Naruto didn't know how much time had passed, but that burning sensation finally began to gradually fade.
He stood up and loosened his shoulders and wrists. He clearly felt that his physical strength was on an entirely different level than before. His power, speed, reaction, defense, and vitality had all reached a brand new level.
Looking down at the reef beneath his feet, he had an intuition that if he threw a punch now, the island beneath his feet probably wouldn't be able to withstand it.
He circulated his Chakra through his body rapidly and reached a conclusion that made him slightly raise an eyebrow. His Chakra volume had doubled from the previous base of four hundred Kakashi, reaching eight hundred Kakashi.
Furthermore, this power would continue to grow as he aged, he was far from the limit.
Naruto raised his right hand, and a mass of pure blue Chakra materialized from his palm, viscous like liquid.
With a thought, his entire body released an equal amount of Chakra simultaneously. The large reef beneath his feet was shattered by this blast of Chakra into countless dense cracks.
"Main body, your appearance has changed!"
At this moment, a Shadow Clone responsible for sentry duty in the distance looked over and spoke up.
Naruto stopped his testing, and that Shadow Clone teleported over from the seaside using the Flying Thunder God Technique, bringing seawater in its hands to present to Naruto.
Naruto lowered his head to look at the reflection in the seawater. The reflection was that of a young man with black hair and dark brown eyes.
This appearance was very similar to Menma from the Tsukuyomi world. However, Menma was based on Naruto, just with black hair and eyes. Yet his face now had more defined contours than before, and his temperament was completely different. The color scheme of black hair and dark brown eyes made him look less flamboyant and a bit more reserved.
"Awakening? I like it." Naruto smiled at his reflection in the water.
He withdrew his gaze and raised his right hand, palm facing upward. A pure white circle appeared in the center of his palm, flickering in and out of existence, emitting a warm light.
Yang Power.
To be precise, it was an incomplete Yang Power.
Just as the Yin Power in Sasuke's Rinnegan was the remnant of the power bestowed upon him by the Sage of Six Paths, the Yang Power in Naruto's palm now was the product of his own budding after Asura's power had been thoroughly activated.
This Yang Power already belonged entirely to him, completely bound to his Chakra and life origin, but it was still very weak, like a newborn baby. It needed him to spend time nurturing it, and in time, it would grow into a complete Yang Power.
When that time came, the Yin Power and the Yang Power would mature simultaneously, and at the moment those two powers intersected, the gates of the Six Paths would formally open for him.
Afterward, he began to summarize his gains this time.
Fusing with Sasuke's genetic code had led to him awakening his own Mangekyo Sharingan, and finding Asura's Chakra had successfully triggered Bloodline Awakening. His overall strength had taken a significant leap forward.
Next, he needed to wait for the Mangekyo's dōjutsu to finish gestating, and then find a suitable opportunity to fuse Hashirama cells. At that point, his strength would rise to yet another level.
He quickly went over his upcoming training route in his mind, then glanced at the setting sun before retracting the Adamantine Sealing Chains barrier and the Sensory Suppression Barrier that shrouded the entire island. The ten Shadow Clones responsible for guarding dissipated into white smoke.
Then, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, and his figure vanished from the island.
Back at the Konoha villa training room.
Naruto walked out of the door and deactivated the barrier covering the entire house as well. He casually made himself a simple dinner in the kitchen, and after eating, he lay down to rest.
—
The next day.
Perhaps Karin had reached a critical stage in learning Medical Ninjutsu from Tsunade over the past few days, as she had barely come to see him. Naruto didn't pay much attention to it. It was a good thing that Karin could find things she wanted to do in Konoha and integrate herself.
Just as Naruto was about to return to the training room to check his pair of Mangekyo, which were still gestating their dōjutsu, the doorbell rang.
He walked to the courtyard gate and opened it, only to see Jiraiya standing outside with his arms crossed.
"Pervy Sage, why are you here?"
"Are you Naruto?"
Seeing the person who opened the door with black hair and dark brown eyes, Jiraiya was stunned on the spot, scanning Naruto from head to toe and back up again twice.
"Ah, my bloodline underwent an awakening these past few days, so I turned out like this." Naruto said, stepping aside to let Jiraiya in.
"Bloodline Awakening?" Jiraiya frowned.
"Uzumaki Bloodline? I recall that the Uzumaki clan's awakening should result in red hair. What's with this black hair of yours?"
"It's about like that." Naruto nodded.
"What do you mean 'it's about like that'! Why didn't you tell me beforehand about something as big as a Bloodline Awakening? You're Konoha's precious treasure now. If anything happened to your body, Tsunade would definitely twist my head off." Jiraiya said anxiously.
"Pervy Sage, let's not talk about that for now. Why are you looking for me? Are you here to teach me Sage Mode?"
"Ahem!" Jiraiya was nearly choked by Naruto's interruption. "It's about the Raikage and the two people from yesterday."
"Did Granny Tsunade send you to find me?"
Jiraiya nodded.
"Fine, then I'll go with you to see Granny Tsunade."
Naruto turned around to close the courtyard gate, and the two walked toward the Hokage Building together.
On the way, Naruto asked Jiraiya, "What's going on with the Raikage? Is he dead?"
"How could he be? Although he was nearly beaten to death by you at the time, how could Tsunade let him die in Konoha when she personally intervened?" Jiraiya sighed when he reached this point.
"The problem isn't the Raikage, it's those guys from Kumogakure. After Tsunade sent over the drafted compensation notice, those old geezers in Kumogakure exploded. Not only did they refuse on the spot, but they also sent an envoy to threaten us, saying that if we don't immediately and unconditionally release the Raikage and his two bodyguards, Kumogakure will assemble all their forces to launch a full-scale war against Konoha. According to Anbu intelligence, they have already begun mobilizing border troops."
"So that's how it is. Typical of a bunch of brutes." Naruto shook his head.
Saying they were brutes wasn't entirely accurate. The high-level officials of Kumogakure had their own logic for this gambit.
First, they put on the toughest attitude, making exorbitant demands for unconditional release, while simultaneously using the threat of war to force Konoha to concede.
This strategy would have had a high probability of success if it were directed at Konoha during the Third Hokage's administration. Hiruzen's diplomatic policy was consistently stability-first, he would rather suffer a small loss to maintain the overall peace.
Kumogakure likely judged it the same way. Unfortunately, they miscalculated one point: the current Hokage is not Hiruzen, but Tsunade. Moreover, Konoha still held a nuclear bomb in its hands.
"Naruto, what do you think?" Jiraiya turned his head to look at Naruto.
"Pervy Sage, tell me your thoughts first." Naruto threw the question back.
Jiraiya thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I don't really recommend going to war with Kumogakure. War kills many people, any small-scale conflict will be accompanied by countless broken families."
"I suggest we can appropriately lower the compensation standards, for example, by removing the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and the Heavenly Transfer Technique from the list, keeping only the Ninjutsu-Taijutsu secret scrolls and a portion of the war reparations, in exchange for Kumogakure accepting the conditions to redeem the Raikage. This would preserve Konoha's face and avoid a full-scale war."
Naruto smiled faintly after listening, but did not reply. Seeing this expression on Naruto, Jiraiya inexplicably felt a cold sweat for Kumogakure.
The two soon walked to the Hokage Building.
Along the way, many ninjas working in the Hokage Building greeted Jiraiya proactively. When their eyes fell on Naruto, they were stunned at first, and after recognizing it was Naruto, their expressions became amazed.
After finishing their greetings, they gathered in twos and threes to whisper.
"Did Jonin Naruto dye his hair?"
"Are you stupid? His eye color changed too. Can you dye your eyes along with your hair?"
"I think the black hair looks pretty good, he looks even more spirited than before."
***
40 Advanced Chapters on
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