The Third Hokage lowering his guard around Naruto meant far more than a little extra freedom.To Naruto, this order was the signal he had been waiting years for. It meant his plan to recreate Wood Release could finally move from theory to practice.
That thought alone stirred his blood.And it was not just Wood Release. Many things that had been impossible under constant surveillance could now be pushed onto the agenda. For Naruto, that was nothing short of extraordinary.
At the same time, the thought left him with a stab of regret and a rising sense of urgency.For years, the Third Hokage's constant observation had hung over him like an invisible chain. Because of it, he had been forced to move with extreme caution, wasting time, opportunities, and countless chances he could never get back.
Even using shadow clones had required an act. He had to pretend he was clumsy with them, succeeding only three times out of ten at most, just to avoid drawing too much attention.The feeling of living under countless hidden eyes had always made him restrained, cautious, unwilling to take even slightly larger steps.
As for anything truly dangerous—saving the doomed Uchiha clan, for instance, or secretly stealing two Sharingan to study—those things had been unthinkable.He had not even dared do something as simple as using shadow clones to skip class while the real body went off to train. Any transgression, no matter how small, could have led to tighter scrutiny from the ANBU, or worse, alarmed the wrong people and ruined his long-term plans before they ever began.
But now the shackles had finally loosened.The exhilaration that surged through him felt like a dragon slipping into the sea, like a bird breaking free of its cage. Even just breathing felt easier.
Logically speaking, apart from Yin Release, Naruto should possess the prerequisites for nearly every other chakra-derived secret art.As a member of the Uzumaki clan, he naturally carried strong Yang Release. That made Wood Release the obvious place to begin. Even if he could not reproduce the terrifying Wood Release of Hashirama Senju—the kind that could raise forests in an instant and suppress tailed beasts—then reaching Yamato's level, or even surpassing it, would already be immensely useful in the future.
Because he had set Wood Release as a target long ago, Naruto had already done a great deal of thinking and preparation.He understood that a so-called bloodline limit was, at its core, the stable fusion of two different chakra natures in a precise ratio. When that fusion reached the right balance, it produced a qualitative change, forming an entirely new nature transformation.
Normally, once a bloodline limit appeared, descendants who inherited similar chakra traits and bloodlines could also learn it naturally.That was true whether it was a dōjutsu tied to physical organs—like the Sharingan of the Uchiha or the Byakugan of the Hyūga—or elemental fusions such as Ice Release, Lava Release, Storm Release, Boil Release, or even the commonly accepted version of Wood Release as a combination of Earth and Water.
But Wood Release had always been different from the others in one crucial way.It had never shown the kind of broad hereditary stability a true bloodline limit should. After Hashirama Senju, no one among his direct descendants, nor even the Senju as a whole, had ever reproduced his Wood Release. Not the real thing. Not even a diminished version with reliable lineage inheritance behind it.
That was the foundation of Naruto's suspicion that Wood Release was not actually a Kekkei Genkai at all, but a higher-level Kekkei Tōta born from the fusion of three chakra natures.Boruto-era information mentioned that Moegi could also use Wood Release, but Naruto did not consider that enough to disprove his theory. Her preferred natures were still Earth and Water. And if her Wood Release had truly approached Hashirama Senju's level, then when facing aliens and god-tree monsters, she would have come out swinging with a giant Buddha statue instead of acting like an ordinary shinobi.
Naruto himself had no practical experience fusing two chakra natures together and performing a true combined nature transformation.But that did not mean he was walking in blind.Because he had the Nine-Tails.
The Tailed Beast Ball was the ultimate expression of chakra fusion. It was formed through the mixing of Yin and Yang in a ratio of two to eight, while also pushing shape transformation to the absolute limit.Kurama himself had told Naruto that ratio. That one fact alone gave Naruto a priceless reference point for studying how different chakra natures might be combined—Earth, Water, and perhaps the Yang Release needed to grant life and vitality to Wood Release.
The conventional shinobi world had no public textbooks and no systematic training methods for how to fuse chakra natures into a bloodline limit.That kind of knowledge was either hidden away in clans or buried in the minds of geniuses.But while Naruto had no human teacher for this, he had something better: a beastly one.
And not just any beastly teacher. He had Kurama—the strongest of the tailed beasts, a creature that stood at the peak of chakra control and chakra fusion.The Tailed Beast Ball alone required a degree of complexity and precision that ordinary bloodline limits could hardly surpass. With a mentor who had lived nearly a thousand years and possessed a profound understanding of chakra itself, Naruto's starting line in researching Wood Release—and perhaps many other powers—was already beyond that of most shinobi in the world.
From that point on, Naruto's daily schedule became packed from dawn to dusk.In the mornings, he underwent Might Guy's brutal style of physical training. At noon, for convenience, he often ate at Ichiraku Ramen. Then he stopped by the market to buy ingredients before hurrying back home, where he devoted the entire afternoon to the dangerous and difficult work of developing Wood Release.
Naturally, that process came with Kurama's furious commentary booming through the sealed space."You idiot!" the Nine-Tails roared, the sound so violent it nearly shook the entire mental world apart."Do you think chakra fusion is something you can brute-force in one move? How can you slam two chakra natures together right at the start? If the backlash from a failed fusion tears through your meridians, don't come crying to me!"
Then came another thunderous burst of rage."Idiot! How many times have I told you? This kind of fusion has to proceed in parallel!"Kurama's tail lashed across the shallow water with an explosive crack. "Don't gather one nature first and then wait for the second to catch up slowly. Earth Release chakra, once condensed, tends toward solidity. Water Release chakra, once condensed, becomes pure fluid. Once their properties settle, what's the point of adding Yang Release after that? What, are you planning to use Yang Release like glue and paste water and rock together?"
Naruto failed again. The unstable chakra mass in his palm collapsed before it could form anything meaningful.Kurama stared at the dispersing energy, and for once the rage in his eyes gave way to thought."No... something still feels wrong," he muttered. "A fifty-fifty split between Water and Earth doesn't work. Maybe your guess is right. Maybe it really does need a third force to coordinate them."He lifted his massive head, scarlet eyes narrowing. "Forget the conventional rules of bloodline limits. Add Yang Release from the very beginning. Make the three kinds of chakra rotate and merge together like a spiral. Try that."
Under Kurama's relentless scolding and guidance, Naruto failed again and again.Several times, the disorder in his chakra flow caused a sharp tingling pain in his meridians, the kind of pain that made his scalp go numb. Yet thanks to the resilience of the Uzumaki bloodline and the protection of the Nine-Tails, he gritted his teeth and endured every setback.
Winter slowly gave way to spring.Outside the window, the snow melted bit by bit, turning into thin streams that soaked into the land. Konoha gradually recovered its vitality, and the opening of the Ninja Academy was drawing near.
That afternoon, Naruto sat cross-legged on the cold floor beside his bed like he always did, palms open, eyes closed, continuing the experiment that had already consumed so much time and effort.Then, all at once, the tension in his brow eased.A fierce, thrilled smile spread across his face.
In the center of his outstretched palm, a fresh green shoot quietly emerged.It was not some illusion made from chakra light. It was real. A slender branch pushed outward, tender green leaves unfurling as it slowly lengthened at a speed visible to the naked eye. Pure life force pulsed from it, vibrant and unmistakable.
Even if all he could manage for now was landscaping, he had done it.He had succeeded.