The tug-of-war with the Nine-Tails Chakra remained difficult, but the tempering of my physical foundation was showing daily progress. I could crawl like the wind (baby edition), not cry when I fell (I held it in), and even stand shakily by the wall for several seconds. However, the frustration of an adult Soul trapped in a diaper, and the ubiquitous, bone-chilling malice of the Konoha Villagers, like maggots clinging to bone, remained a thorn in my heart.
While that precise counterattack of baby pee was satisfying, its deterrent power was limited, constrained by bladder capacity and "launch" timing. I needed something more flexible, more unexpected, more disgusting… ah no, something more for "self-preservation"!
Chakra! That faint but real warm current was the only Breakthrough!
Since proper Ninjutsu was out of reach, then… I would forge a new path! Target locked: the King of Pranks—Uzumaki Naruto's signature Ninjutsu, Shadow Clone Jutsu! Of course, it would be the baby-specific, beggar-youth, broken-limited edition!
The cradle once again became my secret laboratory. When "Yuhi's" snores echoed in the corner, or the Anbu's presence outside the door seemed slightly relaxed (perhaps a delusion), my consciousness would sink into my body, no longer touching that dangerous Nine-Tailed torrent, but carefully drawing that faint, warm current of Chakra that belonged to me.
The process… was horrific.
Imagining a baby Clone exactly like myself with my consciousness? The result was:
* A translucent, jelly-like object that barely had the outline of limbs, but squirmed on the ground like a flattened slime, complete with "splish-splosh" sound effects. Existence time: two seconds. When it dissipated, it even let out a "pop" and splattered a few drops of Chakra-condensed "mucus" (saliva?).
* A puddle of Chakra-mud that was directly "splashed" onto the ground like a mess, barely showing an oval head, and unable to even squirm. Existence time: one and a half seconds. When it dissipated, it was silent, leaving only a small wet mark (Chakra simulation?).
The most "successful" attempt barely condensed into a… well… let's call it a "silhouette." A round body, with a vague protrusion at the top (a head?), two extremely short, tentacle-like "arms" extending from the sides, semi-transparent overall, with a murky snot-yellow-green hue, it squirmed forward on the floor like an oversized slug, extremely slowly and stickily, for one centimeter… then with a "plop," it turned into a small puddle of "water stain" with a faint Chakra aura.
* Inner OS: Newton, Darwin, conservation of energy… rest in peace (coffin lid welded shut)! This thing has even scattered the coffin dust of biology and physics!
* Shadow Clone? This is clearly a Chakra-induced slug! And a malnourished, malformed slug at that!
* Kishimoto! You lied to me! This isn't what was promised!
Frustration, like a cold tide, washed over my poor infant nerves again and again. Saliva (and possibly Chakra mucus) smeared my face. But that tenacious (or rather, shameless) resilience belonging to Uzumaki Naruto (Soul edition) supported me in trying again and again.
Finally! Late one night when "Yuhi" seemed to be in a deep sleep, after eighty-one failures (an exaggeration, but it felt like it), my consciousness focused, and the warm Chakra current gathered with difficulty—
"Plop…"
Something… appeared on the floor by the cradle.
Basin-sized!
Semi-transparent!
With the unpleasant gelatinous sheen and stickiness peculiar to slugs!
It barely showed an extremely abstract, distorted humanoid silhouette (perhaps?), slowly, archingly squirming on the floor, accompanied by hair-raising "squish… squish…" sounds! Although still deformed, still fragile, but… it existed! And its squirming look was full of some kind of primitive, nauseating vitality (?!). Its presence… was off the charts!
It's done! *A silent roar erupted from the depths of my consciousness!* Although it was ugly beyond belief! Although it had no combat power! But… it could move! It could scare people! It was my Uzumaki Naruto's (baby edition) first original Ninjutsu—Slug Clone Jutsu!
An opportunity soon presented itself.
One gloomy evening, "Yuhi" was pushing my creaking old stroller back along a relatively secluded, gravel path near the forest behind the mountain. The air was filled with the smell of damp earth and rotting leaves. A figure staggered towards us from the opposite direction, and the strong smell of cheap alcohol made one frown from a distance.
It was a drunkard. Untidy clothes, a red, blotchy nose, eyes cloudy and full of malice. He clearly recognized the dazzling blond hair in the stroller.
"Tsk… demon fox brat…" he mumbled incoherently, his voice not loud, but full of undisguised malice. He stumbled, and instead of avoiding us, he walked straight towards the stroller, intending to collide with it! A twisted, bullying excitement flickered in his cloudy eyes. He seemed determined to use his drunken stupor to "accidentally" give the annoying old stroller a good kick, to "teach a lesson" to the "scourge" inside!
"Yuhi" clearly perceived his intention, and her cold gaze swept over him, carrying a warning. But the drunkard, emboldened by alcohol, and seeing "Yuhi" in plain clothes, appearing to be just an ordinary woman with a baby (though with a cold demeanor), not only didn't stop, but grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth, and accelerated his crooked steps towards us! His target was clear—the stroller's wheel!
The distance rapidly shortened! Five meters… three meters… *Now!
I was curled up in the stroller, my small face hidden in the shadows, but a cold and excited glint flashed in my bright blue eyes! My consciousness instantly became highly concentrated, and that faint, warm Chakra current within my body was forcibly extracted and shaped!
Target: the spot directly in front of where the drunkard's next step would land! That slightly flatter, wet-mud-stained gravel ground!
"Squish—!"
A faint but unusually sticky sound, as if something slippery was being squeezed out, rang out!
Just as the drunkard's raised, mud-stained broken shoe was about to fall, a puddle of… something… appeared on the ground in front of him, without any warning!
Basin-sized!
Semi-transparent! Snot-yellow-green!
Like a giant slime that had been forcibly squeezed together but not well, with a nauseating gelatinous sheen and stickiness!
It barely showed a distorted, humanoid "head" outline, as if its features had melted, directly facing his raised foot!
The entire "body" was still squirming extremely slowly, archingly, accompanied by "squish… squish…" wet sounds! As if it was about to crawl onto his foot in the next second!
"Ugh… Waaahhh—!!!"
The drunkard's raised foot froze in mid-air! His cloudy, drunken eyes instantly widened, and his pupils suddenly contracted due to extreme horror and nausea! The indescribable visual and auditory impact that rushed towards him, mixed with the dizziness of the alcohol, instantly shattered all his reason!
He seemed to have seen a slimy monster from Hell! A shrill, distorted, inhuman scream suddenly erupted from his throat! He recoiled violently, as if hot oil had been splashed on his feet, his whole body springing back in an extremely twisted posture. As a result, his left foot tripped over his right, and he fell heavily onto the cold, wet mud with a "thud"! The wine bottle flew out of his hand, smashing against a stone with a "clank"! He didn't even care about the pain, frantically scrambling backward on all fours in the mud, howling incoherently:
"Mon… monster! Demon fox! The demon fox's… Ugh!!!"
As he crawled, he couldn't stop retching, as if he had seen the most terrifying and disgusting thing in the world. A dark wet stain quickly spread in his crotch, and a strong, foul odor of urine mixed with alcohol permeated the air.
"Squish…" On the ground, the basin-sized "Slug Clone" seemed to have completed its historical mission. Amidst the drunkard's screams, it "aptly" let out a long, sticky sigh, then with a "plop," it turned into a small puddle of "water stain" that quickly evaporated, leaving only faint Chakra traces, disappearing without a trace.
The entire process, from the appearance of the Clone to the drunkard being scared into peeing and running away, took only three or four seconds.
"Yuhi's" footsteps, pushing the stroller, had long since stopped. Her cold gaze swept over the disappearing Chakra traces on the ground, then looked at the drunkard's retreating figure, scrambling and wailing like a ghost, as he disappeared around the bend of the forest path, and finally returned to the stroller.
I was trying to lift my small face from the shadows, my bright blue eyes filled with physiological tears (squeezed out) from being "scared by the loud noise," my small mouth pouting aggrievedly, my small body cooperatively trembling slightly, letting out faint whimpers like a startled kitten: "Waaah… waaah…"
Perfectly embodying "innocent, weak, pitiful, and helpless."
* Hahaha! So satisfying!
Now you know my power, right! Slug Clone! Specializing in curing all kinds of defiance!
* Physical damage zero, mental pollution MAX!
My heart was already rolling on the ground with laughter, but my face still maintained that innocent, scared look, even extending a small hand, seemingly wanting to grab "Yuhi's" clothes for comfort.
"Yuhi's" eternally icy face, her brow furrowed ever so slightly. She looked at the disappearing Clone traces, then at my "still shaken" small face, her eyes filled with cold scrutiny and a hint of… an indescribable sense of absurdity? She could sense the extremely faint residual Chakra belonging to Naruto himself, but its form… its effect… completely exceeded her scope of understanding.
Ultimately, she seemed to attribute all of this to yet another inexplicable, nauseating abnormality of the "demon fox vessel." She coldly "hmphed," no longer paying attention to the residual Chakra aura on the ground or the pervasive smell of urine in the air, and pushed the creaking stroller forward, continuing on her way.
I retracted my small hand and buried my face back into the rough padding of the stroller, only my eyes visible.
In the depths of those eyes, a faint trace of cunning and cold amusement, born of a successful prank, flashed and disappeared in the shadows.
Slug Storm?
This is just the beginning.
Konoha's "surprises" are still plentiful!