Bold Claim Entry Unlocked

Naruto pointed at the large tree behind him, his voice ringing across the training ground.

Kiba glanced down at the soles of his shoes.

There were no wires, and no hidden ninja tools.

"Let's get one thing straight. Falling out of a tree doesn't count as training."

Akamaru lay on Kiba's head and barked in agreement.

Naruto glared at them.

"Don't underestimate me! I'm Konoha's number two Dream Training practitioner!"

"Why number two?"

As though it were obvious, Naruto pointed at Cangyue, who had just reached the edge of the field.

"Cangyue is number one, so of course I'm number two!"

Everyone turned to look at him at once.

Cangyue briefly faltered.

When did I start a school?

At the rate Naruto's spreading the word, I'll probably have the title of "Dream Training Patriarch" in a few days.

Cangyue offered no explanation. He walked straight into the shade, folded his arms, and leaned against the trunk.

Since Naruto had already set the stage, all he had to do was watch.

Gojō Ryūsen stopped at the perimeter of the training ground.

He stayed back, but his gaze settled on Naruto's feet.

He had initially dismissed this supposed training in dreams as an excuse Cangyue used to conceal his training methods.

Yet Naruto clearly believed in it wholeheartedly.

"Naruto, this is your last chance."

Iruka folded his arms, his tone stern.

"As soon as you're done demonstrating, class begins."

"Don't worry, Iruka-sensei!"

Naruto backed up a few steps and brought his hands together in front of him.

The chakra inside him rapidly gathered at the soles of his feet.

A moment later, he charged forward.

After a few running steps, he planted one foot on the trunk.

Smack!

Naruto didn't topple backward.

With his body nearly parallel to the ground, he ran up the vertical trunk.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

His movements weren't exactly light, and the footprints he left in the bark varied in depth.

But he really was running.

The smile froze on Kiba's face.

Sakura instinctively stepped forward.

"Naruto, be careful!"

Naruto ignored her.

Halfway up the trunk, he visibly slowed, and his right foot even slipped down half an inch.

But just as everyone thought he would fall, he adjusted the chakra beneath his feet, steadied himself, and kept climbing.

Sasuke hadn't said a word.

His eyes remained fixed on Naruto's feet.

There were no ninja tools.

No wires set up beforehand.

That brief pause hadn't been him forcing his way onward through momentum, either.

Naruto really was actively adjusting his chakra.

How was that possible?

Before yesterday, this guy couldn't even control the most basic Clone Technique.

"I'm up!"

The treetop shook violently.

Naruto emerged from the foliage and waved excitedly at everyone below.

"Did you see that?"

"This is the power of Dream Training!"

Kiba stared up at him, momentarily forgetting to argue.

Akamaru barked twice at the treetop.

Sakura, however, grew anxious.

"You idiot! Getting up there is nothing. Think about how you're going to get down first!"

"I'm only getting started!"

Naruto ducked back into the treetop.

As the leaves and branches shook, he ran a few steps down the other side of the trunk, planted a foot on a thick branch jutting out at an angle, and abruptly changed direction.

This time, he aimed for the wall beside the training ground.

Shikamaru's usually languid gaze sharpened a little.

Simply running up a trunk could have been a fluke after repeated attempts.

But Naruto had already slowed down and changed direction while running, without once interrupting the chakra beneath his feet.

That wasn't luck.

Naruto accelerated along the branch and leaped.

He sailed several meters through the air and landed firmly against the wall with both feet.

Smack!

Standing sideways on the vertical wall, he looked smugly at Sasuke.

"Well?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

Naruto immediately decided that wasn't enough.

"Watch me run a lap along the wall!"

He poured more chakra into his soles, preparing to sprint at full speed.

Sasuke's gaze sharpened.

Too much.

Naruto planted a foot.

Crack!

The wall suddenly fractured.

Spiderweb cracks spread outward, and several chunks of stone flew loose.

Rather than strengthening his grip, the excess chakra created a powerful repelling force.

The smile instantly froze on Naruto's face.

"Huh?"

As though the wall had kicked him, he went flying backward.

"Naruto!"

Sakura cried out in alarm.

Iruka was already poised to rush over and catch him.

Just before Naruto crashed into the treetop, he abruptly tucked his stomach in and flipped, swinging his feet over his head toward a thick branch.

Smack!

His soles stuck to the bark.

His body dropped half a foot, then stopped in midair.

The branch shook violently, sending a shower of leaves fluttering down.

For a moment, the training ground fell silent.

Naruto hung upside down beneath the branch, his hem and hair dangling toward the ground, his face flushed red.

Kiba was the first to burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! So this is Konoha's number two Dream Training practitioner?"

"You trained so hard you ended up hanging from a tree?"

"That was an accident!"

Naruto snapped, embarrassed and angry.

"I just used too much chakra!"

"Then come down."

Naruto tried swinging his body, only to realize that, in his effort to avoid falling, he had concentrated all his chakra in his feet.

Hanging upside down in midair, he couldn't find a safe way to land.

"Damn it..."

Kiba laughed even louder.

Naruto simply folded his arms, desperately trying to salvage his dignity.

"I did this on purpose!"

"Training upside down is part of Dream Training!"

The corner of Cangyue's eye twitched.

Wonderful.

The Dream Training system has gained another exercise without its founder's approval.

"Stop laughing."

Shikamaru walked beneath the tree and crouched to examine the footprints Naruto had left.

Kiba looked at him.

"What is it?"

"He really did succeed."

Shikamaru pointed halfway up the trunk.

"The first footprints are deep. That means he's still in the habit of pouring in too much chakra."

"But starting here, they're noticeably shallower. Where he changed direction, his footing was messy, but he didn't damage the bark."

Shikamaru glanced up at Naruto again.

"The really tricky part was what happened just now."

"He'd already lost his balance when he bounced off the wall, but he still managed to readjust his chakra in midair and stick to the branch."

"That's harder than simply standing on a tree."

Kiba's laughter gradually faded.

Sakura also realized something was off.

As awkward as Naruto looked, he had already been hanging upside down for quite some time.

That meant his chakra hadn't been interrupted by panic.

Sasuke walked over to the wall and picked up a broken piece of its surface.

There was a clear shoe print on the back.

No marks left by ninja tools.

That step had failed because Naruto had released too much chakra, not because he couldn't concentrate it in his soles.

In other words, Naruto had already crossed the threshold from being unable to do it to being able to.

And it had taken him only one night.

Sasuke slowly tightened his grip on the fragment.

Before yesterday, Naruto had still been the dead last who couldn't even perform the Clone Technique.

Today, he had mastered an exercise the Ninja Academy hadn't taught them yet.

This supposed training in dreams...

Was it really just nonsense?

Gojō Ryūsen also walked to the wall and brushed his hand over the cracks.

"His control is crude, his chakra output excessive, and his footing isn't steady enough."

Kiba was just about to smile again when Gojō Ryūsen continued:

"But he really has mastered Tree Climbing."

Kiba's expression froze.

Gojō Ryūsen looked at Naruto in the tree.

He knew how poor Naruto's fundamentals were.

Chakra control wasn't something one could master immediately just by knowing the method. Even with guidance, ordinary students had to find their balance through fall after fall.

And Naruto had far more chakra than the average person, which only made controlling it harder.

Someone like him had mastered Tree Climbing overnight?

Gojō Ryūsen turned his gaze to Cangyue.

Compared to the Sword Intent that had parted the downpour, what had happened here was even harder to explain.

The former could be attributed to Cangyue's own talent.

The latter, however, meant that he had a way to change other people.

"Cangyue!"

Naruto was still hanging from the tree.

"Help me get down!"

Cangyue walked beneath the tree and tilted his head back to look at him.

Naruto's face was flushed, his clothes were disheveled, and his body still swayed gently with the branch.

He looked just like a salted fish hung out to dry.

But whatever else could be said, he had not fallen.

Cangyue stood with his hands behind his back and spoke calmly:

"Though the form has yet to take shape, the intent has already arrived."

The training ground fell silent.

Kiba frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto up in the tree.

"His movements look awful, but his control is real."

Naruto's eyes lit up.

"Did you hear that?"

"Even Cangyue said I'm the real deal!"

In his excitement, the chakra at the soles of his feet nearly cut off, and his body abruptly slid down a short distance.

Naruto quickly shut his mouth and steadied himself again.

Watching Naruto, Kiba felt his doubts waver for the first time.

Sakura could not explain why someone who could barely perform the Clone Technique had suddenly mastered Tree Climbing.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, saw more to it.

His injuries had healed, his chakra control had improved, and his attitude toward learning had changed.

All of it had happened in a single night.

Ordinary training could not possibly explain it.

Sasuke was no longer looking at Naruto.

His gaze passed over the others and settled on Cangyue.

From beginning to end, Cangyue had never explained what he had done. He had only offered a remark at the very end that no one else could understand.

Yet the change in Naruto was plain for everyone to see.

Gojō Ryūsen fell silent as well.

Changing the dead last's chakra control in a single night.

Was this the "training in dreams" Cangyue had spoken of?

Astonishment, doubt, and bewilderment converged all at once.

System notifications appeared before Cangyue's eyes.

[Valor Points +50]

[Total Valor Points reached 1,000]

[First valor milestone achieved]

[Claim Fulfillment function activated]

[1 entry slot unlocked]

Cangyue's gaze sharpened slightly.

Then the final line slowly appeared.

[Condensing the first Bold Claim Entry...]