A Sage's Pursuit of Power

"Hokage-sama, Aoba has taken the Jinchuriki out to the forest. Should we take action?"

"No, just maintain surveillance from a distance."

Every move Aoba made was under the Third Hokage's surveillance. He was, of course, aware of his actions.

The Third Hokage turned to his side. At this moment, instead of the usual two advisors, he had Nara Shikaku, the strategist, beside him.

"He's doing it intentionally. He might be harboring some grievances. He's deliberately distancing himself from Konoha."

Meanwhile, Aoba led Naruto to the riverside.

"Watch closely." Aoba said as he stepped up the trunk of a tree. This technique was a basic training exercise for chakra control, known as tree climbing. The next stage would be walking on water.

In the original timeline, Kakashi would teach this technique to Naruto and his team after their graduation, during the Land of Waves mission.

But as a transmigrator, he had no such reservations and went ahead with whatever came to mind.

In fact, if it weren't for Konoha's many good things that tempted him, he would have left this decaying village long ago.

However, Konoha's solid foundation meant that, even with its many wise individuals causing trouble, it was still stronger than a starving camel.

"Wow, how are you doing that?" Naruto exclaimed, amazed.

Since childhood, apart from Iruka-sensei at the ninja academy, no one had seriously taught him ninja skills.

So, despite the difficulty, he was very earnest and diligent.

Because of the Nine-Tails inside him, even a small amount of chakra leakage from the beast was an enormous amount of energy for Naruto at his current stage. This chakra interference made it exceptionally difficult for him to control.

However, Naruto was tough. Once he took training seriously, he didn't fear falling or pain. By the end of the afternoon, he could manage to climb a few steps up the tree.

"That's enough training for today. You're still young, and overtraining can affect your growth."

"Really? It's already afternoon. Then we should prepare dinner."

Before he could react, Naruto jumped into the nearby river.

Aoba then realized that Naruto was going fishing.

After splashing around underwater for a while, Naruto emerged with a small fish in hand.

"Look what I caught... but it's a bit small."

Aoba pulled him out of the river.

"Eating fish for dinner is a good idea. Let me give it a try."

With that, he extended his hand into the river. A moment later, sparks of electricity flashed from his hand. Several large fish floated up to the surface.

"Wow... amazing, amazing, big brother Aoba." Naruto exclaimed, rushing back into the river to collect the big fish. He then began skillfully preparing the fish.

He was indeed very skilled, indicating that he had done this often.

This was one of the famous scenes in Konoha. The son of the Fourth Hokage, the hero of Konoha, and the future powerful force, Naruto Uzumaki, having to catch fish in the river himself.

Various interpretations of Konoha's actions can be found online, such as the Third Hokage's political motives or CPU-ing Naruto.

To Aoba, all these explanations were nonsense. In reality, it seemed the original author was clueless. In the real world, the only explanation was that the leadership was a bunch of idiots. There was no other explanation; that was the true answer.

Aoba could understand to some extent. The ninja village system had been established for only about fifty years, with three world wars in between.

This meant that the leaders of these ninja villages could only operate at this level. Expecting a group of murderers who had been on the battlefield since childhood to govern a country was pure nonsense.

Naruto cooked the fish while Aoba was responsible for eating. To be honest, Naruto's cooking skills were quite average, but Aoba still gave him praise.

He knew that a simple compliment could make Naruto happy for a long time.

Aoba didn't agree with many of Naruto's actions later in the story. The child was too brainwashed, often forgiving anyone and anything, and even representing others in forgiving the perpetrators.

Such operations were indeed a bit absurd.

But the current Naruto, apart from his tendency for pranks to attract attention, had no major flaws. In Aoba's eyes, he was just a mischievous but pitiable child.

"Alright, Naruto, it's getting late. You should go back and rest. You're still growing, so you need plenty of rest."

"Ah... are you leaving, big brother? Can we train here together tomorrow?"

"Of course, I still have one more day tomorrow."

"That's great. See you tomorrow." Naruto said cheerfully and ran off.

Aoba stayed at the spot for a while, but nothing happened. He turned to look at the forest behind him. After some thought, he chose not to say anything and left.

Returning to his long-unoccupied home, he didn't bother with much preparation since he would be leaving for a mission the day after tomorrow. He simply created a few clones to tidy up the bedroom and then sat cross-legged on the bed.

Aoba also began his training, but his training was different from others.

As a transmigrator, he didn't have a traditional cheat. In fact, his body was an ordinary civilian ninja. Without cheats or bloodline limits, how could one survive in this perilous world?

Aoba had been troubled by this question. However, he had a slight transmigrator benefit. His soul and mental strength were exceptionally powerful.

This benefit was due to his transmigration, during which he had absorbed the residual soul and mental strength of this body.

As a result, he not only inherited most of the previous owner's memories but also greatly enhanced his own soul and mental strength.

This was also why he was able to withstand the interrogation of the Torture and Interrogation Unit. The Yamanaka Clan's mental techniques were a type of Yin Release, which was intricate but didn't necessarily mean the practitioner's mental strength was exceptional.

He couldn't resist the Yamanaka Clan's techniques invading his mind, but after being invaded, he didn't lose control completely. Instead, he deliberately hid part of his memories to avoid the interrogation.

In the world of Naruto, mental strength training was extremely rare, and even if there were some, he couldn't learn them.

However, as a transmigrator, he knew that mental strength had a crucial, though invisible, role in this world. Many jutsu and even bloodline limits required mental strength to function effectively.

So, during his training, he tried to explore the use and training of mental strength. Although he didn't achieve much, he made an unexpected discovery.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Aoba's body was surrounded by a shimmering mist.

Signifying signs of natural energy accumulation....