Chapter 227 Ninjutsu
"Chakra shouldn't be a tool of war. People can achieve mutual understanding through the connection of chakra, and only then can true peace come..."
Inside the Hatake residence, Naruto suddenly woke up, breathing heavily.
Ever since returning from the battlefield that day, this eerie voice had always echoed in his mind while he slept, constantly repeating these words.
However, Uchiha Touko had already explained the idea of eliminating war through mutual understanding in a very simple way when he taught the three of them.
The resources of the ninja world are limited. When resources are insufficient to fill stomachs, even if both sides understand each other's hunger, can mutual understanding alone make one side voluntarily give up filling their stomachs when faced with only one portion of food left?
Naruto knew that this was impossible, but that voice kept ringing in his ears, as if reminding him that this was his mission.
Naruto sighed, reached out and touched the seal on his abdomen, and his consciousness entered the sealed space.
Naruto approached Kurama, who was lying on the ground. Kurama lifted one eyelid and said, "What are you doing here so late at night instead of sleeping?"
"Brother Kurama, didn't you hear any strange noises inside my body?" Naruto asked, looking up.
"You've asked me that question so many times already. I didn't hear anything," Kurama said, baring his teeth. "If there's nothing else, I'm going to sleep."
With that, Kurama closed its eyes and shifted its position.
"Wait a minute, Brother Kurama," Naruto said hastily.
"Kid, if you're really that bored, go outside and train. If you lose to that Uchiha brat in the Chunin Exams, don't even think about borrowing my power again," Kurama said impatiently.
"Brother Kurama, do you think chakra can really connect people's hearts, allowing them to understand each other?" Naruto sighed, leaning against the sealing gate with a sense of loss.
Upon hearing Naruto's question, Kurama's eyes snapped open. He looked down at the boy in front of him, who was not even as tall as his claws, and fell silent.
"Kurama, in the future, you will meet a boy with azure blue eyes. At that time, you brothers will all be of one mind with him, and you will play freely together in the wilderness."
Suddenly, Kurama recalled the words the Sage of Six Paths had spoken when he was young, stroking his soft fur.
"The boy with the blue eyes? Old man, you'd better be referring to this kid," Kurama thought to himself.
"Sigh, Brother Kurama, just take it as me talking nonsense. How could chakra possibly have such a function?" Naruto, having received no response from Kurama for a long time, stood up helplessly, instinctively brushing off imaginary dust, intending to leave the sealed space. "I won't disturb your rest any longer. Goodnight, Brother Kurama."
"Chakra can do what you say—no, the function you described is the original purpose of chakra at its inception." At this moment, Kurama's voice rang out behind Naruto.
"What?" Naruto turned around in disbelief, looking at Kurama.
"Boy, stick out your fist." Kurama sat up inside the sealed space, looking down at Naruto, and then extended a huge fist through the seal's gate.
"Raise a fist? A fist bump, huh?" Naruto raised his right fist somewhat blankly, and the two fists, one large and one small, touched.
The next instant, a flood of memories and emotions not belonging to him surged into Naruto's mind. From the joy of Kurama living in the wild, to the rage influenced by human negativity, to encountering Konoha's First Hokage, whose words, "Ku-Tails, you're too strong. For your safety, you need to be sealed away," followed by the bewilderment of being pinned down by a giant wooden figure, to the resentment and anger of being controlled by Madara Uchiha's genjutsu, then the boredom within the bodies of two generations of Jinchuriki, including his mother, finally the rage of being controlled by the masked man during the Nine-Tails' rampage, and then the memories of being inside his own body.
With these memories and emotions, Naruto finally understood why Kurama harbored such hostility towards humans.
At the same time, Kurama also realized that the voice that had been echoing in Naruto's mind these past few days was not a lie, and that this voice felt strangely familiar, as if it had been heard somewhere before.
"Is this... really something that chakra can do?" Naruto asked, looking blankly at his hands.
"This is called Ninjutsu, kid," Kurama said.
"Ninjutsu…" After exchanging fists with Kurama, Naruto naturally mastered this technique that used chakra to connect their hearts. At this moment, he became excited. "If we have this technique, mutual understanding between people won't be just empty words. Then peace…"
Naruto became more and more excited as he spoke, but his excitement came to an abrupt halt when he thought of the word "peace. "
Yes, this technique could make people understand each other's hearts, but it couldn't solve the most fundamental problem: what good would mutual understanding do when faced with limited resources?
Thinking of this, Naruto's mood plummeted again.
"But, if we have this technique, I can fight alongside Sasuke and Neji in the future… No, how can this technique be used for fighting? This shouldn't be the original purpose of chakra… But… Ahhhhhh!" Inside the sealed space, Naruto suddenly clutched his head in pain and rolled around inside the sealed space.
"Hey! Kid, calm down!" Kurama quickly called out.
After a long while, Naruto, who was inside the sealed space, finally calmed down, his forehead covered in sweat.
"Are you alright, kid?" Kurama asked, his gaze fixed on him.
"I...I'm fine." Naruto looked up and forced a smile.
"Did you hear that voice again just now?" Kurama frowned.
"Yes." Naruto nodded. "Just now, I was just having a thought in my mind about using this technique you taught me to fight alongside Sasuke and Neji, and that voice appeared again."
"But, Kurama-sama, back in the Ninja Cult era, with this technique, there shouldn't have been many wars between people, right?" Naruto asked at this moment.
"The era of Ninjutsu? That was a long time ago," Kurama said. "It predates the ninjutsu you use now by a great deal. It was a time when humanity was still ignorant, either fearing or abusing the power of chakra."
"The wise man who created Ninjutsu believed that chakra was the manifestation of spiritual energy, a bridge of understanding between people. He used chakra to help people cultivate wasteland, irrigate, heal wounds, and even… quell conflicts. He allowed people to feel each other's thoughts and pain through chakra, thus achieving understanding and coexistence. This was the original 'Ninjutsu'—a path of cultivation that pursues peace and understanding through chakra."
"It sounds wonderful," Naruto said. "But in the future, chakra became a weapon for people to fight each other…"
"Yes… even the most beautiful ideals cannot withstand the complexities and desires of the human heart. The wise man who founded the Ninja Clan had two sons. The elder son inherited immense power and talent, believing that power was the key to peace, and that order needed to be established and maintained by the strong. His younger son, however, inherited his ideals and unwavering spirit. He believed in understanding and bonds between people, and that peace could only be created through collective effort."
Naruto's heart pounded, as if some kind of destiny was echoing in his ears: "And then… they…"
Kurama's voice became stern: "The clash of ideals ultimately evolved into…" The brothers' conflict led the elder brother to forge the path of 'jutsu,' refining and combat-oriented chakra, pursuing the ultimate power and individual strength. The younger brother, on the other hand, inherited the mantle of 'Ninjutsu,' emphasizing cooperation and connection. Their struggle permeated that era and fundamentally changed the way chakra was used. Ninjutsu's peaceful ideal of 'connection and understanding' was gradually replaced by the struggle and killing of 'jutsu' under the temptation of war and power. Thus began the era of 'ninjas' and 'ninjutsu'... The world envisioned by that wise man ultimately deviated from its ideal."
Naruto nodded upon hearing this.
"Kid, you don't seem surprised at all by this?" Kurama asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Yes, my teacher once taught me that if the resources of the ninja world cannot meet everyone's survival needs, then even if people can understand each other, it still cannot prevent war," Naruto said.
Kurama fell silent upon hearing this. He remembered the first time he used chakra in battle; it seemed to have been between two neighboring villages fighting over a single water source.
"Your teacher certainly saw things clearly in this regard," Kurama said.
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(End of Chapter)