Even with Naoto's full cooperation and Shisui's expert guidance, mastering a newly modified secret technique ant starting from zero.
Base training alone—focusing on spiritual perception and microscopic chakra control—consud nearly a hundred days of Naoto's life.
Following that ca the arduous study of Fūinjutsu, human anatomy, and the biological principles of body modification.
Only after this theoretical foundation was laid could they begin the actual construction of the secret technique.
High-level techniques are dense repositories of knowledge; they cannot be mastered simply by possessing the scrolls or being literate.
They require an intuitive grasp of the underlying "language" of energy.
Even Kakuzu, the legendary master of the Earth Grudge Fear, would have had to start from the beginning if handed this specific version, so deeply had Shisui re-engineered it for safety and efficiency.
By day, Naoto perford his missions as usual. However, he gradually distanced himself from Arisue and his other teammates.
It wasn't out of coldness, but protection. Given their average talent, the less they knew of the darkness beneath Takigakure, the safer they would be.
He realized that the friends of the strong are few; if he was to beco a guardian, he could not allow his past bonds to beco his future weaknesses. Distance was the only rcy.
September, Year 36 of Konoha. Eighteen months had passed since Shisui's defection. The Second Great Ninja War was estimated to have only a year and a half remaining.
Shisui felt a faint prickle of urgency.
Once the war ended, Konoha would undoubtedly begin settling old scores. While his escape had been successful, he didn't underestimate the village's ability to eventually track him down.
He estimated he had three to five years before a high-level hunter-nin squad knocked on his door. He had to complete his experints and break through his current limits before that clock ran out.
By late October, the village had completed another harvest.
Thanks to the chemical fertilizers provided by Ryuji Ida and Shisui's subtle improvents to planting techniques, the yield was unprecedented. The granaries overflowed.
With the surplus grain sold, the villagers found themselves with pockets full of coin and nowhere to spend it.
While the civilians could endure the quiet, the ninjas—many of whom had seen the vibrant entertainnt districts of larger nations—beca restless. The cage was starting to feel too small.
"When will this cowardly village finally lift the barrier?" This thought circulated through the minds of the younger Chunin and Genin.
They were n in their pri, trapped in a valley for two years. Even the new village leader, though diligent, could feel the rising temperature of their tempers.
Early November. Deep within the underground kingdom, the air humd with the sound of insects and pulsed with bioluminescence.
Naoto sat cross-legged beneath the massive central root, his face as pale as parchnt. For six months, he had lived in this sunless palace, enduring a ntal and spiritual agony far worse than physical pain.
He discovered that the knowledge he once craved could be a heavy, burning burden.
Shisui stood nearby, a cloud of Mimicry Insects hovering in the air to monitor Naoto's vitals in real-ti.
"Steady your breathing," Shisui commanded. "Do not fight the threads. They are extensions of your will—part of your own flesh."
Naoto gritted his teeth, the veins in his forehead bulging. He could feel his blood vessels mutating, stretching out into countless soft, white tendrils that slithered between his muscle fibers like thousands of tiny, living snakes.
"Arrgh—!" He finally let out a low, guttural roar.
Shisui frowned but didn't stop. A brownish-red insect landed on his shoulder. "The Stench Bug can only dull thirty percent of the pain.
You must carry the remaining seventy percent yourself." He didn't tell Naoto that he could dull more, but doing so would flood the system with pheromones that might sabotage the delicate fusion process.
Naoto panted heavily, sweat dripping from his chin and hissing as it hit the floor—the salt packed with the discarded impurities of his high-energy transformation. "I... I can... take it..."
Shisui nodded. Naoto had exceeded his expectations. The boy had a trait that wasn't exactly talent or raw willpower; it was a kind of obsessive tenacity. He was remarkably like soone Shisui used to know.
Three days later.
In the heart of the hive, Naoto slowly opened his eyes. He looked down at his hands. On the surface, they looked like the hands of an ordinary teenager, but beneath the skin, he felt a tectonic shift.
Chakra surged through his pathways like a river in spring—thawing, torrential, and seemingly endless. Before, he felt like he was carrying a bucket of water. Now, he felt like he was standing before a vast, silent lake.
"It's a success."
Shisui's voice ca from behind, carrying a rare note of satisfaction. This project had spanned two and a half years of trial and error. Finally, it was ti to reap the rewards.
Naoto stood up, his bones popping like small explosions. Every muscle contraction felt packed with explosive force. "I feel... like I've changed bodies."
"You haven't changed it; you've shattered its limits." Shisui stepped forward and handed him a mirror. "Look."
In the glass, Naoto saw the sa face, but the eyes were different. The uncertainty and timidity were gone, replaced by a clarity forged in the fires of power.
"Try to condense it," Shisui said.
Naoto closed his eyes, following the complex ntal pathways he had studied for months. He focused the strange, surging energy toward his palm. After a mont, a single white tendril sprouted from his skin, and at its tip, a drop of White Dew ford.
The liquid glowed with a faint, ethereal light. Just looking at it made one's skin tingle with the sheer pressure of its life force.
"This is the Dew?"
Shisui nodded, carefully collecting the drop into a specially crafted jade vial. "That single drop just consud thirty percent of your current energy reserves. Go to the dining hall; I've had a three-day feast prepared for your recovery."
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