The journey to Tanzaku wasn't just a walk. For Jiraiya, it was a path to information; for Naruto, it was a week-long testing ground. They wasted no time, turning every rest stop into a lesson in survival and killing.
Day 2. Night halt in the thick of the forest.
The campfire was dying down, casting long, dancing shadows on the trunks of age-old trees. The forest hummed with nocturnal life, but within a radius of tens of meters from the camp, an unnatural silence reigned—small animals felt the heavy aura and bypassed this place.
Naruto sat on a log, holding a standard kunai. A brush lay nearby, but there was no inkwell.
"Fūinjutsu isn't just drawing seals on paper," Jiraiya's voice was quiet, merging with the crackle of embers. "In real combat, you won't have time to draw pentagrams and make special preparations. The Uzumaki were terrifying because they turned everything they touched into a deadly trap. Stone, wood, enemy weapons."
Naruto nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated, shifting his vision to his inner sight.
Instead of using chakra, which tended to dissipate quickly without the user's support, he turned to his Pseudo-Core.
White Qi flowed to his fingertips. It was denser than ink, heavy as molten metal.
Naruto ran a finger along the cold steel of the kunai. The metal responded with a quiet ring.
Compression. Fixation. Explosion.
He embedded the intent inside the steel's structure.
A glowing white trace remained on the blade, resembling a frost pattern. The symbol didn't disappear; it seemed to fuse into the metal, changing its structure.
"Ordinary chakra evaporates from metal in minutes unless it's chakra-conductive steel," Jiraiya commented, observing the process. "But your energy... it behaves like physical matter. It holds its form."
Naruto finished the symbol.
"Remote activation?"
"Give it a try. Just don't blow us up."
Naruto stood up and threw the kunai at a thick tree twenty meters from the camp. The weapon sank into the bark with a dull thud.
Naruto didn't form hand seals. He simply sent a mental impulse to his "trace," feeling the connection with the kunai at a distance.
BOOM!
The explosion was small but frighteningly concentrated. The kunai didn't shatter into shrapnel like an explosive tag. The shockwave went from the blade into the trunk, tearing out a piece of wood in the shape of a perfect cone.
"Economical," the Uzumaki assessed, walking up to the tree. The kunai, blackened but intact, fell into the grass. "And the weapon can be reused until the metal wears out."
"That's your clan's style," the Sannin nodded, making a note in his notebook. "Preparation defeats brute force. Fill your pouch with such 'surprises,' and you'll become a nightmare for any close-combat fighter. They'll block your strikes, not knowing what awaits them."
***
Day 4. Rocky plateau on the border of the Land of Fire.
Noon. The sun beat down mercilessly, heating the stones to the temperature of a frying pan. The air was stale and stifling.
Jiraiya had gone to fetch water, leaving his student alone with a huge boulder.
Naruto stood motionless, his breathing measured.
He felt pressure in his stomach. The Pseudo-Core created in the gorge pulsed, accelerating the gathering of Qi. It was overflowing with the energy he had accumulated during the days of marching. This power demanded release. Not an explosion in all directions, like the Rasengan, but something... sharper, more pinpoint.
Naruto raised his right hand. He instinctively formed his fingers into a gesture resembling a gun—index and middle fingers extended, the rest clenched.
Compress. Condense to the limit. Expel.
He directed Qi to his fingertips. But he didn't let it continue circulating. He created a plug at the exit, building up pressure to a critical point.
The skin on his fingers turned white. The air around his hand trembled, distorting the light.
Qi Control: Shot.
WHOOSH!
The sound was like the crack of a whip or snapping dry wood.
A thin, barely visible white beam of compressed energy tore from his fingertips.
No fiery explosion or destruction of the surroundings. A through hole simply appeared in the boulder standing ten meters away.
Naruto walked up to the stone.
The hole was the diameter of a coin. The edges were perfectly smooth, melted from monstrous friction. The beam had pierced the stone through and gone deep into the cliff behind.
"Holy..." came a voice from behind.
Jiraiya stood with canteens, staring at the hole in the stone. Genuine shock was readable in his eyes.
"Did you come up with this yourself? Or is this also 'blood memory'?"
Naruto sighed heavily. His hand trembled slightly. One shot had depleted his Qi reserve by almost twenty percent. The meridians in his arm ached slightly, as if scrubbed with sandpaper.
"It... just happened. Just wanted to check what if I compressed the Qi even tighter."
"It looks like a high-level chakra projection," Jiraiya said seriously, approaching and examining the cut. "Usually, it takes many years of training to create such density. You compressed Qi so hard it became harder than diamond."
He looked at the slightly pale Naruto.
"But the price is high. This shot isn't a technique for sparring. Miss, and you'll end up a corpse without strength. Use this only to kill for sure."
***
Day 6. Wilderness. Foothills.
The most dangerous trial.
The clearing was surrounded by a multi-layered barrier set up by Jiraiya. He didn't want to risk it.
"I weakened your seal even more," the Sannin said, moving to a safe distance and preparing suppression talismans. "Now you must be able to draw upon the volume of Two Tails. Usually, at this stage, the Kyūbi's hatred burns away reason, turning the Jinchūriki into a berserker."
He looked his student in the eye.
"Your task is not to fight the flow with force. Try to use your Pseudo-Core to protect your mind and stabilize the empowered form."
Naruto sat in the lotus position and closed his eyes.
Inhale. Exhale.
He turned to his Dantian. White Qi obediently rose, enveloping his consciousness.
Qi Control: Mind Shell.
He imagined his mind being covered by a layer of impenetrable barrier. Cold, transparent, and hard. Whatever happened outside, inside must remain silence.
Fox. Let's try.
Don't pop, jailer, the Kyūbi growled.
Explosion.
The ground beneath Naruto's feet charred. Red, viscous, malicious chakra erupted, wrapping him in a dense, bubbling cocoon.
One tail.
Anger tried to touch the mind, imposing a desire to kill.
Second tail.
Pressure intensified. Ancient malice bore down with doubled force, trying to overcome the mental barrier of Qi. The world began to be painted red. A seeping whisper of instincts was heard: "Tear! Kill! Destroy!"
He turned to his center. To the white, super-dense point of the Pseudo-Core in his stomach.
I am the center; energy obeys me, not the other way around.
He used the Core's gravity.
The effect was instantaneous.
The rebellious Red Chakra stopped pressing on him, caught in the orbital grip of the Qi structure.
Naruto opened his eyes.
Pupils became vertical, irises scarlet with a black rim. An aura raged around him, the heat of which wilted the grass. Claws and fangs grew.
He looked like a monster.
But his gaze...
It remained clear. Cold. Rational.
Naruto slowly raised his hand, examining the chakra claws. He clenched his fist, feeling monstrous power, but his mind remained clear, maintaining control.
"I... control myself," he rumbled in a dual voice.
Jiraiya exhaled, lowering the hand with the prepared suppression seal. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
"Incredible..." the Sannin whispered. "A Jinchūriki in a cloak who can think tactically. This is a weapon of mass destruction, as it was originally intended."
Naruto took a step. The ground sank slightly.
The new form was ready for use.
***
Day 7. Outskirts of Tanzaku Town.
They stood on top of a high hill, looking down.
The town sprawled in the valley. Even from here, from a height, it seemed a bright, noisy stain on the body of nature. Casino lights, neon signs of gambling houses, thick, sweetish smoke of bathhouses.
The wind carried scents of alcohol, cheap perfume, and roasted meat.
Naruto adjusted his Chunin vest.
He activated his Sensory perception.
He wasn't looking for a specific chakra. He was listening to the "music" of the city.
And it was disgusting.
"Rot," Naruto stated, grimacing as if from a toothache. "Excitement, despair, fear, greed. This city reeks of all human vices."
"The perfect place for someone running from the past," Jiraiya smirked grimly. "She's there."
Naruto looked at his hands.
Hidden seals on weapons. The ability to pierce boulders with a shot. A new form of the Nine-Tails' power.
In just one week, he had traveled a path others might not cover in years.
He no longer felt like a student taken out for a walk. He felt like a loaded weapon with the safety off.
"Let's go," he said. "Let's pull her out of this pit."
They began the descent.
Training time was over. Mission time had begun.