
Naruto nodded mysteriously. "Yeah, this is something I secretly learned by watching ninja in the village. It's an excellent way to practice flexible chakra control."
Satsuki's eyes immediately lit up. Naruto's throwing training from last time had indeed shown remarkable results—with that successful experience, she felt more inclined to trust his suggestions.
"Really?" Satsuki unconsciously leaned forward. "Then... how do we do it?"
"This method requires using your body to memorize the feeling of chakra control. It might be pretty tough."
"But if it's a genius of the Uchiha clan, this level of training definitely won't be a problem, right?"
"Hmph!" Satsuki immediately straightened her back, hands on her hips. "Of course! No matter what kind of training it is, it's child's play for Uchiha power!"
Her eyes sparkled with confidence, lips curving into a smile that carried a hint of childish pride.
Watching this version of Satsuki, Naruto felt complex emotions stirring within him. If he didn't know she was essentially a gender-swapped version of the second pillar, he'd probably just think this child was genuinely adorable.
Unlike the original's aloof Sasuke, the girl before him was lively and tsundere. The reason was obvious—the current Satsuki lived in a happy family, while the original Sasuke had experienced the clan massacre right from his debut, witnessing his most beloved brother slaughter their entire family...
To only become cold and distant after such trauma, rather than completely losing his mind—perhaps that spoke to incredible mental resilience.
Naruto shook off these thoughts and led Satsuki into the forest.
"Watch carefully, it's like this." Naruto formed the Tiger seal with both hands, closing his eyes to feel the chakra flow within his body. He imagined the energy like a gentle current, slowly gathering toward the soles of his feet.
As a small air current rippled from around Naruto's feet, Satsuki watched in amazement as he slowly lifted his foot and stepped firmly onto the vertical tree trunk—Naruto was actually walking straight up the tree!
"Wh-what?!" Satsuki's eyes went wide. "Using just your feet... you climbed straight up?!"
Naruto walked steadily up the thick trunk. When he reached about one-third of the way up, he suddenly drew a kunai from his tool pouch and cleanly carved a mark into the bark.
"Alright!" Pushing off the trunk with both feet, he executed a perfect backflip and landed gracefully.
Satsuki stared intently at the fresh mark on the tree, then at Naruto's relaxed expression. "That's as far as you can go?"
"Exactly." Naruto explained. "The key is precisely concentrating chakra at your feet, making them stick to the trunk like suction cups. As long as you can flexibly control chakra flow, anyone can do it."
"Can this tree-climbing practice really make someone stronger?"
Naruto decided to borrow Kakashi's explanation from the original. "Absolutely. Simply put, this training teaches you precise chakra control. Ordinary ninja often waste the chakra they refine in unnecessary places. This practice forces you to use exactly the right amount in exactly the right place..."
Seeing Satsuki's expression grow more focused, he continued, "Even excellent ninja find perfect chakra control difficult. Tree climbing requires extremely delicate chakra amounts, and the feet... they say this is the hardest place in the entire body to gather chakra."
"Once you master this control," Naruto flashed a confident smile, "learning any jutsu afterward will be twice as effective with half the effort!"
Children's minds were still relatively simple—Satsuki didn't question how he could have learned such detailed training methods just from observation.
"Alright! Let me try too!"
Satsuki's clear voice echoed through the forest. She drew a kunai from her tool pouch, positioned her fingers in the seal formation, and concentrated wholly on feeling the chakra flow within her body.
Naruto offered guidance from the side. "First let your body memorize this feeling. You can start by practicing with a running approach."
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