Where Is the Path?

After great difficulty, Gengetsu hauled the deadweight Tsunade home. Looking at Tsunade drooling and muttering in her sleep, Gengetsu could not help but sigh. "She's a pitiful person too."

Shaking his head, Gengetsu made a bedroll beside her and continued familiarizing himself with Water Release Chakra until midnight before resting. The next day, he still rose early to train his body and practice hand seals.

By late morning, Tsunade stood lazily by the doorway with a slice of bread in hand, watching Gengetsu stand in the courtyard with his palms pressed together.

After watching for a while, Tsunade could not help calling out, "Hey, Kid, what are you doing?"

Startled awake, Gengetsu opened his eyes and turned around. "Lady Tsunade, I'm not called Kid. My name is Uzumaki Gengetsu!"

"As for this... I'm naturally training my Chakra!"

"Yeah, got it..."

Tsunade waved her hand and walked over. "Idiot, you're really messing around. Refining Chakra recklessly can damage your cells!"

Indeed, the Chakra in Gengetsu's body had previously been extremely chaotic. If it continued for too long, it would inevitably harm him.

"This state shouldn't last too long."

Gengetsu had sensed that as well, but it should not be a problem in the short term. As long as he succeeded once and found the pattern, things would become much easier afterward.

Tsunade frowned slightly, curious. "What exactly are you training? Did Kushina teach you?"

"I'm training in Wind Style Chakra Transformation. Sister Kushina hasn't started teaching me that yet. This is just an idea of my own!"

Gengetsu explained.

"Idiot, how can you mess around with Chakra Nature Transformation like this!"

Tsunade snapped. For one thing, she had a good relationship with Kushina, while the Uzumaki Clan and Senju Clan were distant relatives. For another, she had a favorable impression of Gengetsu and did not want to see a child go down the wrong path.

Feeling Tsunade's concern for him, Gengetsu smiled and patiently explained, laying out his whole theory.

Concepts like the Four Symbols and Five Elements existed in the Naruto world as well. For example, the Five Elements Sealing and Four Symbols Sealing both involved the theories of the Five Elements and Four Symbols. Tsunade herself was highly skilled in Sealing Technique and naturally understood these matters quite well, but the theory Gengetsu proposed was clearly very different from what she knew.

"The proportions of spiritual energy and physical energy, the waxing and waning changes of Yin and Yang..."

Tsunade rubbed her chin and fell into thought. From her cultivation experience, Gengetsu's theory was somewhat fanciful, but it seemed to have a certain degree of feasibility.

"What a genius little brat..."

Looking up at Gengetsu, Tsunade asked, "Spiritual energy is intangible. How do you plan to quantify it?"

"As expected of Lady Tsunade, one of the Sannin. You hit the nail right on the head!"

Gengetsu spread his hands helplessly and smiled bitterly. "Based on what I know about spiritual energy, I can't quantify it yet. I can only rely on feeling!"

"Feeling?"

Tsunade frowned. Sometimes feelings were accurate, but sometimes they were completely unreliable. It was like gambling for her—every time she felt she would win, she lost.

Gengetsu clearly did not see it that way. He explained carefully, "Since spiritual energy is difficult to quantify, I found a reference point."

"A reference point?"

Tsunade reacted quickly. "Water Release?"

"Correct!"

Gengetsu gave her a thumbs-up. "Water Release corresponds to Great Yin among the Four Symbols. The evolution from Great Yin to Lesser Yang is the weakening of Yin, which is also the weakening of spiritual energy. Well, it may be difficult and require countless trials and errors, but once I accomplish this step, Fire Release, Lightning Release, and Earth Release will be easy to master afterward!"

"As for Yang Release and Yin Release, those are more troublesome!"

Gengetsu frowned.

But Tsunade became interested and smiled. "Well, if you can do it, I can teach you how to use Yang Release!"

As an outstanding Medical Ninja, Tsunade naturally had Yang Release at her fingertips.

"Medical Ninjutsu—what an unexpected delight!"

Gengetsu was overjoyed. "Then it's settled!"

After saying that, Gengetsu continued training. Tsunade watched his back, a smile appearing at the corner of her lips. "What an interesting little brat!"

After lunch, Tsunade went out drinking, and Gengetsu naturally followed.

When they arrived at yesterday's tavern, Tsunade paid and drank by herself while Gengetsu practiced hand seals beside her and trained his Water Release Chakra.

Although he had completely mastered Water Release Chakra, he was not yet proficient with it. He was still some distance from using it in actual combat and had to intensify his training. Otherwise, yesterday's joke would happen again.

Spraying a Root Ninja in the face with a piss-like Water Release—perhaps none of the countless transmigrators before him had ever managed such a feat!

The afternoon passed quickly, and Gengetsu felt that he had gained a lot. His command over Water Release Chakra grew increasingly skillful. He could now create a large amount of water in a short time and use the offensive Water Release: Water Disruption, but a tavern was not the place to test it. That would have to wait until later.

That night, he once again brought the drunken Tsunade home.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed. That day, Gengetsu brought home Tsunade, who was drunk into a puddle as usual, only to discover that Kushina and Minato had returned.

Kushina settled Tsunade in while Gengetsu and Minato went to the backyard.

"Gengetsu, you did well. You protected yourself very well!"

Minato praised him. Clearly, he already knew that Danzo had made a move against Gengetsu.

At the mention of it, Gengetsu still felt lingering fear and smiled bitterly. "Brother Minato, I was lucky to run into Lady Tsunade. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to deal with Root's elite ninjas!"

"You already did very well!"

Minato's smile remained gentle as he said, "I've already explained this matter to the Third Hokage, but you still need to be more careful in the future!"

"Thank you, Brother Minato!"

After thinking about it, Gengetsu said, "Sister Kushina probably doesn't know about this yet, right? It would be best not to tell her!"

In his impression, Kushina had always been gentle, but the gentler a person was, the more terrifying they became when enraged. More importantly, Danzo held a high position in the village. Not only would Kushina and Minato be unable to shake him, but Danzo had not caused Gengetsu any actual harm.

Besides, those Root Ninjas had merely "invited" him to meet Danzo. Though they had nearly resorted to force afterward, that was nothing much given Danzo's status.

To someone who did not know the cause and effect, all that malice was still merely his own speculation.

Minato revealed an approving expression. That was exactly what he had wanted to say.

Thus, the matter ended there. Both of them chose to keep it from Kushina.

On the third day, when Tsunade woke up and saw Kushina and Minato at the dining table, she could not help feeling awkward. However, being the open-minded person she was, she quickly got over it and sat down at the table. "You came back yesterday? Huh, where's that little brat Gengetsu?"

"Lady Tsunade, Gengetsu has already gone to the Ninja Academy. We returned to Konoha last night. Thank you for taking care of him these past few days!"

Kushina smiled.

"I wouldn't call it taking care of him!"

Tsunade shook her head, then said with considerable admiration, "Kushina, congratulations. You've raised an outstanding ninja!"

"Really? Gengetsu is indeed a very smart child, just like I was back then..."

Once Kushina started talking, she went on endlessly. Meanwhile, Gengetsu officially entered the Ninja Academy as a transfer student.

After a brief introduction, Gengetsu took a seat in the corner and silently observed his classmates. There were quite a few familiar faces in this class.

Asuma, Shizune, Kurenai, Rin, Obito, Ebisu...

"Speaking of which, Guy and Kakashi are around the same age, but Kakashi graduated very early!"

"Kakashi's strength should already surpass that of an ordinary Chunin!"

"And Obito, that tragic guy..."

Seeing them for the first time, Gengetsu felt deeply moved.

"But come to think of it, like Kaguya Otsutsuki, I'm also an outsider from beyond this world, aren't I?"

Who knew how many Naruto fans in his previous life had mocked the entire Naruto story as Kaguya's family constantly stirring up trouble. Looking into it closely, there really was some truth to that.

The conflict between Asura and Indra had continued generation after generation, while Black Zetsu, the incarnation of Kaguya Otsutsuki's will, had been the mastermind behind the scenes. The Fourth Shinobi World War could be said to have been created by him alone.

"What a warped world. What a warped ninja cultivation system."

Gengetsu could not help sighing again. In this world, the most important thing was not how strong your comprehension was, nor how strong your willpower was. The most important thing was whether you possessed Ōtsutsuki blood.

Among all of Naruto, Guy the Mightiest was probably the only person who reached Six Paths-level through talent and willpower alone, and even then, it was only a fleeting moment.

Was Orochimaru talented?

Absolutely. In the entire Naruto world, there were probably not many whose ninjutsu talent could surpass Orochimaru's!

Yet as an early-game major villain, he could not even see the backs of Uchiha Sasuke and Rasengan User later on.

One was an Indra Chakra Reincarnation, while the other was an Asura Chakra Reincarnation. They could activate cheats and max out in minutes, destroying heaven, earth, and the air itself!

Of course, Gengetsu had to admit that Uchiha Sasuke and Rasengan User possessed extraordinary talent as well!

"But although I don't have Red Eye Syndrome, cataracts, or even a complete Sage Body, at least I'm not some ordinary background extra!"

Gengetsu felt that he was still somewhat lucky. The timing of his transmigration was not bad. Kushina was still alive, and he had met Tsunaade before she left Konoha, forming a deep friendship with her as well—by carrying her drunken body home every day.

"Still, where is my path?"