['Try to make contact with the Uchiha?']
['No—better not for now.']
['It's safer to wait until I'm a bit older…']
['Besides, we don't yet know exactly why the Uchiha are believed to be inseparably linked to the fox demon incident.']
['What a pity. If only that big fox could talk to me.']
[Little Naruto then looked at Sakura.]
['One person's strength is limited most of the time.']
["Sakura."]
["Mm~?" Sakura's cute face peeked out from behind the kitchen door.]
["I'll teach you some skills later."]
["Ino and the others have already started learning chakra refinement."]
["I just learned it too."]
["Okay~!" Sakura's eyes lit up.]
[During this period, she hadn't been able to see Ino, Shikamaru, or the others at school.]
[Sakura also knew that they were training within their clans to prepare for entering the Ninja Academy.]
[Sakura's parents were ordinary civilians, so they naturally couldn't teach her these basics.]
[Hearing that little Naruto had learned it and was willing to teach her, how could she not be happy?]
[What surprised little Naruto was that Sakura learned the Chakra Refinement Technique even faster than he had.]
[But… the amount of chakra she refined was extremely small.]
Haruno Sakura: "..."
Social death.
And more importantly—
even now, Sakura's chakra amount wasn't much more than Black-Frame Naruto's at this stage.
That was only because Black-Frame Naruto was restraining himself and didn't want to waste his foundation.
Otherwise… at this stage, Sakura probably wouldn't even match Black-Frame Naruto's current chakra.
Tsunade: "Her chakra amount is pitifully small, but this child will find chakra control easier than most, and she has her own unique talent."
Sakura froze.
She looked up.
She hadn't expected to receive recognition from one of the Legendary Sannin—Tsunade.
In Tansaku Town, Shizune said excitedly:
"Lady Tsunade, that child might inherit your medical techniques and secret arts!"
Tsunade took a sip of sake.
"Mm."
"I should return to Konoha."
"Uh… Lady Tsunade, didn't you say—"
Before Shizune could finish, Tsunade cut her off.
"That detestable old bastard is definitely going to die. How could I miss such a good show?"
"Besides, Great-Grandfather and Second Grandfather might be revived through Edo Tensei. It's been many years—I miss them too."
["Naruto… I feel like I've gotten a bit stronger. I have more strength too!" Sakura said excitedly.]
[Little Naruto rubbed his nose and decided not to tell her the truth.]
["Mm, very good. But next, you shouldn't refine chakra casually."]
[Chakra being this little could only mean one thing—]
[Either Sakura's physical energy or spiritual energy was too low, preventing her from refining a normal amount of chakra.]
[Yes. At present, little Naruto believed his own chakra amount fell within a normal range.]
—Pfft!!!
Across the ninja world, most people who were drinking water immediately spat it out.
Come on—tell me this:
If your chakra, as a tiny kid who just learned chakra refinement, is considered "normal," then what are the rest of us?!
Namikaze Minato twitched at the corner of his mouth.
This child really had perfectly inherited Kushina's talent.
"Given Black-Frame Naruto's age, the chakra he refined is indeed enormous. No wonder it directly repaired the Eight Trigrams Seal you left behind."
"It seems the other me in the black-frame world didn't succeed after all."
["Then next, Sakura, let's train together."]
[Sakura's situation made little Naruto realize a problem.]
[Is chakra quantity related to physical strength? And can training make up for this deficiency?]
["Mm~" Sakura responded obediently.]
[A few days later, Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji returned to the group.]
[After learning about little Naruto and Sakura's training—and hearing Naruto's explanation—]
[Ino also seemed to see hope.]
[Her chakra amount wasn't much either.]
[Among the three, Chōji had the most chakra, followed by Shikamaru, with Ino last.]
[Although her father said that clan techniques didn't require much chakra, Ino didn't want to be last.]
[So—]
[The four kids once again trained together under little Naruto's guidance.]
[Starting to "grind" at such a young age—who knows how much stronger they'd be than their peers once they entered school.]
[Because they were training together, searching for books fell behind a lot.]
[Of course, the main reason was that at their current age, even if they searched all over Konoha, they probably couldn't buy relevant materials.]
[One month later.]
[Little Naruto was meditating at home, practicing the meditation technique Shikamaru had taught him.]
[Little Naruto liked meditation.]
[Meditation improved mental strength.]
[Although results were slow, the effect was very good.]
[After meditating a lot, little Naruto felt that all aspects of himself had improved.]
[In one month, he had successfully turned chakra refinement into an instinctive action.]
[Thanks to his enormous energy reserves, refining chakra for a short while was enough for him to use for quite some time.]
[By contrast, the four kids had it much harder.]
[When doing chakra training, weight training, or running in the back mountains, they had to constantly split their focus to refine chakra.]
[After the Ninja Academy's preparatory class ended for the day—]
[the four kids hurried over without stopping.]
[Leaving a string of small footprints in the snow.]
["Naruto! Naruto!"]
[As soon as the door opened, Ino rushed in.]
["I have to tell you!"]
["Do you know what we saw today?!"]
[Ino's small face was flushed red.]
[She wanted to speak immediately, but she was out of breath.]
[Little Naruto patted her back, letting her catch her breath.]
["No rush—talk after."]
[He welcomed the other three kids inside.]
[Ino picked up the warm water on the table and gulped it down.]
["Take it easy—go on, tell us. No one's competing with you," Shikamaru said helplessly, glancing at the excited Ino.]
[But the expression on his face betrayed him.]
[After catching her breath, Ino hurriedly said:]
["Naruto!"]
["When we were on our way to school today, we saw people walking on water!"]
["They looked like ninjas who had just graduated from the academy!"]
["We went over to ask them, and they told us that chakra can do many things!"]
["Before practicing water walking, they had already learned tree climbing!"]
[Ino said everything in one breath, her face red with excitement.]
[Tree climbing, water walking—these were endlessly fascinating to curious children.]
["To be precise, tree climbing isn't climbing with hands and feet."]
["It's attaching chakra to the soles of your feet, like suction cups, allowing you to walk up trees and walls."]
["Water walking is similar, but it requires even more advanced technique."]
["I think it's because water isn't still—it really tests chakra control on the soles of your feet."]
[Shikamaru wore his usual 'what a hassle' expression.]
[But his explanation flowed smoothly, without the slightest pause.]
[After handing out chips to everyone, Chōji looked at little Naruto with anticipation.]
[Clearly, he was also very interested in this ability.]
[In response, little Naruto simply smiled and looked at the four kids helplessly.]
["Everyone, I'm not omnipotent, you know. I'm interested too—let's try it together later."]
[Hearing this, the four kids' eyes lit up.]
[Their usual training was too dull—this suddenly sounded incredibly fun.]
[Sakura felt the same way, but then she suddenly remembered something.]
["Naruto-kun, I remember you seemed concerned about the Uchiha… Today, a new classmate joined our class."]
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