Chapter 15: Before the Exam
Mitarashi Anko. A disciple of Orochimaru, one of Konoha's Sannin.
That used to be a good status. But ever since Orochimaru became a missing-nin—after he was caught using his own comrades in forbidden jutsu experiments—her position has become awkward.
Anko and Shūji were from the same generation. They were in the Academy at the same time, though not in the same class. His original self had seen her around, but they weren't familiar.
After being detained by the Anbu for several months and "cleared," Anko was released. Realistically, it was probably just a formality. As of now, Orochimaru's crimes were killing his fellow shinobi and using them for his experiments. These were sins that not even the Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen, could sweep under the rug.
The clans had gathered to form the village over fifty years ago. The only reason they could coexist was a fundamental, bottom-line rule: you do not harm each other. It was the most basic condition for their shared survival.
Orochimaru's actions had utterly shattered that condition. There was no way he could remain in Konoha.
But Orochimaru's case was complicated. As one of the Sannin, his list of accomplishments was long, and he had countless loyal subordinates. As the Hokage's own student, their bond spanned decades. The result was a situation where Orochimaru could be killed, or not killed, but he absolutely could not stay. Sarutobi Hiruzen chose not to kill. He let him go, then defaulted to the standard procedure: declare him a missing-nin and let him wander.
Since that's how they handled Orochimaru himself, it was only natural that his disciple and former subordinates would also be handled leniently.
Otherwise, given Konoha's true nature as a military power, his defection should have triggered a thorough and bloody purge, not this "all thunder and no rain" outcome.
For Shūji, this made his new squad... complicated.
One teammate was too young, the other was fresh out of interrogation, and both had deeply complex backgrounds.
But it was what it was. There was no point dwelling on it.
The assessment arranged by the Sandaime was still pending notification; word was that the examiner was away on a mission.
So, Shūji put his full attention back on his training.
In the old forest behind the Senju estate, Shūji sat cross-legged. After this period of meditation and experimentation, his perception of the "ripples"—the subtle spatial vibrations caused when his Wood Style creations unconsciously disturbed nature energy—had become much clearer.
It was no longer a vague flutter but a tangible rhythm, like a silent, surging undercurrent in the deep sea, which his spiritual "antennae" could now lock onto.
He had crossed the threshold of perception. The next step was to try and guide this omnipresent power.
But to touch it directly with his own body? That was suicide. Without a master to guide him, one mistake meant permanent petrification. He'd become just another statue in the forest.
In the original story, Uzumaki Naruto had used Shadow Clones to train and to gather nature energy to sustain his Sage Mode. This was a good reference. But Shūji had an even greater advantage: as a Wood Style user, he could use a Wood Clone (Moku Bunshin).
A Wood Clone was superior to a Shadow Clone. Besides being harder to distinguish from the original, the power it inherited was flexible and, most critically, its senses were shared with the user in real-time. A Shadow Clone had to be dispelled to transfer its memories. A Wood Clone didn't have that lag.
This meant he could use the Wood Clone as a proxy to absorb the nature energy. If it lost control and turned to stone, he would only lose the clone, not himself.
His path was clear. A Wood Clone split off from Shūji's body.
Shūji's main body closed his eyes, his mind tensing like a drawn bowstring. He wrapped his perception around the clone like an invisible nervous system, sharing its every sensation. His command was clear: Sense. Guide. Absorb.
The Wood Clone did as it was told. At first, the forest remained quiet. But soon, a hard-to-describe heaviness began to permeate the air around the clone. The air felt thick. The spots of light filtering through the leaves seemed to slow down.
Through its shared senses, Shūji felt it clearly.
It was no longer a "ripple." It was like being submerged in an invisible sea of life—gentle, yet brimming with titanic power.
Countless tiny, transparent particles of energy, carrying the breath of primordial life, were flowing around the clone. The Wood Clone carefully used its own chakra as a lure to "touch" a single wisp of that energy...
The instant it was drawn inside—
An indescribable torrent, one that was equal parts vibrant life and violent corrosion, erupted within the clone!
It was like scalding, living magma being poured into a cold vessel. The Wood Clone trembled violently, the chakra structure that formed its body fluctuating wildly!
More alarmingly, a clear, wood-grain texture surfaced on its skin, like ancient bark! Its body began to twist and swell uncontrollably. The faint cracking of wood fibers growing could be heard from its joints. Its human form was rapidly changing into the shape of a tree!
"Ugh!" Shūji's real body grunted, his brow tightening and his face paling. The sensory backlash was intensely real, as if his own limbs were being warped and turned to wood.
He grit his teeth, forcing himself to "observe" the transformation.
Just as the Wood Clone was about to lose its human shape entirely, the deathly-gray color of petrification spread like a plague from its woody limbs! A cold stillness rapidly consumed the rampant life force. Just as the gray was about to cover the entire, twisted form...
Shūji's will snapped.
"Dispel!"
Clack!
With a dull sound, the half-tree, half-stone thing turned into a single, scorched piece of dead wood and clattered to the ground, dissolving into dust and stray wisps of energy.
Shūji slowly opened his eyes, letting out a long breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
A failure, but a massive success.
The experiment had confirmed a key theory: nature energy doesn't just strengthen, it amplifies the user's core nature. The toads at Myōboku became more toad-like; the snakes at Ryūchi, more snake-like.
His Wood Clone's core "wood" essence—an essence already tied to the God Tree—was hyper-accelerated. It had lost its human form and tried to turn into a tree before it was finally overwhelmed and petrified by the overflow.
Shūji stared at the charred fragment on the ground, his eyes bright with understanding.
Just as he was processing this, a black-feathered hawk glided silently from the canopy, landing neatly on a low branch in front of him. Its sharp eyes stared at him. It held a small, wooden message tube in its beak.
The tube was plain, sealed with the unmistakable red stamp of the Hokage's office.
He unrolled the small note. The handwriting was Sarutobi's familiar, powerful scrawl:
"Shūji, the examiner has returned. Three days from now. Noon. Training Ground Three."