Dreamscape: The Silent Path to Awakening

By the time Zi Xu returned home, the moon had already climbed past the western mountains. A few crows, unwilling to stay silent, frolicked on the branches, their pale red eyes peering down at the pedestrians under the night sky. A few gusts of wind swept by, startling them into a burst of cawing.

"Change is harder than I imagined. They've grown used to the rule of ninja. No matter how much they complain, they won't put up any real resistance. Instead, they numb themselves, convincing themselves that this life is fine. Simply put, they've been 'institutionalized.'"

Zi Xu recalled a movie he'd seen before. These commoners feared change—or rather, they lacked the courage to face life after change. Making them understand that everything must be fought for themselves, that they can't rely on ninja, was as difficult as making a feudal subject, long accustomed to oppression, accept a modern democratic society.

"This isn't something that can be done overnight. Making weapons and tools is easy; changing people's minds is the hardest part." Unable to think of a solution for now, Zi Xu fell asleep in exhaustion. In his dream, he was once again adrift alone on a vast sea. Towering waves blotted out the sky and sun, standing before him like an endless wall of darkness.

The gray-black seawater reflected the sky, turning it gloomy as well. Truly, "dark clouds press down, threatening to crush the city." The sea kept shifting forms. As the water wall enveloped him, countless small serpents split off from within. The smallest of these serpents was at least four stories tall; a city bus wouldn't even match the size of one of their fangs, let alone the water wall itself.

Compared to the high wall, these small serpents were like an earthworm next to the World Tree, not to mention Zi Xu standing alone. A timid person might—no, would certainly—have fainted by now. This hellish scene could be called a "blessing" for those with trypophobia or megalophobia.

Though fear stirred in his heart within the dream, Zi Xu hadn't lost the ability to think. Everyone has the capacity to face fear, but the strong possess the courage to act despite it. At this moment, Zi Xu had no idea he was in a dream. He began trying to use the abilities at his disposal to deal with the danger before him.

But to his disappointment, he found he could only use the power to silence the space around him. He knew this was the Silent Fruit's ability, and in his past life, it had even been ranked among the most useless fruits. Even so, he didn't stop resisting. While struggling to dodge the giant serpent currents surging toward him on the churning sea, he also tried to activate his Haki.

Unfortunately, he had only awakened a basic level of Conqueror's Haki, unable to use it freely. To improve, he would need to fight powerful enemies. As for the Silent Fruit, which had shown no real power in the original story, he had no ideas for developing it either. For now, the situation seemed extremely unfavorable for Zi Xu.

The black water wall closed in tighter and tighter, compressing Zi Xu's already narrow evasive space. The giant serpents had grazed past him several times, leaving bloody gashes across his body. Feeling the searing pain as seawater stung his wounds, Zi Xu's fighting spirit only grew stronger.

"You want to kill me? Then come!" At this moment of desperation, Zi Xu held nothing back. His usual disguise fell away completely, and a sharpness he hadn't shown in a long time burst forth like a sword drawn from its sheath. Because of the dangers of the Naruto World, he had never revealed his edge before.

Afraid that even a single slip would expose a weakness for Konoha to discover. But wearing a mask for too long, one might forget which face is truly their own. At this moment, however, Zi Xu fully released himself, erupting with soaring battle intent.

With his outburst, his speed and reaction time noticeably improved. He began weaving between the countless water serpents, dodging and twisting. Occasionally, several serpents' massive bodies collided, sending up enormous splashes. The powerful shockwaves forced Zi Xu back step by step.

The scene was utter chaos, like a disaster of giant pythons. A red-haired youth, bare-chested and covered in wounds, maneuvered among the colossal snakes. Though countless injuries marked his body and blood had soaked his pants red, a wild grin never left his lips.

More and more water serpents appeared, as if a rain of snakes were falling from the sky. The giant wall's encirclement grew faster and faster. The surroundings seemed to sink into an endless hell. The faint light in the sky was devoured bit by bit, and the seawater grew darker and darker.

The pitch-black water seemed to take on a sticky quality. He felt his body moving with increasing difficulty, his strength draining away like a desert traveler on the verge of dehydration.

At this moment of near death, Zi Xu roared with the last of his strength, pouring out every ounce of power he had left. He hurled himself toward the single gap of light not yet sealed by the water wall.

In his heart, Zi Xu knew this would accomplish nothing. The Silent Fruit's power inherently lacked lethality; its greatest effect was simply to make everything utterly silent. He did it only to leave no regrets.

But then, a sudden change occurred. An invisible ripple seemed to burst from around Zi Xu. The water serpents lunging at him with open jaws, as if struck by some unseen force, exploded into droplets within a large spherical space centered on Zi Xu, turning into a rain of water.

But that wasn't the important part. When the invisible shockwave met the power Zi Xu had released into the air, it seemed to trigger some violent chemical reaction. An indescribable force spread throughout the entire space.

Everything within that space seemed to have a pause button pressed. Even the water serpents falling through the air just a moment ago froze mid-drop. The whole world fell silent in an instant, as if... the entire world had gone quiet.

"Silence... so this is the true power of silence... Not just silencing sound, but even energy, motion, even space and time—a power that silences everything? The world is too noisy, so the world must also fall silent... Is this the path to awakening the Silent Fruit..."

Zi Xu was secretly stunned. This fruit, which he had always dismissed as a useless tool for espionage, actually had such a high ceiling. This fruit... was no worse than the top-tier ones.

There are no useless fruits. Every fruit has an extremely high ceiling; it all depends on the user's imagination. Corazon had died too young back then. If he had been allowed to develop further, he might not have been weaker than Doflamingo.

Just as Zi Xu wanted to observe the frozen water serpents more closely, another sudden change occurred. The space around him cracked like shattered glass, then broke apart into irregular fragments. Zi Xu woke from his dream.

"Ha... ha..." Zi Xu gasped heavily, his chest heaving violently as he greedily breathed in the air. After a while, he gradually calmed down. Feeling his clothes and hair damp with sweat, he got up to wash his face.

"Was it a dream... But it felt so real. Maybe it's because of the Haki awakening? System, what was that? Was it all just a dream?" Zi Xu picked up a towel to dry his face while silently asking the system in his mind.

[It was a trial of the Demon Power in the spiritual world. The host may encounter similar situations during Haki awakening. This is normal.]

With the system's confirmation, Zi Xu felt a bit more at ease. As long as he wouldn't inexplicably die in his dreams, it was fine. In fact, he even wanted it to happen a few more times. After this experience, he felt his mind had become somewhat clearer.

In the words of cultivators, his Dao heart was now unobstructed. He sensed a slight increase in his aura. If the usual Zi Xu was like a lurking, stealthy venomous snake, his current state was more like a young dragon with budding horns, faintly exuding a kingly aura.

Feeling the power of the Demon Fruit within him, Zi Xu formed hand seals and summoned a Shadow Clone. He transferred the restless Demon Fruit power into the clone's body. It was like a long-oppressed young wife finally returning to her natal home, complaining tearfully. He could even feel the Demon Power within the Silent Fruit bitterly recounting its miserable treatment to his clone.

"Alright, alright, enough with the drama. Get moving and stretch your legs. I'm counting on you to master your skills in the future, so I don't have to lift a finger myself." Zi Xu patted his somewhat dispirited clone. He could sense that after infusing the Demon Fruit power into the clone, the clone's personality was increasingly leaning toward the fruit's own will.

But it was still loyal to him. It was just that the clone, influenced by the Demon Fruit, gave the illusion that it was the fruit itself.

"Fine, fine," the clone replied lazily, but it obediently used its ability.

An invisible barrier enveloped the entire room. In an instant, the rustling of leaves blown by the wind outside the window, the ugly howls of stray cats on the roof in heat, and even his own hurried breathing—all disappeared. Everything within this domain seemed to have a mute button pressed, becoming eerily silent.

Zi Xu's lips moved, but no specific words could be heard. After gesturing for a long time with no result, just as Zi Xu was about to punch his clone, the clone finally deactivated the ability, and Zi Xu's words came through clearly.

"You train hard. This level is far from enough. The Silent Fruit's power is more than this. You know that now. I wasn't lying to you."

"So you mean you were lying to me before?"

"That's not the point. The point is, you need even harsher training from now on. Forget the past, but now that we've seen the Silent Fruit's ceiling, what excuse do you have not to work hard?"

Zi Xu spoke earnestly. He had long felt that he wasn't just a ninja, but also something like a Pokémon Trainer—except he was training his own clone, or rather, the Demon Power within the clone. This Demon Power seemed to retain memories of its conversations with him.

No matter what the clone was like before, once infused with Demon Power, it became like this. And even so, the Demon Fruit abilities trained by the clone with Demon Power would ultimately feed back to the strange consciousness within the Demon Fruit and to himself.

He was even starting to consider what kind of Pokémon he should raise in the future to fight in his place. Why be a ninja when being a trainer is so much easier?

------Author's Note------

Happy Labor Day!