Morning in Konoha tasted like fresh air and warm rice porridge. Ethan reached the training clearing early—habit, instinct, caution. His panel shimmered quietly, running its constant diagnostics over the Naruto Node.
[Branch Integrity: Stable]
[Chakra Adaptation: 4%]
[Deviation Risk: Low]
Good enough.
Leaves stirred behind him.
Naruto stumbled through first—loud, bright, unfiltered.
Sasuke appeared next—silent, purposeful, judging Naruto with his whole existence.
Ethan nodded to both.
"Tree-walking today."
Naruto gasped dramatically.
Sasuke's eyebrow rose a millimeter.
(Which, for him, was basically an emotional explosion.)
---
I. The Demonstration — "Walk. Don't run."
Ethan stepped toward a tall pine, placed his hand on its bark, and exhaled.
He let chakra flow to his soles—clean, steady, precise.
Then he simply walked up the tree.
Naruto's jaw unhinged.
Sasuke stared, eyes narrowing with controlled focus.
Ethan reached a branch halfway up, turned around, and waved casually.
"Your turn."
Naruto immediately sprinted at full speed, screaming,
"THIS IS SO COOL—"
He made it five steps up the trunk.
Then gravity remembered he existed.
"N O O O O O O O O —"
Ethan flickered down with Soulstep and caught Naruto by the back of his shirt just before the boy cratered.
Naruto dangled in the air like a very loud, very confused fish.
"That… was… AWESOME!"
"You almost died," Ethan said.
"YEAH BUT DID YOU SEE HOW HIGH I—wait I almost what?"
Ethan sighed. "Try again. Slower."
Sasuke smirked just enough to count.
---
II. Sasuke vs. Naruto — The Rivalry Ignites
Sasuke stepped forward without a word.
His chakra control was better—sharper, tighter—but he was pushing too hard.
He made it nearly twelve steps.
Then the bark cracked.
Then Sasuke dropped.
Ethan caught him too—less dramatically, more politely.
Sasuke pulled out of Ethan's grip instantly, scowling.
"I don't need help."
"You will if you break your neck," Ethan replied calmly.
Sasuke clicked his tongue.
Naruto muttered something about "broody edgelords."
They tried again.
And again.
Naruto blasting too much chakra—TREE EXPLODING NOISES.
Sasuke using too little—GRACEFUL BUT USELESS SLIDING.
Ethan alternated between coaching and preventing catastrophic injury.
---
III. Teaching the Lesson — "Chakra follows emotion."
After the eighth Naruto fall and the fifth Sasuke slide, Ethan gathered them.
"Listen," he said simply, "chakra follows emotion."
Naruto froze.
Sasuke tilted his head slightly.
Ethan placed a hand over his heart.
"If you're too excited, your chakra bursts.
If you're too anxious, it recoils.
If you're too controlled… it suffocates."
Sasuke stiffened at that.
Naruto blinked hard, processing.
"Tree walking isn't a skill," Ethan said.
"It's a conversation with yourself."
The clearing grew quiet.
Birds chirped. Leaves rustled. The boys breathed.
Naruto whispered, "So I gotta… calm down?"
"Not calm. Honest. Be where you are."
Sasuke murmured, "And stop restricting everything…"
Ethan smiled faintly. "Exactly."
---
IV. Progress — Small victories
Naruto tried again first.
Slower.
Breathing.
Steadier.
Five steps.
Ten steps.
Fifteen.
He wobbled—Ethan steadied him with a hand on the shoulder.
"You're doing it," Ethan said quietly.
Naruto's smile could've powered half the village.
Sasuke went next.
His chakra was tight like a fist… but Ethan's words echoed.
Sasuke loosened—not vulnerability, but release.
He stepped up the tree—smooth, controlled, higher, higher—
Twenty steps.
Naruto shouted, "SHOW-OFF—"
Sasuke slipped.
Ethan caught him again.
Sasuke scowled, but this time… he didn't pull away as fast.
Progress.
---
V. The Near Disaster — Naruto + Overconfidence = Falling Death
It happened when Ethan turned to correct Sasuke's stance.
Naruto yelled,
"ETHAN LOOK I'M DOING IT WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT IT!"
Those were the worst possible words.
Naruto's chakra spiked—wild, unbalanced, explosive.
He shot straight up the tree—fifteen feet—twenty—thirty—
Then he stopped channeling entirely.
Gravity: "Hey buddy—"
Naruto: "OH NO—"
Ethan: already teleporting.
Soulstep blurred.
Ethan reached him mid-fall.
Naruto wrapped around Ethan like a terrified octopus.
They hit the ground in a controlled roll.
Naruto trembled.
Ethan rubbed his head gently.
"You're alright," Ethan said softly.
Naruto sniffled. "I—I almost—"
"Not on my watch."
Sasuke stared.
Something in his expression softened—barely—but enough.
Naruto pulled himself together.
"I'm gonna do it right this time."
And he did.
---
VI. The Sunset Run — A Promise
By sundown:
Naruto reached the first branch.
Sasuke reached the second.
And for the first time since Ethan arrived in this world, both boys looked proud of themselves instead of comparing themselves to ghosts.
As they walked home—
Naruto said, "Ethan… thanks."
Sasuke didn't say anything, but his silence was warm.
(Which was practically a love letter by his standards.)
Ethan looked at them both.
"You two aren't alone," he said gently.
"Not anymore."
Naruto grinned hard enough to hurt his cheeks.
Sasuke didn't look away for once.
The future was dangerous.
Full of shadows.
Full of pain.
But today—
today was victory.
Today was theirs.