The next morning, dawn's first light rose. Lady Momoka, ever an early riser, had prepared breakfast: glistening white rice, golden-crisp grilled sanma, crescent-cut pickled radish, and a steaming bowl of soup.
With no missions on the horizon, Shuji stretched in the grove beside the villa before settling to craft his training plan.
He understood this world's script—Akatsuki, Madara, the God Tree, the Ōtsutsuki… these names hung like swords over every shinobi. Even ordinary citizens knew that to enjoy life here, one must first grow stronger.
A ninja's path to strength follows a clear core:
Hone the body, unlock potential, master taijutsu.
Refine skills, perfect tools, adapt to all changes.
Study ninjutsu, expand techniques, suit any environment.
Though ninjutsu yields the fastest results, it rests ultimately on physical prowess. Conditioning the body develops physical energy; each painful limit break forges willpower. Body and spirit together drive chakra growth until both peak the vessel's capacity. Only then can a shinobi pour energy into jutsu practice.
Viewed this way, aside from chakra's existence and humanity's astonishing potential in this world, the fundamental logic of growing stronger mirrors that of Earth. As a Senju descendant, Shuji naturally possessed abundant chakra and robust physique. With Hashirama's cells perfectly integrated, his future ceiling far exceeded that of ordinary shinobi.
Yet even that was insufficient. Such strength, at the level of a shadow clone or a Sannin, could match Akatsuki but not higher threats. To face such crises—and survive—one must transcend Sannin to achieve Sage of Six Paths power.
According to the original lore, two reference paths exist: the Ōtsutsuki lineage and the Sage arts.
The Ōtsutsuki are chakra's origin—cosmic beings who harvest life energy from worlds to amplify themselves. In theory, Senju, Uchiha, Uzumaki, and Hyūga all stem from Ōtsutsuki bloodlines and could, through chakra absorption, purify or even de-evolve to that lineage. Madara's path to Rinnegan involved merging Hashirama's cells to gain potent yang chakra, combining it with his own yin chakra, awakening the Rinnegan, becoming Ten-Tails jinchūriki, and thus rebirthing Ōtsutsuki. Senju might follow a similar path via Sharingan transmutation. But one crucial point is often overlooked: both Madara and Hashirama reincarnated Indra's and Asura's chakra—sons of the Ten-Tails' first jinchūriki. Awakening Rinnegan demands more than yin-yang chakra fusion; it requires inheriting Ten-Tails essence. For Shuji, that path lay shrouded—best set aside for now.
That leaves the Sage arts. Their ceiling surpasses ordinary shinobi but stays below full Ōtsutsuki might. The strongest known Sage was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself, followed by Hashirama Senju—a figure atop all other Sage of Six Paths beneath the true path.
As the indigenous power system, Sage arts resemble traditional xianxiā cultivation more than chakra jutsu. The first and hardest step is cultivating "ki sense"—perceiving nature's energy. Only then can one absorb it, merging with one's physical and spiritual energy to form Sage-mode chakra.
For ordinary shinobi, the Barrier of Awareness is a vast hurdle: one must first know nature's energy exists before one can sense, absorb, and transform it. Shuji faced no such barrier. His next challenge was pure perception.
Nature's energy is everywhere. He even suspected that giant creatures and shinobi's superior physic were nourished by long-term exposure to natural energy.
On his first attempt, Shuji felt nothing. Returning from his mission, he reorganized his approach.
Known Sage traditions include the Toad Sage arts of Mount Myōboku and the Snake Sage arts of Ryūchi Cave.
Toad Sage training is gradual: applying special toad oil to aid ki sense. Upon mastery, practitioners enter Sage mode with frog-like eye marks.
Snake Sage training is brutal: a white snake spirit injects ki; those who survive become Sages, those who can't turn to stone.
Both methods share making the practitioner directly contact and adapt to pure nature's energy. But another route exists—the God Tree.
The Ōtsutsuki plant God Trees on worlds to harvest life essence into chakra fruit. Konoha once bore such a tree and a single fruit. A God Tree must be able to absorb and process nature's energy.
Wood Release, invented by Hashirama, inherently absorbs chakra. Shuji theorized Hashirama, via his bloodline and Asura's chakra, mimicked aspects of the God Tree—hence Wood Release's power to suppress tailed-beast chakra. Thus, Shuji's path should not be mere wood jutsu but unearthing Wood Release's bloodline core.
"Wood Release: Vitality Technique!"
He whispered. The earth beneath him trembled as a tender sapling broke ground, growing visibly fast. Sunlight danced on its bark as leaves unfurled with a rustle. When it reached shoulder height, Shuji deliberately throttled his chakra flow, maintaining only a faint link.
"Grow on," he murmured, eyes intent.
He wove his perception like neural threads through the sapling's consciousness. The sprout displayed uncanny keenness—its roots tunneled underground like hungry hunters, upheaving soil.
Most startling were its branches. Delicate shoots twisted and hardened, freezing mid-motion to align en masse toward Shuji.
He sensed the tree's primal thirst for chakra—an almost painful intensity. Sweat beaded at his temple.
"Calm…" he whispered, quickly forming the Serpent Seal. The hostile limbs halted inches away, writhing in frustration. He steered their perception back toward the ambient natural energy.
He felt the shift as the tree's fury turned to curiosity. Then it seemed to detect the very force Shuji had struggled to sense all along—the pervasive natural energy flooding space!
On the verge of breakthrough, disaster struck.
The sapling surged upward with an ominous creak. Yet after only a few inches of growth, its form twisted violently. Limbs knotted at impossible angles, and dark, living veins crawled across the bark.
Shuji recoiled instinctively.
In that instant, a gray pall spread from the roots, suffocating life. Like a silent death, it engulfed the sapling. In under three seconds, the entire tree became a lifelike stone statue—each tiny leaf forever caught mid-sway in the breeze.
Shuji remained frozen, sweat trickling from his brow. A total failure—and a dangerous one. His wood constructs, though supported by his chakra, collapsed under nature's energy like sandcastles against a tide. Yet he gained vital insight: Wood Release's chakra constructs absorb nature's energy according to their elemental essence—enhancing growth then overrun by their own core.
That awareness, plus the fact that nature's energy causes subtle spatial ripples, gave him a clue: by sensing those ripples—like a pebble's ring on still water—he could detect and engage ki.
Deep in the forest, Shuji closed his eyes, replaying those faint waves in his mind.
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild