Additional Chapter due to getting 30 patrons this month. Thank you all for your support!
---
So people might dismiss Naruto's suffering as simple indifference, claiming he faced no real harm, just the pouting of a lonely child and as he great regenerative ability due to Nine-Tails, most wounds don't affect him permanently. That view couldn't be more wrong.
Naruto was an orphan. His father died monts after his birth, and the villagers, consud by their grief and fear from the Nine-Tails' attack, turned their hatred onto the child who unknowingly carried the beast. Every father, mother, child, sibling, relative and friends lost, every ho destroyed in that disaster... all that bitterness, perhaps even magnified, landed squarely on Naruto.
Humans need connection. Even now, isolation can feel unbearable. Naruto faced the cold shoulder, the exclusion, the whispers, from an entire village. It was more than just loneliness, it was a constant, grinding pressure that could break an adult, let alone a small boy who understood none of it. He faced that for 8 years.
Sakumo Hatake, an Elite Jonin with a son, couldn't even handle it for more than couple months before abandoning his kid and taking his own life.
To tell Naruto to simply forgive, to just get over it... one would have to have never known such profound rejection, such deep, unending pain.
Naruto felt like the Minato's Ki had shifted. No longer the warmth of the sun, but sothing...off. A hint of darkness? He couldn't quite place it, but after seeing what he'd been through, Minato-sensei's aura had changed. Not necessarily for good or bad, he was still the Fourth, but his ki was different.
Ki reflects a person's state of mind. You hear it in Dragon Ball all the ti: "That evil ki." It's subjective, sure.
"What... what can I do?" Minato closed his eyes, a tightness in his chest. He felt lost, the gulf between his hopes for Naruto and the crushing reality almost too much to bear. When he opened his eyes again, they were unfocused, haunted. He looked at Naruto, his voice strained. "Naruto, how... how can I possibly make this right?"
Before he could continue, Naruto cut him off, his voice sharp. "I don't need you to make it right." 'It's not you who owes ,' Naruto thought fiercely. 'It's Konoha.'
"No, I an..." Minato stumbled over his words, the usually composed Hokage awkward and uncertain before his son. It wasn't fear, but a desperate need to offer sothing, anything. "What should I do now?"
"Teach ninjutsu," Naruto said, his voice decisive. This was the reason he'd brought his father here.
Minato sighed softly. "I might not be able to help much with that. My ti here... it's limited." He looked away, a wave of dejection washing over him. Finally, a chance to do sothing for Naruto, and he was constrained. "If I stay too long, Kushina might not get her chance to speak with you..." He trailed off, frustrated by his helplessness. He figured he only had about an hour left.
"Don't worry about that," Naruto replied casually. He knew his father's ti was borrowed. He stepped closer to Minato, extending his right hand. A soft, milky white light gathered in his palm. Gently, he pressed it towards Minato, and a faint white halo enveloped his father's form.
It was Ki. Naruto was sharing his own Ki.
"This... What is this power?" Minato looked down at himself, surprised. He could feel it-the fading sensation lessened, the ti he had left seed to be stabilizing, even extending. 'Natural energy?' he wondered. 'No... it feels similar, but it's different.'
"It's Ki," Naruto stated simply.
Minato was curious about this 'Ki,' a power system totally different from chakra. But seeing that Naruto wasn't offering any explanation, he kept his questions to himself.
The magical thing about ki in Dragon Ball is that even though it's life energy, it can affect the soul. Frieza, with half his body destroyed and on death's door, sprang back to life after Goku gave him ki, even managing a sneak attack.
Ki works on the dead as well as the living, with the sa effect.
Ki really is sothing.
---
As the first Hokage not born into one of Konoha's elite clans, Minato Namikaze possessed a deep understanding of ninjutsu theory and fundantals, alongside masterful practical skills. He excelled in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and even had a grounding in genjutsu.
With chakra affinities for Fire, Wind, Lightning, Yin, and Yang-nearly everything but Earth and Water-his breadth of knowledge was vast. While perhaps not quite the "Professor" the Third Hokage was, Minato could execute techniques up to A-rank with ease and had even created his own signature A-rank jutsu, the Rasengan, requiring no hand seals at all.
His teaching ability was exceptional. Receiving personal instruction from the Fourth Hokage was an incredible opportunity. Even for Naruto, whose raw power was already imnse, Minato's guidance could sharpen his skills significantly.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
With a familiar *poof* of smoke, an exact copy of Naruto appeared beside him.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu. A B-rank technique developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. It created solid clones using chakra, each capable of independent thought and action. They carried the user's skills and knowledge, and crucially, their mories and experiences returned to the original user when dispelled.
It was said they possessed all the user's abilities, limited only by the amount of chakra allocated to them.
As long as they weren't hit with a decisive blow, they could persist.
Naruto looked at his clone with satisfaction, the clone mirrored his expression, then started mirroring his actions. It was a strange sensation-the sa mind, the sa thoughts, yet perceiving the world from two different points, having two separate sets of imdiate feelings. Fascinating.
"So, how does it feel?"
"So, how does it feel?"
"Stop copying !"
"Stop copying !"
"I'll pop you if you don't stop!"
"Alright alright... Geez, let have a bit of fun."
Naruto and his clone laughed.
For most shinobi, Shadow Clones were auxiliary tools-useful for diversions, scouting, or gathering intel. Tobirama had originally designed it for espionage. The chakra drain and relative fragility of the clones usually prevented them from being a primary combat force.
But for Naruto, it was different. He imdiately saw the potential. For a taijutsu-focused fighter like himself, the Shadow Clone Jutsu was revolutionary.
The fact that clones remained solid unless struck decisively was incredibly powerful. Genjutsu users relied on illusion, ninjutsu users on powerful techniques-clones could only mimic those to a degree. But taijutsu users relied on their physical prowess, their speed, their strength. And the Shadow Clone perfectly replicated the user's body.
Imagine how scary that is?
Imagine Goku fighting Raditz, but Raditz is facing several Gokus... Even if it only takes one hit to pop them, Raditz would still have a hard ti. Raditz had three tis Goku's power at that point!
By learning Shadow Clone, Naruto's combat power could double, easy.
It's like a jutsu made for Naruto – the taijutsu master.
A few guys who can beat the Nine-Tails with their bare hands... now that's sothing.
-------------------
Dear Readers and Fans,
For those eager to dive into next chapters earlier before others, I invite you to join us on Patreon. By becoming our Patron, you not only gain access to exclusive advanced chapters but also help us continue this endeavour and expand it further.
spat reon/8Ashes8
(no space)
You can read upto 7 Chapters in advance.
User Comments
0 comments from readers