Naruto entered the Ninja Academy at the age of six, became a genin at twelve, and at nineteen participated in the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Ryuma was the same age as him—currently five.
In just one more year, he would enroll in the Ninja Academy. In other words, if he couldn't obtain the Chakra Fruit, he would only have fourteen years to live.
Fourteen years might seem like a lot, but in truth, it was far too little.
From an adult's perspective, it was a blink of an eye.
And when he thought about those who appeared later—Uchiha Madara, the Sage of the Six Paths, Naruto and Sasuke—catching up to them within fourteen years was nearly impossible.
From a bloodline standpoint, he was born far inferior to those people.
But that didn't mean he was completely without hope.
"Let's begin, starting with 0.1x gravity."
Arriving at the usual place he trained, Ryuma took a light breath, then suddenly kicked toward a wooden post.
His kicking speed wasn't fast. In fact, it was slow.
But it wasn't because he was tired or injured—it was because he was training while his body was under full gravitational suppression within the limits it could bear.
The Devil Fruit he had obtained from the Equivalent Exchange space was the same one eaten by Admiral Fujitora in the One Piece world.
There was no need to elaborate on how powerful this Paramecia-type fruit was.
Just the ability to summon meteors from space meant its destructive power was already at nuclear levels.
From that perspective, it was easy to recall Uchiha Madara's jutsu, Tengai Shinsei, that he used to bring meteors down, during his battle against the Allied Shinobi Forces.
And that wasn't even the full extent of the fruit's uses.
It could manipulate gravity directionally, using any object as a medium.
As long as the user was strong enough, anything could be manipulated.
In terms of offense, the fruit had many applications. But its defensive capabilities were equally impressive.
As the Gravity Fruit's user, he could release gravity waves to repel anything approaching—attacks, objects—with equal and opposite force, achieving total reflection.
This reflection wasn't limited to physical attacks—even energy-based attacks could be repelled.
A very well-rounded Devil Fruit, indeed.
More than that, beyond combat, it brought Ryuma another benefit, it helped him train his body.
In this era of cold weapons, there were no high-tech training rooms with artificial gravity. Taijutsu users like Might Guy trained their bodies using weights.
Compared to that, someone who naturally emitted a gravity field had a huge advantage.
In many ways, the Gravity Fruit was one of the best possible fruits for him.
Ryuma was fully aware of the power ceiling in the Naruto world.
Without an Otsutsuki or Sage of Six Paths bloodline, surviving and achieving anything significant would be extremely difficult.
But Might Guy had already proven that, with taijutsu taken to its limits, even god-like enemies could be defeated.
Additionally, the Six Styles—Rokushiki—also required a powerful body as their foundation.
Right now, though, he could only train under 0.1x gravity. Any more than that, and it would do more harm than good.
"One, two, three... forty… fifty, fifty-one…"
Soon, Ryuma was dripping with sweat. Exhaustion and fatigue overwhelmed him.
His ankles, in particular, began to ache—sharp pain, dull soreness, swelling.
But he didn't stop. He clenched his teeth and endured.
The training method of the One Piece World focused on pushing the body beyond its limits—very different from those in the Naruto World.
Interestingly, Ryuma wasn't sure whether he now belonged to the Naruto world's power system or the One Piece one.
Because the moment he bit into that Devil Fruit, gravity had fused with his bloodline limit—his Kekkei Genkai.
According to Mongoose, it meant the power had merged into the laws of this world.
The curse of the Devil Fruit had vanished as a result—not a flaw, but a tradeoff.
Otherwise, in a battle against Water-style shinobi or at sea, he would've been dangerously restricted.
As for why he wasn't sure which system he belonged to—his body, strengthened by the fruit, had become far more active than a normal human's.
His cells regenerated faster, and his body could contain more chakra.
If you had to make a metaphor, his body looked like any other in this world—but the fruit had already rewritten his DNA.
Huff... huff... huff...
Gradually, Ryuma began to breathe heavily. His old black yukata was soaked with sweat, drops rolling down his cheeks.
Finally, when his legs went numb and he could barely stand, he stopped kicking and dropped to the ground to do push-ups.
At this stage, he had no thoughts of training in Rokushiki or swordsmanship. First, he had to build a solid foundation.
Like for constructing a skyscraper—you had to lay a solid base. The body was the root of all things. Without it, anything else would be like a castle in the sky.
He didn't know how much time passed, but the sun had set. Fireflies lit up the forest with their soft glow—quiet, beautiful.
Being able to enjoy the peaceful scenery after intense training was a luxury.
But he had no choice. His refusal to live an ordinary life—and his desire not to die—forced him to keep going.
The Fourth Great Ninja War had been the most brutal war in shinobi history—a true meat grinder.
Even the most powerful Kage-level shinobi had no guarantee of survival.
So, after resting for a bit, Ryuma sat cross-legged and began controlling his chakra.
Training his chakra control at the brink of physical exhaustion produced the best results.
"I need to find a way to get my hands on the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Whether it's chakra training, physical training, swordsmanship, or anything else—I can't afford to slack off."
There was too much he needed to learn. Without a cheat-like jutsu such as Shadow Clone, training alone would consume all his time, leaving no room for anything else.
"But... the Shadow Clone Jutsu is in the sealed scroll. How can I get it? Wait for Naruto to learn it and then ask him?
Knowing his personality, he'd probably teach me without hesitation—but that's too slow."
Naruto only learned the jutsu around the age of twelve. Ryuma was only five now. That meant waiting seven whole years, the time he absolutely couldn't afford to waste.
But if not from Naruto, who else could he get it from?
In the shinobi world, every jutsu was zealously guarded by clans—treated as treasured secrets.
They would never teach them lightly, unless you had a master-student relationship.
His deceased parents probably knew the technique, but after their deaths, most of their scrolls had been recovered by Konoha.
All that was left to him were basic chakra controlling methods and a handful of D-rank jutsu—barely any C-rank.