Training Tool

Naruto was throwing a rapid series of punches when one suddenly pierced through Orochimaru's body. He immediately stopped and hurled the body, which still looked like Orochimaru, far away.

A second later, it suddenly turned into mud, which splattered everywhere—Earth Substitution: Fracture.

"So that's how it is... You 'seal' all the chakra in your body inside yourself, giving up the ability to use ninjutsu and genjutsu entirely in exchange for an explosive increase in the power of your taijutsu."

Orochimaru—though Naruto wasn't sure if he was the real one—emerged from the ground some distance away and stared intently at Naruto. "But it seems there's more to it. If you were merely sealing your chakra, your palm should have been pierced by the Kusanagi Sword long ago."

Naruto offered no explanation. He casually tossed the Kusanagi Sword from his grasp, focused his senses, and confirmed that the Orochimaru speaking was the real one. Then he charged forward and threw a punch.

"Even faster!"

Orochimaru was slightly surprised, but still managed to react, raising both hands to block.

He failed.

His chakra-infused arms were pulverized less than half a second after they met Naruto's fist. If Orochimaru hadn't reacted quickly enough to use the Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique, his entire upper body would likely have vanished—just like the giant snake he had summoned.

In midair, Orochimaru beckoned. The Kusanagi Sword flew up from the ground into his hand, and he pointed its tip at Naruto, who was charging straight toward him, and thrust.

Naruto caught the sword tip with one hand again, knocked it aside, and kept charging toward Orochimaru, all while maintaining his sensory perception to ensure Orochimaru couldn't fool him with another Earth Substitution.

As expected, the sword-wielding Orochimaru in front of him wasn't the real one.

"Tch!"

Naruto made an irritated sound. He tightened his grip on the Kusanagi Sword and swung Orochimaru's substitute away, while extending his sensory range to locate the real Orochimaru—he was heading toward Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto sped up. Just as Orochimaru emerged from the ground behind Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto appeared right in front of him and stomped down.

Orochimaru and the chunk of earth he was hiding in were torn free from the ground in one piece, left hanging in the air.

Naruto's azure eyes fixed on Orochimaru in the dirt. He threw another plain, unadorned punch.

"His power has increased again!"

Feeling the pressure radiating from Naruto's fist, Orochimaru bit through his lip and spat blood onto the dirt in front of him. Then he immediately brought his hands together. "Rashomon!"

Orochimaru was powerful enough to summon three Rashomon gates at once, but he had been caught off guard and could only manage one.

A massive, thick red demon gate was summoned, standing between Orochimaru and Naruto's fist.

The fist struck the gate with a deep, resonant clang, like a great bell. A moment later, the fist punched through the demon gate and kept going, landing on Orochimaru's face and sending him flying dozens of meters.

Sasuke stared at Naruto, his gaze seemingly vacant. "You're so strong!"

"I still have a long way to go."

Naruto shook his head, somewhat dissatisfied. "If my master had been using my body, that punch just now should have turned both the gate and Orochimaru into dust."

"Cough, cough... That was quite a punch. Even stronger than Tsunade's."

With blood at the corner of his mouth, Orochimaru looked at Naruto and then at Sasuke behind him, regretful. "The people from Konoha will be here soon. It seems unlikely I'll achieve my goal today."

"I'll remember you, little one of the Uzumaki Clan."

Orochimaru slowly sank into the ground. "I'll come for you again."

Naruto carefully sensed the area, confirmed that Orochimaru had gone, then breathed a sigh of relief and brought his hands together again. "Dismantle."

The black markings of the seal vanished from his body, and his physique returned to normal. He then promptly collapsed backward.

Sasuke and Sakura hurried over to support him.

"Are you okay?"

Sasuke asked with concern. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine. I'm not hurt, just a little tired. I'll be okay after some rest."

Naruto gave a limp wave. "Sorry I couldn't get the Scroll of Earth."

"Don't worry about the Scroll of Earth right now."

Sakura still looked shaken. "Who was that Orochimaru guy, anyway? When he released that killing intent, I thought I saw myself being killed."

"I don't know much about Orochimaru."

Naruto said, "But my dad told me he was a rogue ninja from Konoha and used to be one of Grandpa Third's students."

"A student of the Third Hokage? A rogue ninja?"

Sakura furrowed her brows. "Why would someone like that attack us?"

"I don't know, but it definitely can't be anything good."

Naruto recalled Orochimaru's expression and the things he had said during their fight. "He never looked at Sakura, and he doesn't know me. The most likely target must have been Sasuke."

"Yeah, I think he was after me too."

Sasuke said calmly, "When he showed himself just now, his attention was always on me. He got especially excited when he saw my eyes. He probably wanted to take my Sharingan for himself."

"But even if he took your eyes and transplanted them into himself, he'd only be at about Kakashi-sensei's level. And he'd risk not having enough chakra to use them."

Naruto speculated, "My dad said that when Orochimaru was still in Konoha, he was very fond of research. Maybe he developed some kind of technique that would let him fully use the power of the Sharingan."

"Maybe."

Sasuke didn't seem particularly concerned. "As long as I keep getting stronger—stronger than him—it won't matter what techniques or plans he has. He won't succeed."

"That's true."

Naruto nodded. "But you should still be as careful as possible from now on."

"I know."

Sasuke remained calm. "At least I'm safe in the village, with you guys around."

"By the way, if all you want is to improve your ability to escape, we might be able to manage that in a short time."

Naruto came up with an idea. "Are you two interested in the Sealing Jutsu I used just now?"

"Can you teach it to us?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a secret technique of the Uzumaki Clan?"

Sakura also voiced her doubts. "It seems like it would consume a lot of chakra. I probably couldn't use it."

"It's not a secret technique. My master taught it to me. Even if I don't tell you about it, she'll probably teach you in a while anyway."

Naruto said, "As for chakra, the more you have while using this Sealing Jutsu, the greater the risk. So it's better suited to people with less chakra."

Sakura was delighted, but asked, "What kind of risk?"

"That has to do with what this Sealing Jutsu does."

Naruto lay still on the ground, moving only his mouth as he spoke. "Orochimaru was right about what it does, but not entirely. First, it really does seal the chakra inside your body so it can't leak out. But that isn't to increase the power of your taijutsu. It's to use chakra to train your own body at the cellular level."

"Training with chakra... Wouldn't that take a lot of energy?"

Sasuke didn't quite understand. "What's the difference between cellular-level training and ordinary training?"

"Chakra is produced by mixing our physical and spiritual energies. In theory, you really can use it to train. The problem is how exactly to do it."

Sakura spoke as she thought. "After all, the cells in our bodies are tiny, and there are so many of them. I don't think humans could make sure the chakra didn't damage the cells while still training them."

"Doing it directly wouldn't work, of course. But you can make a 'tool' and use it to help you do it."

Naruto said, "This Sealing Jutsu is a tool my master made specifically for that purpose."