Chakra Nature Transformation

After a day of training, Takuma dragged his aching legs back to the bookstore.

Guy's Taijutsu training, combined with Neji's throwing guidance, had wrung him out completely.

He sprawled in the corridor behind the bookstore, feeling like a rag that had been twisted dry.

"You're back?"

His father, Mori Kazuki, poked his head out of the study, an old book tucked under his arm.

Takuma rolled onto his back and gave a feeble reply.

"If you can still move, come with me."

Mori Kazuki turned and headed deeper into the backyard, toward a small storeroom.

Takuma froze for a moment, then got up and followed.

His father rarely called him over to train. The Senju clan's teachings were passed down only when Takuma asked; if he didn't, his father never brought them up.

For him to take the initiative today was unusual.

From the outside, the storeroom looked like a place for stacking old books. But when Mori Kazuki pushed aside the innermost bookshelf, it revealed a staircase leading underground.

This basement was a private training room his father had built. Soundproofing tags lined the walls, stone slabs covered the floor, and several scroll racks stood in the corner.

Mori Kazuki stopped in the middle of the room and formed a hand seal Takuma had never seen before.

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall."

A circular curtain of water rose from the ground, enveloping Mori Kazuki. The water spun rapidly, producing a low hum.

A few seconds later, it vanished, leaving not a single drop on the floor.

Takuma's eyes widened.

He could use Water Wall too, but at most he could form a single wall of water, and afterward he always left the floor soaked.

His father's version was completely different—precise, efficient, perfectly controlled.

"The essence of Water Wall isn't creating water. It's controlling water." Mori Kazuki lowered his hands. "What you learned before was only the basic version: transforming chakra into water and pushing it outward. That's just the first step."

He took a yellowed scroll from the rack and spread it across the floor.

It was densely covered in explanations of jutsu and instructions for controlling nature transformation.

"The Senju clan excel at Water Release and Earth Release. The First Hokage was able to develop Wood Release because he reached the pinnacle of mastery in both Water and Earth."

Mori Kazuki sat cross-legged and motioned for Takuma to sit as well.

"Chakra Nature Transformation is a required lesson for every ninja, but most settle for 'good enough to use.' The Senju clan has a different standard. Our ancestral precept is—"

"'Water is not water, earth is not earth; all things return to a single heart.'" Takuma finished for him.

Mori Kazuki raised an eyebrow. "When did you learn that?"

"It's written on the flyleaf of that Senju Clan Records book in the bookstore." Takuma shrugged. "I thought it was just inspirational fluff."

"It isn't." Mori Kazuki sighed, a hint of helplessness in his voice. "It's the guiding principle for nature transformation passed down through generations of the Senju clan. Your great-grandfather passed it to my grandfather, my grandfather passed it to my father, and my father passed it to me. I'd planned to teach it to you when you were a couple of years older."

He pointed out several key formulas on the scroll and had Takuma sense the corresponding flows of chakra one by one.

Following his father's instructions, Takuma formed a ball of Water Release chakra with one hand.

Blue chakra spun in his palm, its shape unstable, tiny droplets constantly dripping from its edges.

"Your control is good, but the chakra itself isn't pure enough." Mori Kazuki held out his hand and formed a ball of Water Release chakra in his palm. Its color was deeper, and its shape far more stable. "The first level of nature transformation is to bring the 'quality' of your chakra to its peak. What is the ultimate quality of Water Release chakra?"

"Flow and permeation."

"Right." Mori Kazuki flipped his hand and pressed the chakra against the stone floor.

The Water Release chakra didn't splash outward. Instead, it seeped into the cracks between the stone slabs as if it were alive.

A few seconds later, countless droplets of water appeared on the surface of the stone.

"Permeation at its peak." Mori Kazuki withdrew his hand. "If you can train your Water Release chakra to this level, Water Wall's defensive power will at least triple."

Takuma formed chakra again and tried to follow his father's method.

The first ball fell apart as soon as it took shape.

The second held together for a few seconds, but barely seeped into the stone at all.

After more than twenty attempts, Takuma's chakra finally showed the faintest sign of permeation.

But it had cost him most of his chakra.

Takuma suddenly remembered something.

"Dad, I want to test my chakra nature."

Mori Kazuki rummaged through the bottom of the scroll rack and pulled out a sheet of Chakra Paper.

Takuma took it and fed in a sliver of chakra.

The middle of the paper grew damp, while its edges crumbled into fine bits.

But a small patch in the upper-left corner turned pale gold and glimmered faintly.

"Water, Earth..." Mori Kazuki's pupils widened slightly. "And Yang Release."

Yang Release chakra.

A special nature associated with life energy, it was the foundation of Medical Ninjutsu and one of the sources of the Senju clan's bloodline power.

"Your healing ability must be related to this Yang Release."

Mori Kazuki set down the paper, his expression complicated. "Among the Senju clan's pureblood descendants, people with Yang Release appear from time to time. The First Hokage was one of them. His Wood Release could create life because Water, Earth, and Yang Release were fused through a Kekkei Genkai."

Takuma lowered his eyes to his hands. He had Water Release and Earth Release. His Yang Release had awakened by accident through the struggle between his Wolverine Healing Factor and Senju Bloodline.

But he didn't have the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.

In the history of the Senju clan, only one person had ever naturally fused Water and Earth to create Wood Release: the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

Even other clan members who possessed both natures couldn't reproduce Wood Release.

A Kekkei Genkai was a mutation at the genetic level. Simply having the right chakra natures wasn't nearly enough.

"Our branch of the family has lost Wood Release."

Mori Kazuki's voice was calm, but beneath that calm lay a trace of regret. "Your grandfather spent his whole life trying. I tried too. Whenever Water Release chakra and Earth Release chakra come into contact, they repel each other. Forcing them to fuse only causes a backlash."

He rolled up his left sleeve, revealing an old scar on the inside of his forearm.

"That's the price."

Takuma was silent for a few seconds, then spoke. "What if we don't fuse them directly with chakra?"

"What do you mean?"

"Water and Earth repel each other when they're fused directly. What if we add an intermediary?" Takuma stared at the chakra gathering in his palm again. "Like a Cursed Seal."

The essence of a Cursed Seal was Natural Energy refined by Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had altered the Natural Energy inside Jugo's body to create the Cursed Seal, an imperfect version of Sage Mode that could be implanted in the body.

When inactive, a Cursed Seal absorbed Natural Energy from the surrounding world at an extremely low rate and stored it in the seal.

After Orochimaru had placed a Cursed Seal on Takuma, his Healing Factor and the seal's power had struggled against each other, eventually reaching a fragile balance.

The seal's energy occupied a unique ecological niche in his chakra circulation.

It was neither pure chakra nor pure Natural Energy, but a buffering substance between the two.

If Water Release chakra could surround this buffering energy, with Earth Release chakra reinforcing it from the outside, then the three might briefly resonate at the points where they touched.

Mori Kazuki frowned. "You want to use the Cursed Seal as a catalyst?"

"Not a catalyst. An interface layer." Takuma drew three overlapping circles on the stone floor with his finger. "Water Release on the inside, Natural Energy in the middle, Earth Release on the outside. Three layers, none of them mixing, but all sharing an interface."

Mori Kazuki stared at the three circles for a long time.

"...I've never tried it."

Takuma took a deep breath and gathered the chakra he had left.

He formed a ball of Water Release chakra in his right palm and drew a thread of Natural Energy from the Cursed Seal on his left hand.

The moment he brought them together, Takuma felt a powerful resistance.

It was different from when he'd tried to fuse Water and Earth directly. The repulsion was much weaker, but it was still there.

Gritting his teeth, he forced the two clumps of energy together.

The Water Release chakra and Natural Energy trembled violently in his palm, their edges crumbling and reforming over and over.

Cold sweat broke out on Takuma's forehead. Keeping two completely different forces in balance required far more precision than he'd expected.

After a while, the two energies finally stabilized, forming a trembling sphere with two layers.

Takuma formed a hand seal with his left hand and drew out Earth Release chakra, carefully wrapping it around the outermost layer.

The instant the three energies touched, the entire sphere shuddered violently.

Takuma's hand began to tremble. The interfaces between the three layers rubbed against one another, generating heat. A burning pain flared in his palm. But he didn't let go. Instead, he slowly adjusted the chakra density of each layer.

A paper-thin layer of green substance sprouted where the Natural Energy and Water Release chakra met. It spread along the inner surface of the two-layer sphere, then gathered into a tiny core at its center.

It looked like a seed.

A strand of growing plant fiber slowly emerged.

Before Takuma could feel happy, the green fiber disintegrated in an instant, and all three layers went out of control.

The backlash surged up the meridians in his right hand. His arm went numb, and the force sent him staggering backward two steps into the wall.

Blood ran from his nose and dripped onto the stone floor.

"Takuma!"