Chapter 54
"Ada-shi wa, Yuta yo!"
The rescued Yuta introduced himself in a very happy tone.
While speaking, he happily spun in a circle.
"Ada-shi? So you're a girl?"
Shikamaru listened to his self-reference and asked strangely.
"I'm a boy yo!" Yuta grinned widely and spread his arms, completely unbothered by the scrutiny.
Yuta spread his arms and waved them.
Shikamaru frowned.
He was extremely intelligent and also very observant: "You're not from Konoha, are you?"
"Nope yo."
Ino leaned in curiously: "Then where are you from?"
Yuta tilted his head, seemingly trying hard to recall.
He counted on his fingers: "Lots and lots of places… this side, that side, and over there!"
Shikamaru continued: "Then which country? Or which village?"
"None yo, none none!"
He waved his hand as though saying the most ordinary thing in the world.
Instead of admitting he was a wanderer.
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
The laziness in Shikamaru's eyes vanished instantly. He sighed.
Lowering his voice to the group: "Lately the village has been checking outsiders very strictly."
"Iruka-sensei was even injured by an outsider…"
"If the adults find out there's someone with unknown identity near the village…"
Chōji instantly understood. His face changed: "Yuta's fate would be pretty bad, huh…"
Shikamaru rubbed his neck helplessly: "Yeah, he'd be captured and interrogated as a spy."
Just as everyone was worrying,
Yuta's childish voice broke the deadlock: "How did you do that? The 'whoosh whoosh' just now!"
While speaking, he happily mimed his own light, floating landing.
The next second—
Whoosh——!
Following his motion, the surrounding airflow surged.
The originally quiet forest instantly whipped up cheerful gusts of wind.
Naruto reached out in surprise, feeling the wind passing through the trees.
"Can his mood really affect the weather?"
Gurgle…
Before anyone could analyze further, a strange sound rang out.
Yuta suddenly collapsed as though he'd lost all strength. Chōji immediately caught him from the side.
At this moment, Yuta looked at everyone with wide, expectant eyes.
"Stomach hungry!"
The serious atmosphere collapsed instantly.
Shikamaru and the others exchanged looks.
Then they went back and brought all the onigiri bento they had packed for training, plus Chōji's potato chips.
They piled everything in front of Yuta.
"Wow! Thank you yo!"
Yuta cheered, sat on the ground, grabbed an onigiri from the bento box, and devoured it wolfishly.
Watching this scene,
Xuanming stared at Yuta—who was now happily stuffing his face—and countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
Although natural energy was always active around Yuta,
in Xuanming's perception, his body gave off a blurry feeling between life and death.
Then he looked at Yuta's eyes—cyan pupils, black sclera…
Was this Orochimaru's Edo Tensei?
A few days ago, Orochimaru and Kabuto had indeed appeared near Konoha and even manipulated that scumbag Mizuki.
But if this was a reanimated corpse from Edo Tensei, it didn't seem as lifelike as Yuta.
He even needed to eat to maintain stamina.
Was Yuta a special case, or was this an imperfect early version of Edo Tensei?
As a former Daoist, he had only casually read the original manga and such.
He knew only bits and pieces of more miscellaneous plot characters and settings—not everything completely.
But although he still didn't know Yuta's origin,
this child's ability to stir natural energy was undeniably real.
"Naruto, spend more time around him. It might help with your natural energy cultivation."
…
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
A simple yet cozy treehouse had taken shape.
This became the children's "secret base."
To keep Yuta hidden from adults, Shikamaru worked out a detailed care plan.
Naruto—on Xuanming's suggestion—also joined this little circle.
After all, Naruto was one of the people who knew Yuta existed.
However, children's secrets are always hard to keep—especially around familiar friends.
These past few days, Sakura noticed Ino frequently going to the back mountains with Shikamaru and the others, carrying food and avoiding other classmates.
So on the way home from school, she tailed her best friend Ino. When she got close, Yuta—who was up in the treehouse—spotted her immediately.
Everyone also discovered that whenever Yuta was especially happy, light snow would fall around him.
Yuta seemed to really like Haruno Sakura.
He bounced around her happily, calling "wide forehead, wide forehead" nonstop.
Sakura's whole face turned even redder than Hinata's did when seeing Naruto.
Besides that, Inuzuka Kiba was also reluctantly dragged into the circle.
While walking Akamaru near the forest edge, he was discovered by Yuta—who was wandering in the trees.
Yuta—who was slightly afraid of dogs—got angry and summoned thunder and lightning weather,
bombarding Kiba and Akamaru until they fled in panic. They became "friends through fighting."
Sasuke—because Itachi was on rare leave—
spent his free time training with his brother in the Uchiha compound.
Naruto couldn't drag him over.
Though Sasuke couldn't come, Naruto went straight to the Hyūga house and found Hinata.
Because she had once said she occasionally saw the flow of natural energy.
So bringing her along could help verify more things.
Although when sending Hinata home after the group dispersed, he often faced a stone-faced Hiashi,
Naruto wasn't afraid at all. He patted his chest and promised not to let Hinata's taijutsu training regress.
Given that Hinata's Gentle Fist had clearly improved under Naruto's influence these past few years,
Hiashi—though his expression was ugly—still turned a blind eye.
In this way, the circle of those in the know grew rapidly.
The secret base became livelier and livelier—after all, they were all young children.
Kiba gradually helped Yuta overcome his fear of dogs. The two played with Akamaru together.
Sakura was pulled by Ino to make flower crowns on the grass.
The Yamanaka family ran a flower shop, but home flowers couldn't compare to wild ones.
Both little girls wanted to quickly finish the crowns and give them to some boy in their class.
Since neither had confessed yet, they were still very good friends.
Hinata sat quietly at the edge of the treehouse, watching everyone play, a faint blush on her face.
She was still somewhat introverted, but thanks to Naruto, she had begun getting along with the other classmates.
Before this, in school, Hinata had no friends besides Naruto.
Beside where Hinata was sitting, Naruto also sat cross-legged under the treehouse.
"Fox Sage, I feel like… Yuta is somehow one with nature."
Naruto spoke up.
"Your perception has gotten stronger."
Xuanming sat beside Naruto, also looking toward Yuta on the other side.
"Yuta is a very rare case—a person born with a connection to natural energy."
"Though he can only trigger it passively through emotions and can't control it freely, he is constantly resonating with the external natural energy."
"Wherever he is, the natural energy there becomes unusually active."
Xuanming's voice carried a hint of guidance: "Naruto, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Try sensing the natural energy around Yuta."
"Haa…"
As Naruto closed his eyes and entered deep meditation,
Whistle—— whistle——
In the distance, Yuta hung upside down from a branch, watching Sakura and Ino making flower crowns below.
He began whistling the tune Naruto had recently taught him.
The crisp whistling echoed through the woods.
To ordinary people, it was just a simple, joyful little melody.
But to Naruto—who was currently in the "stillness" state—
that sound was like a key gently unlocking a sealed door.
Click.
Naruto's sensory world suddenly became clear in that moment.
The natural energy—which had previously been nearly impossible for him to detect—began appearing piece by piece.
Flowing around him in various temperatures and colors.
Following the rhythm of the whistling, it began to dance cheerfully.
Like a swarm of moths finding light, they madly converged toward Yuta's surroundings.
Then, following his laughter, they spread outward again, creating invisible ripples.
In Naruto's perception, he finally sensed the subtle feeling unique to natural energy—distinct from chakra.
Naruto steadied his mind. Subconsciously adjusting his emotions, he imitated Yuta's state within nature and actively aligned with the fluctuations of natural energy.
In that instant, he clearly felt
that the natural energy—which had previously ignored him—was now being pulled toward him, bit by bit, seeping into his body through his pores.
That sensation was like parched earth finally tasting the first drop of rain.
Vibrant, cool, clear, full of life.
"So this is… what Yuta feels like all the time?"
He felt as though he had become a cloud.
"The wind… is talking to me."
Naruto instinctively reached out. His fingertip moved gently.
Whoosh——
Even though he hadn't learned wind release ninjutsu yet, and wasn't mobilizing chakra,
a leaf in front of his fingertip was lifted by a naturally born breeze.
Defying gravity, it floated upward and spun once in the air.
"Fox Sage, I felt it."
Naruto excitedly opened his eyes. His movements suddenly became larger.
The strange sensory awakening from earlier vanished again.
"Very good."
Xuanming's voice carried a trace of approval: "This is the sensation of natural energy. Don't rush—take it slow."
He had succeeded once already. Entering the state again wasn't so difficult.
He was like a beginner who had just learned to swim—movements still clumsy,
but finally able to poke his head above the surface of the river called "nature" to breathe.
This time, Naruto didn't just touch it briefly like before.
"Haa…"
Naruto slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. The feeling of every pore being washed by cool energy made him so comfortable he wanted to hum.
"Fox Sage, this feeling is amazing!"
Naruto shouted in excitement: "It feels like the whole world is helping me—I can even hear the ants crawling over there!"
"Don't get cocky."
Xuanming poured cold water at the right moment, though his tone held little real reproach: "Right now you're only borrowing Yuta's presence to activate natural energy."
"Once you leave Yuta's influence, with your current perception, you'll immediately be knocked back to square one."
"However…"
Xuanming changed tone: "Before you learn to sense it yourself, if you can engrave this feeling into your body, your future path will be much smoother."
"Hehe, got it!"
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