Because of Danzo, Naruto no longer felt like sleeping. He closed his eyes and sensed his condition. The chakra he had absorbed from Sasuke had already fused with his own, but he didn't feel any different.
"Do I need a stimulus?" Naruto furrowed his brow. Even the Sage of Six Paths had needed a trigger to awaken his Rinnegan in the original story, though with their strength, it didn't take anything too extreme. A slight emotional shock was enough.
Finding a way to stimulate himself was a difficult problem. Naruto frowned. There weren't many things he cared about. Hinata was one of them, but Naruto wasn't the kind of twisted person who would kill someone he loved just to get a Sharingan.
Then Naruto suddenly thought of Indra. He seemed to have awakened his Sharingan after someone killed the puppy he'd raised, going straight to Three-Tomoe. Thinking of that, and then of Sasuke, whose entire clan had been slaughtered yet who had only awakened One-Tomoe, Naruto had to admit Sasuke's potential was hard to judge. Without plot armor, neither Naruto nor Sasuke would ever have reached Madara and Hashirama's level.
Naruto was speechless. He'd never thought that a little emotional shock could stump him. It wasn't as though he could stab Hinata.
"Looks like the Third Hokage is going to die soon. Maybe I should spend some time with him and build a bond. Then, when he dies, I'll awaken my Sharingan." Naruto thought about it with a touch of self-mockery.
Of course, that wasn't going to happen. Naruto couldn't bring himself to do such a thing right now. There was no choice but to leave it for later. After all, an ordinary Sharingan wouldn't be much use to him at this point. What Naruto really wanted was the Rinnegan.
He set those thoughts aside and resumed training. Without any ninjutsu to practice, Naruto began working on his chakra natures.
The difference between a Jonin and a Genin was that a Jonin had mastered chakra natures.
What were chakra natures? To Naruto, they were like "martial intent" in his previous life: one's understanding of the world imbued one's energy with a special intent, increasing its power.
It was the same in this world, except that energy was chakra. This kind of understanding was a spiritual transformation, not merely a matter of one's worldview. Everyone knew that wind could cut and fire was hot, but knowing something was different from truly understanding it.
Fortunately, there was no special trick to changing chakra natures. All it took was comprehension and practice.
Unlike in the original story, Naruto now possessed all five elemental chakra natures, along with Yin and Yang, thanks to the Six Thief Immortals.
Holding a stone in his hand, he began training his chakra natures.
He kept at it even during class. After losing to Naruto, Sasuke stopped bothering him. Having recognized Naruto's strength, he was no longer arrogant. He wanted to train but didn't know whom to ask. Unlike Naruto, who had come from another world and had read the original story, Sasuke didn't know many training methods. Of course, not every method worked. Take Shave, one of the Six Powers: by repeatedly stomping the ground dozens of times in an instant, a person could move at high speed. Naruto had tried it, but he couldn't do it. Either he broke the ground or injured his feet. At least the Six Thief Immortals kept him from getting hurt.
Naruto and Hinata trained in an open area, while Sasuke watched from a distance. Not knowing how to train, Uchiha Sasuke had thought of Naruto. Naruto had no one to guide him, either, yet he'd grown so strong. Sasuke wanted to see how he trained.
Naruto and Hinata both noticed Sasuke spying, but neither paid him any mind.
Naruto's training was simple, yet no one else could do it.
He never missed a day of Teacher Saitama's workout routine.
As for Hinata, besides testing the methods Naruto had taught her, she also practiced Taijutsu.
After making a splash at school once, Naruto sank back into obscurity.
Life was uneventful. Half a year passed. On the way home, Naruto looked at the bustle along both sides of the road, his expression calm. It was New Year's Day.
Snow drifted quietly from the sky, pale against the ground. Naruto walked across the pristine snow without leaving footprints, much like his current situation: though he lived in Konoha, he felt like a stranger who didn't belong.
The cheerful ordinary people and Naruto's impassive face made for a stark contrast.
Seeing everyone else enjoying themselves with their loved ones stirred something in Naruto.
Did he miss having a family? A little, perhaps. But he quickly cut off that line of thought.
The weak traveled in groups; the strong walked alone.
Since he'd been reincarnated with a cheat ability, and was the protagonist of this era, he would climb to the top of this world—and even transcend it.
Having watched countless anime, Naruto understood that protagonists and children of destiny only ruled their own eras. Compared with the world across all of time, human lives were far too short. Even a protagonist was only the star of their era. In the world of Naruto, Hashirama and Madara Uchiha had been the protagonists of the previous one.
They had been incredibly strong, but still hadn't reached the peak. Naruto was confident he could surpass Hashirama.
Unable to find his own path, he would follow the one already laid out. As for Nine-Tails Mode, Naruto didn't know how much chakra he'd devoured over the past six months, but he felt he could transform into a miniature Nine-Tails.
"Just as expected of the Nine-Tails-branded portable charger. Tough and reliable." Every time Naruto drained the Nine-Tails, it replenished its chakra on its own, so he didn't need to worry.
In the original story, Naruto's main cheat ability was the Nine-Tails. It had several forms. First came Nine-Tails Mode, which involved taking the Nine-Tails' chakra—in simple terms, a Chakra Mode. In essence, it worked the same way as the Fourth Raikage's Chakra Mode. The Second Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode had also been based on the Chakra Cloaks of Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Then there was Kurama Mode, which Naruto entered after he and Kurama came to understand each other.
Lastly, there was Sage Fox Mode, which combined the Nine-Tails with Sage Mode.
And then there was Six Paths Mode. With the chakra of all Nine Tailed Beasts, one could form Truth-Seeking Orbs.
As for Naruto now, he could already enter Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, the form he himself had called his "golden mode" in the original story.
Then there was Sage Mode. After absorbing Natural Energy, the chakra within Naruto had become extremely potent, comparable to Senjutsu Chakra. Though he'd never used ninjutsu, he could still sense it.
Finally, there were the so-called Truth-Seeking Orbs. In essence, if he could fuse all chakra natures, he could create Truth-Seeking Orbs himself. But he wouldn't dare try fusing them, even with his immortal body. Combining three chakra natures created Particle Style; if something exploded, Naruto couldn't be sure he'd survive.
When he got home, the place was quiet. Naruto started preparing dinner. Hot pot was perfect for such cold weather.
He took out the pot and gathered chakra beneath it, changing its nature until the bottom began to glow red. Who would have thought chakra could be used for something like this? Of course, ordinary ninja didn't have enough chakra to pull off something like that.