The Fundamentals of Training Begin

He was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and the orphaned son of the Fourth Hokage.

Although these Anbu were ostensibly monitoring Naruto, their primary mission was protection. If the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki were to die, the Nine-Tails within him would vanish as well. Setting aside the time required for the beast to reform, the Hidden Leaf Village would have to expend massive amounts of manpower, resources, and energy to track and recapture it. Considering the threats and covetous eyes of other villages, the Third Hokage—and even Shimura Danzo—would never allow any harm to befall Naruto.

This was one of the reasons why Shimura Danzo had previously proposed taking Naruto to Root for training (though his motives were largely selfish; he believed that if he could successfully brainwash and control Naruto, he could ascend directly to the Hokage's throne).

Since he was under Anbu protection, he had nothing to fear.

Not to mention this forest, which was inhabited only by common wild beasts, even if Naruto wanted to wander into the Forest of Death, there would be no danger at all.

And today, having successfully refined his chakra, Naruto felt ready.

This area would not only serve as his source of daily supplies but would also become his most important training ground for the next few years.

As for whether such open training would be easily observed by the Anbu and reported to the Third Hokage, causing potential issues, Naruto was not worried in the slightest. While the Third Hokage might not offer him much care, Naruto knew clearly that as long as he did not do anything out of the ordinary, the Third Hokage would never interfere.

Simply refining chakra and beginning to train on his own was not a big deal.

Naruto had no need to worry about that.

In fact, the moment Naruto had refined his chakra earlier, the Third Hokage had already been informed. After receiving reports from the Anbu that no outsiders had made contact with Naruto, the Third Hokage had indeed chosen not to interfere.

Furthermore, for someone living in a ninja village, refining chakra ahead of time without instruction was not particularly strange.

Chakra refinement was the foundation of all ninja basics.

Almost everyone living in this world who had even the slightest contact with ninjas knew how to refine chakra; the only difference was whether or not they were capable of doing so.

That was the fundamental distinction!

There was no reason or logic for the major ninja villages to deliberately conceal the method of chakra refinement.

Especially within their own villages; one had to realize that even for a Genin, the existence of one extra ninja added to the village's strength, even if that ninja was the most pathetic cannon fodder.

Becoming a ninja required talent; it wasn't as if knowing how to refine chakra automatically made you a ninja, otherwise, the number of ninjas would not be so scarce.

Excluding the Five Great Nations, look at the other ninja villages—how many ninjas did they actually have? And what was the ratio of Jonin, Chunin, and Genin among them?

Chakra refinement, and even some basic chakra training, were widely circulated in the outside world; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many rogue ninjas.

It was not strange for Naruto to know the method and refine his own chakra. In fact, in the Hidden Leaf Village, those who didn't know the method were the minority. While the ability to refine chakra without instruction was indeed noteworthy, as long as there was no malicious interference from external factors, it was fine.

Besides, regardless of anything else, Naruto was, after all, the orphan of the Fourth Hokage.

As long as it did not involve major issues concerning the core interests or the safety of the village, the Third Hokage's personality dictated that he would, to a certain extent, leave Naruto to his own devices.

Naruto naturally did not know the Third Hokage's exact thoughts, but he had no trouble making a rough guess.

"Alright, let's start tree-climbing training today!"

After arriving at the familiar forest, Naruto easily found an exceptionally sturdy tree. He looked up, a satisfied expression appearing on his small face, and nodded gently.

Chakra refinement, chakra control, and chakra growth—these were the most fundamental paths for a ninja to become strong.

Although Naruto had not read the original work in great detail in his past life, he could still remember the main content quite clearly.

Take, for example, a ninja's chakra control training.

Tree climbing and water walking were the most basic, direct, and effective methods.

By attaching chakra to the soles of one's feet and adjusting the amount and stability of the release, one could improve their chakra control.

In the original work, the protagonist had personally demonstrated this to hundreds of millions of fans.

For the current Naruto, such training was not only essential for further consolidating his foundation, but it would also make his daily life much easier.

Whether it was gathering wild fruits and vegetables or catching fish and shrimp, it would be much simpler and more efficient than before.

Although the influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra remained, Naruto knew clearly that his training would be much more difficult than for an ordinary person. Yet, precisely because of this, he believed it would allow his chakra control to become even more refined.

When he eventually had the chance to meet the Nine-Tails and eliminate its influence, his strength would grow visibly.

Recalling the techniques and key points regarding chakra mobilization and control from the original work, Naruto quickly formed the hand seals. He carefully mobilized the chakra within his body, attaching it to the soles of his feet—not too much, and not too little.

Otherwise, he would either fail to stick to the tree or end up crushing the bark.

"Yosh, let's take the first step."

Reaching what he deemed to be the correct amount of control, he took a breath.

"Hoo..."

Naruto took a deep breath, a look of determination crossing his face as he stepped forward toward the trees.

"Crack."

As expected, with absolutely no experience and the Nine-Tails' chakra constantly interfering with his own control, his first attempt resulted in Naruto crushing the tree trunk in front of him.

The sudden shift in his center of gravity caused his body to sway slightly, but Naruto reacted quickly, taking a step and performing a light flip to land back on the ground.

Is it really too heavy?

Fearing that too little chakra would cause him to lose his footing and fall, Naruto had consciously increased the amount of chakra he applied. The excess had led to him crushing the trunk just now.

He did not feel discouraged by this first failure; it was something he had expected all along.

He knew very well just how difficult ninja training was.

Even if the protagonists in the original story were blessed with plot armor, they still had to spend a great deal of time and endure immense hardship. Even for Naruto's own later training in nature transformation, progress would never have been so smooth without the bug-like existence of the Shadow Clone jutsu.

Everything had to be done one step at a time.