Nature Transformation of Chakra

The day's training ended, and Takuma dragged his aching legs back to the bookstore.

Guy's Taijutsu training, combined with Neji's guidance on throwing techniques, had squeezed him dry from the inside out.

He collapsed onto the hallway of the bookstore's backyard, feeling like a wrung-out rag.

"Back already?"

His father, Mori Kazuki, poked his head out from the study, a worn book tucked under his arm.

Takuma rolled over, face to the sky, and let out a weak, listless response.

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

Mori Kazuki turned and walked into a small storage room deep in the backyard.

Takuma paused for a moment before scrambling up to follow.

His father rarely initiated training; the traditions of the Senju Clan were usually taught only when Takuma asked, and his father never brought them up otherwise.

Being this proactive today was unusual.

The small storage room looked like a cluttered space for old books, but pushing aside the innermost bookshelf revealed a staircase leading underground.

This basement was a private training room built by his father, its four walls lined with soundproofing seals, the floor paved with stone slabs, and several scroll racks tucked into the corners.

Mori Kazuki stood in the center and formed a hand seal Takuma had never seen before.

"Water Release: Water Wall."

A circular curtain of water rose from the ground, enveloping him completely. The water spun at high speed, emitting a low, humming sound.

A few seconds later, the water curtain dissipated, leaving not even a single drop of water on the ground.

Takuma's eyes widened.

He knew Water Wall too, but he could only maintain a curtain the size of a single wall at most, and the floor would be soaked afterward.

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

"The essence of Water Wall is not creating water, but controlling it." Mori Kazuki dropped his hand seals. "What you learned before was just the basic version: converting Chakra into water and pushing it out. That is only the first step."

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

It was densely packed with technical analysis and the essentials of controlling nature transformation.

"The Senju Clan excels in Water Release and Earth Release. The reason the First Hokage was able to develop Wood Release was that his mastery of both water and earth attributes reached the absolute peak."

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

"Chakra nature transformation is a mandatory course for every ninja, but most people stop at 'good enough.' The Senju Clan's standards are different. Our ancestral motto is—"

"'Water is not water, earth is not earth; all things return to one heart.'" Takuma finished the sentence.

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

"It's written on the front page of the Senju Clan Records in the bookstore." Takuma shrugged. "I thought it was just some inspirational fluff."

"That is no fluff." Mori Kazuki sighed, his tone tinged with helplessness. "That is the master guide for nature transformation passed down through the generations of the Senju Clan. It went from your great-grandfather to my grandfather, my grandfather to my father, and my father to me. I had intended to wait until you were a couple of years older to teach you."

He pointed out several key techniques on the scroll, having Takuma perceive the corresponding Chakra flow one by one.

Following his father's instructions, Takuma condensed a mass of water-attribute Chakra in one hand.

The blue Chakra swirled in his palm, its form unstable, with tiny droplets constantly dripping from the edges.

"Your control is decent, but the 'quality' of the Chakra itself isn't pure enough." Mori Kazuki extended his hand, condensing a mass of water-attribute Chakra in his own palm; it was deeper in color and far more stable. "The first layer of nature transformation is to bring the 'quality' of Chakra to its limit. What is the limit of water-attribute Chakra?"

"Flow and penetration."

"Correct." Mori Kazuki flipped his palm and pressed the Chakra against the stone floor.

The water-attribute Chakra didn't splash; instead, it seeped into the cracks of the stone slab as if it were alive.

A few seconds later, tiny beads of water seeped out across the surface of the stone.

"Ultimate penetration." Mori Kazuki withdrew his hand. "If you can train your water-attribute Chakra to this level, the defensive power of your Water Wall will at least triple."

Takuma re-condensed his Chakra, attempting to mimic his father's method.

The first mass dissipated as soon as it formed.

The second barely held for a few seconds, but there was almost no penetration effect.

After trying no fewer than twenty times, the Chakra in his palm finally showed a hint of penetration.

But the cost was that he had exhausted more than half of his Chakra.

Takuma suddenly remembered something.

"Dad, I want to test my Chakra attributes."

Mori Kazuki retrieved a piece of Chakra test paper from the bottom of the scroll rack.

Takuma took the paper and injected a sliver of Chakra into it.

The middle part of the paper turned damp first, while the edges crumbled into fine dust.

However, a small area in the upper left corner turned a pale gold, glowing faintly.

"Water, earth..." Mori Kazuki's pupils dilated slightly. "And Yang Release."

Yang-attribute Chakra.

A special attribute related to life energy, the core foundation of medical Ninjutsu, and one of the roots of the Senju Clan's bloodline power.

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

Mori Kazuki put down the paper, his expression complex. "In the orthodox bloodline of the Senju Clan, people with the Yang attribute appear occasionally. The First Hokage was one of them; his Wood Release could create life precisely because the three attributes of water, earth, and Yang fused under the influence of his Kekkei Genkai."

Takuma looked down at his hands. He had the water attribute, he had the earth attribute, and the Yang attribute had been accidentally awakened during the struggle between the Wolverine Healing Factor and his Senju bloodline.

But he did not have the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.

In the history of the Senju Clan, only the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had been able to naturally fuse water and earth attributes into Wood Release.

Even if other clansmen possessed both attributes, they could not replicate Wood Release.

The essence of a Kekkei Genkai was a mutation at the genetic level; simply gathering the attributes was far from enough.

"Our lineage has lost the Wood Release."

Mori Kazuki's tone was calm, but beneath that calm lay a hint of regret. "Your grandfather tried his whole life, and I have tried as well. Once water-attribute Chakra and earth-attribute Chakra touch, they repel each other. Forcing a fusion only triggers a backlash."

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

"This was the price."

Takuma was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "What if we don't fuse the Chakra directly?"

"What do you mean?"

"If water and earth attributes repel each other when fused directly, what if we add an intermediate medium?" Takuma stared at the Chakra he had re-condensed in his palm. "Like a Cursed Seal."

The essence of the Cursed Seal was the natural energy refined by Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had modified the natural energy within Jugo to create the Cursed Seal, a degraded version of Sage Mode that could be implanted into the human body.

When the Cursed Seal was in an inactive state, it absorbed natural energy from the environment at a very low rate, storing it within the seal's mark.

After Takuma was branded with the Cursed Seal by Orochimaru, his healing factor and the power of the seal had engaged in a tug-of-war, eventually reaching a fragile balance.

The energy of the Cursed Seal occupied a unique ecological niche in his Chakra circulation.

It was neither pure Chakra nor pure natural energy, but a buffer substance between the two.

If he wrapped this buffer energy with water-attribute Chakra and then reinforced the outer shell with earth-attribute Chakra, theoretically, he could create a brief synchronization effect at the interfaces where the three met.

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

"Not a catalyst, an interface layer." Takuma used his finger to draw three overlapping circles on the stone floor. "Water attribute on the inside, natural energy in the middle, earth attribute on the outside. A three-layer structure, each immiscible, but sharing a common interface."

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

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

Takuma took a deep breath and mobilized the remaining Chakra in his body.

He condensed a mass of water-attribute Chakra in his right palm and drew a wisp of natural energy from the Cursed Seal mark with his left hand.

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

This was different from the feeling of trying to fuse water and earth directly; the repulsive force was much weaker, but it still existed.

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

The water-attribute Chakra and the natural energy vibrated violently in his palm, the edges constantly disintegrating and reforming.

Cold sweat beaded on Takuma's forehead; the precision required to keep two vastly different forces in balance far exceeded his expectations.

After a while, the two masses of energy finally stabilized, forming a trembling, double-layered sphere.

Takuma formed a seal with his left hand, drawing out earth-attribute Chakra and carefully wrapping it around the outermost layer.

The moment the three energies touched, the entire sphere shook violently.

Takuma's hand began to tremble; the interface layers between the three structures were constantly rubbing against each other, generating heat, and a burning pain radiated from his palm. Yet he did not let go, continuing to slowly adjust the Chakra density of each layer.

A thin, translucent green substance grew from the junction of the natural energy and the water-attribute Chakra, spreading along the inner surface of the double-layered sphere until it finally condensed into a tiny core at the center.

It was shaped like a seed.

A sprout of growing plant fiber slowly poked out.

Before Takuma could even rejoice, the green fiber disintegrated instantly, and all three layers lost control.

The energy backlash surged up through the meridians of his right arm, his arm went numb, and he was knocked back two steps, his back slamming into the wall.

A nosebleed started, dripping onto the stone floor.

"Takuma!"