In times of peace, time seemed to pass even faster.
In the blink of an eye, a year had gone by.
Under the leadership of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, Konohagakure had grown increasingly prosperous.
Shinobi and civilians each fulfilled their roles, the population steadily increased, and the village had once again begun to slowly expand outward.
People seemed to have already forgotten what the last war looked like.
The Great Ninja War? The Nine-Tails Incident?
Those were things from five or six years ago.
Because Minato and Kushina were both still alive, there were naturally no rumors in the village about a "reincarnated demon fox." This allowed Naruto to have a normal childhood.
Even if some people still feared the existence of a jinchūriki, they had no one to direct that fear toward.
Aside from occasionally going shopping with her close friends, Kushina didn't run around the village causing trouble.
Almost no one knew that the Nine-Tails was actually sealed within Naruto.
The kid had several sealing masters around him at all times—if the Nine-Tails ever went berserk, it would just get tied up on the spot.
Outside Konoha, the world was just as peaceful.
Aside from a few unstable small nations, the major countries were gradually stabilizing. Civilian technology was advancing rapidly, and even within Konoha, many new things had begun to appear.
Aside from restrictions on military-grade weapon technology, civilian tech in the ninja world was actually quite developed—just… somewhat unconventional. Much of it was built on chakra-based energy systems unique to this world.
Everything was moving toward the version of the world Makoto remembered.
Especially the Konoha shinobi whose names he could recall—those from the younger generation were gradually growing up, while the middle generation was steadily coming into adulthood.
Of course, that only applied to Konoha itself and the familiar faces of its shinobi.
As for the timeline…
It had long since been diverted onto a completely different path.
After all, Minato was still alive and well, and Makoto hadn't encountered a future version of Naruto in Rōran. He had even taken the time to visit the place and confirm that the Rōran of this world was nothing like the one he remembered.
As for the Dragon Vein, it was merely a chaotic mass of energy deep underground—useless to him, unusable by ordinary shinobi, and even the royal line of Rōran could only tap into a small amount of its leaked energy to improve civilian life. It had no ability to manipulate time.
Whether he had changed the original timeline, or whether this was an entirely separate one…
That would depend on whether "Master Sasuke" would one day show up with "Old Man Boruto."
...
Early morning.
At the mountaintop where the dojo stood, Makoto was quietly training.
Eyes closed, regulating Yin and Yang within his body, he sat cross-legged in midair, the hem of his robe fluttering in the wind.
Primordial natural energy flowed continuously in and out of his body. Unlike before, however, it was no longer fully absorbed. His cells seemed to have reached saturation and were undergoing a deeper level of evolution—just not yet at the point of qualitative change.
At present, he focused mainly on two directions.
First was the training of Yin–Yang Release.
After pushing both attributes to their limits under the principle of Yin–Yang balance, he had begun to consider the next stage.
At this point, there was nothing left in the ninja world's existing training methods that he could use as reference.
He had already "felt out every stone in the river."
What remained were only techniques that could offer partial insight.
Among the beings he knew who had reached Six Paths–level power—including members of the Ōtsutsuki clan—none of them even knew how an ordinary person could reach that level without relying on bloodline, external power-ups, or stuffing their body with all sorts of unnatural things.
But when the time came, a way would present itself.
Makoto's own body had already given him the answer.
Yang is the framework of Yin; Yin is the vessel of Yang.
During his prolonged observation of the balance between Yin and Yang within his chakra, he discovered that under certain conditions, the two would gradually transform into each other.
After a period of research, he confirmed that this was the core principle of the next stage:
Yin and Yang generating each other.
Using his own will as the driving force, he guided the transformation between the two attributes freely.
His current training consisted of merging his entire will with both his physical energy and spiritual energy.
The second direction was the training of the five elemental transformations.
For Makoto, this was much simpler, since the ninja world already had countless examples and records to draw from.
For instance, the reason he could now sit cross-legged in midair was not due to any flight technique derived from Wind Release.
Instead, it was the gravity manipulation property of Earth Release—no different from Ōnoki's Light-Weight and Heavy-Weight Technique.
He no longer spent time trying to fuse new bloodline limits. He didn't rely on those things for combat anyway—no matter how many he had, they held no real meaning for him.
What mattered most was achieving deep mastery over the various nature transformations of the five attributes—the more, the better.
He had a feeling that once he could integrate the five elements into Yin–Yang Release and achieve an initial level of fusion, then all kinds of Kekkei Genkai would become something he could grasp effortlessly.
Even forming Truth-Seeking Balls by hand wouldn't be a problem—he could make as many as he wanted.
Unlike in the original timeline, where that old Six Paths geezer handed Naruto a limited number—once used up, they were gone, never truly his own power.
And finally, if all seven attributes were completely fused together, that would naturally be what was known as Kekkei Mōra.
...
Time passed, the sun climbed high, and Makoto returned to the dojo in an instant.
It was breakfast time.
He still hadn't completely shed his dependence on food. While he could go without eating for long periods, he would still feel hungry, which meant his body was still within the bounds of being human.
Fortunately, enjoying good food was part of enjoying life. Even if one day he reached a level where he no longer needed to eat, he wouldn't refuse the temptation of good cuisine.
Inside the room, after dispelling his shadow clones, Makoto instantly grasped the training progress of the kids.
He had always prioritized his own growth, so there was no way he would delay his training just to teach disciples.
Fortunately, the ninja world had clone techniques.
Shadow Clones were incredibly useful—Wood Clones were even better. Thanks to the great Senju brothers. If anyone ever summoned them back with Impure World Reincarnation, Makoto decided he'd burn a ton of paper money right in front of them as a "royalty fee."
In the dojo's dining hall, a group of kids sat around the table waiting for breakfast, making the place feel more like a kindergarten.
In fact, it really was a special kind of kindergarten within Konoha now.
Children who came to train, like Tenten, would take care of breakfast and lunch at the dojo, and only go home in the afternoon.
Soon, several Honokas and several Yugao brought the dishes to the table.
Which only proved again just how useful Shadow Clones were.
With Honoka's Uzumaki physique, a mere few shadow clones had no impact on her at all—she alone could handle all the dojo's work.
At first, Makoto had felt it was a waste of her talent to have her doing this, and had suggested she pursue what she liked instead, but the girl had refused.
She was satisfied with her current life and had no desire to become a shinobi again. While she hadn't neglected her training in fūinjutsu and ninjutsu, she only studied them to ensure she had the means to protect herself and wouldn't become a burden to others in dangerous situations.
During the meal, Yugao and Honoka, instead of sitting on either side of Makoto as before, unexpectedly sat together, chatting and laughing.
Honoka was about the same age as Makoto—two fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girls, youthful and well-developed, their graceful figures making for a pleasing sight.
The atmosphere, however, was a little too harmonious.
Makoto: "…"
Had Yugao changed her strategy?
Honoka: "Makoto, what are you looking at? Is the food not good?"
"No, it's delicious. Your cooking has improved again. I was just wondering—since when did the two of you become so close?"
Honoka smiled faintly, while Yugao shot Makoto a glare. "What's it to you?"
Makoto: "…"
Very well—she really had changed her strategy. Now all the hostility was directed at him.
...
After breakfast, Tenten ran over. "Sensei, I'm heading back!"
Following behind her was Neji. "Sensei, I'll be going as well."
"Mm, go on."
Today was the start of the school year, and both Tenten and Neji had reached the age to enroll.
No matter how much progress they made training at the dojo, they still had to attend the Academy. Some knowledge could only be learned there—and besides, how could they have a complete childhood without going to school?
Both Tenten and Neji had parents, so Makoto didn't need to see them off.
Rock Lee, however, was a bit of a special case.
According to the records Makoto had checked, he had been placed by Konoha with an ordinary family. His biological parents weren't shinobi, but they had passed away due to an accident.
Makoto created two shadow clones—one to continue teaching the remaining children, and another to wait for Kushina so they could research the fusion of the Two Forms Seal and the Yin Seal.
As for his original body, he patted Lee on the shoulder. "Let's go. I'll take you to the Academy."
Mist gathered in Lee's eyes. "Thank you, sensei."
Guy was currently away on a mission, so Makoto was the one sending him.
Lee had already learned how to refine chakra, but after examining him, Makoto confirmed that he had no elemental affinity whatsoever.
Rather than wasting time trying to develop one, it would be far more effective for him to focus on the Eight Gates.
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