Five Days

In its place stretched a vast prairie with an unobstructed view, a transparent blue sky, and fluffy white clouds.

A breeze swept across the grassland, rustling the blades of grass and making the Nine-Tails' dark orange fur ripple gently like waves of wheat.

There was no oppressive dome, no stench of rust, no icy, bone-chilling stagnant water.

There was only grass, sky, breeze, and a vast space where it could roll about freely.

The Nine-Tails' eyes snapped open.

It lifted its head from its paws, looked to the endless grassland on its left, then to the endless grassland on its right, and finally raised its head to look at the unbelievably blue sky overhead.

Its tail instinctively swept across the grass. The sensation of blades brushing against it was so real that it found it unbelievable.

"Brat, you..."

The Nine-Tails' voice carried undisguised astonishment.

"Looks like you like it."

Naruto clapped his hands and admired his handiwork. "Let's leave it like this for now. These are the only two environments I can imagine at the moment. I'll change it again when I get some inspiration."

"We'll talk next time, Kurama."

Naruto waved at the Nine-Tails, casual and natural, as if bidding farewell to a friend.

Then his consciousness began to slowly fade from the grassland like mist scattered by the wind.

"This brat..."

The Nine-Tails stared at the spot where Naruto had vanished and remained silent for a long time.

Then it pushed up its enormous body, walked two steps across the soft grass, found a spot with just the right amount of sunlight, and slowly lay down.

Its nine tails spread out behind it. Its thick forepaws crossed beneath its chest, its chin resting on the furry backs of its paws.

Sunlight spilled over its dark orange fur, pleasantly warm, while the prairie breeze lightly brushed the tips of its ears.

The Nine-Tails slowly closed its eyes.

No matter what this brat was plotting, no matter what secrets he had.

At least that damned sewer, that iron cage which had trapped it for over a decade, had now become a place with grass, blue skies, sunlight, and wind.

The Nine-Tails had to admit that it did not feel bad.

Outside World

Naruto slowly opened his eyes.

Sunlight filtered through gaps in the canopy, falling directly onto the large boulder where he sat cross-legged and warming the black shinobi pants over his legs.

Birdsong came from the treetops in every direction. A stream flowed through gaps between the rocks with a gentle babble. Everything was quiet, with nothing unusual.

Naruto swept his gaze around. The more than fifty Shadow Clone Technique sentries he had deployed earlier were still at their posts. Some crouched in the canopy, while others hid behind bushes, maintaining their alert formation.

Everything was exactly as it had been before.

Naruto nodded in satisfaction, then slowly raised his right hand.

In an instant, chakra gathered in his palm, then began to rotate at high speed, accelerate, and compress.

Within a few breaths, a Rasengan appeared in Naruto's palm, emitting a low hum.

The chakra currents at the sphere's edge stirred up a faint breeze, making the hair over Naruto's forehead sway slightly.

Naruto nodded as he looked at the spinning Rasengan in his palm.

He had mastered the Rasengan in less than ten minutes, from theory to practice.

This was the first true A-rank offensive ninjutsu he had acquired so far, and the greatest expression of his current single-target destructive power.

With the Rasengan, Naruto now had a killing trump card in close combat. He no longer had to rely solely on his fists and Shadow Clone Technique to brute-force his opponents.

Then there was the Flying Raijin Technique. That would not come so quickly.

Minato Namikaze had taught Naruto the complete technique diagram and the essentials of spatial perception, but calculating spatial coordinates and developing spatial perception required comprehension.

Naruto set himself the goal of carving out the rudimentary form of his first Flying Raijin formula before returning to the Chūnin Exams. Even if he could not activate it reliably for now, he wanted to at least inscribe the formula first.

Sealing techniques were the real heavy hitters.

Adamantine Sealing Chains, the Four Symbols Seal, the Fire Sealing Method, barrier deployment, multi-layer nesting.

Kushina had crammed the foundational framework of the sealing techniques passed down through the Uzumaki clan into Naruto's mind as though initiating him.

But sealing techniques were one of the most complex jutsu systems in the shinobi world.

Every rune, the speed of every hand seal, and the deployment order of every nested structure could only be built up through immense time and effort.

Naruto understood that clearly, so he did not expect to master sealing techniques overnight. He merely added them to his long-term training list.

In short, through this training and by consuming the chakra Kushina and Minato Namikaze had left for him, his ability to protect himself had risen by far more than a single level.

When he had first transmigrated here, Naruto had only managed to withstand Haku's Ice Crystal Magic Mirrors through Absolute Control and an explosive burst of Nine-Tails chakra.

If Naruto fought Haku again now, he could win without using the Nine-Tails' chakra.

After returning to Konoha, as long as he kept a low profile, did not stir up trouble, and did not draw Danzo Shimura's or the Third Hokage's attention too early.

He could take missions step by step to earn money and improve his living conditions, while secretly training the Flying Raijin and sealing techniques in the shadows, steadily building up his strength.

Once the Chūnin Exams ended, the Third Hokage died, and Tsunade took office, his situation would become much easier.

By then, he would already have enough trump cards in hand to develop however he pleased.

The future looked promising.

At that thought, the corners of Naruto's mouth lifted slightly, and the taut string in his heart loosened just a little.

He raised his hands and formed a release seal.

"Release..."

"Poof, poof, poof, poof..."

In an instant, more than fifty Shadow Clone Techniques throughout the forest simultaneously turned into white smoke.

The continuous popping sounds rose and fell, echoing through the entire forest like a relay. White mist spread between the trees before the wind quickly scattered it.

At the same time, the memories the clones had accumulated over this period flooded into Naruto's mind like a tide.

Five days.

It had not felt like long in the golden space, but a full five days had already passed in the real world.

Images from those memories flashed by one after another. Over the past few days, villagers gathering herbs had occasionally passed by the forest entrance, only to be politely turned back by Naruto's clones with the explanation that "shinobi are carrying out a special mission ahead, and passage is temporarily prohibited."

A few idlers had refused to accept that and tried to force their way through, only to be politely escorted away by Naruto's clones with some very restrained taijutsu. After that, no one came over again.

Other than that, nothing major had happened.

In a small place like the Land of Waves, ever since Gato died, even wandering samurai had vanished completely. Public security had instead risen dramatically.

After sorting through those memories, Naruto stretched his body, kicked off from the boulder, and leaped toward the bridge.

A few minutes later, Naruto landed on a reef at the bridge entrance.

The bridge's full expanse unfolded before Naruto's eyes.