10 silver bone stage

Chapter 10: Silver Bone Stage

Opening the heavy gate, Naruto gazed at that massive mansion that stood not too far away. The infrastructure was squarish, and it was around seven to eight times larger than the average residence of civilians in Konoha. Despite its simple design, it felt imposing and solemn.

At the top of the residence, Naruto could see a plain white plaque with two words written in black:

[Namikaze Estate]

The words were forceful and grand. It felt as though it would soar out from the plaque and rise to the heavens like true dragons, trembling the world with its might!

This was the Namikaze Estate! The place where the legendary Fourth Hokage grew up and trained to become the strongest shinobi of his time!

Naruto carefully unlocked the door of the mansion. He was completely on guard as he peered inside. The place has been abandoned for ten years after all. There might be wild animals or poisonous insects building their nest inside the building. Fortunately, when Naruto entered the mansion, the place is still in pristine condition with only a thick layer of dust accumulating on the top of the furniture.

"Um, what is this place Naruto kun? Is it alright for us to get in here?" Hinata tilted her head with a face full of confusion.

Naruto smiled and said. "This is the place where my father grew up. And it's mine now. The Hokage already gave me the key for this estate yesterday. And I'm thinking of using this place to train my ninjutsu."

"Wha-? I'm s-so sorry Naruto kun. I always thought that you're an orphan of war and didn't know who your parent was." She was flustered.

"And this Namikaze Estate… Why is the Namikaze name sounds so familiar?" Hinata was deep in thought while trying to remember when has she heard the name.

Naruto chuckled. "Obviously you've heard of the name before. It's the name of our Fourth Hokage!" Naruto replied with a pride in his voice. Although the Third Hokage already warned him to keep his birth circumstances as a secret, Hinata is a completely different story. She has spent tens of years besides him during his previous life after all. Naruto's trust in her is unshakable.

"T-t-the Fourth Hokage?!" Hinata was stunned. This truth is way greater than the ambiguous story about future dream Naruto had told her earlier.

"Yup, I am the son of Namikaze Minato. The Hero of Konoha. My mother is Uzumaki Kushina. I took the surname of my mother to avoid my identity from getting exposed. Old man Hokage said that my father has made a lot of enemies during the third shinobi war. That's why my birth situation was kept as confidential." Naruto said.

Hinata's felt warmth in her heart. The fact that Naruto could tell his secrets to her without even batting an eye means that he already put his complete trust on her. Her cheeks started reddening when she thought about it.

Both Naruto and Hinata started exploring the estate together. They walked through a few different rooms, many were made for living purposes, and there's also a kitchen for cooking. On the back of the mansion is a large courtyard the size of a football field.

They then discovered a couple of storage rooms that were filled into the brims with shinobi tools and weapons. Naruto took out a three-pronged kunai which was the signature weapon of his father and caressed the weapon with an expression filled with melancholy.

They then explored the deep underground basement of the estate. Although there were no windows; the large hallways and rooms were well lit, seeming to be brightened by a special kind of glowing moss, scattered throughout the wall. Naruto then discovered a huge library near the end of the basement.

The library is filled with thousands of scrolls. There were specific sections for Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu. Suddenly Naruto's eyes widened when he saw a corner with a 'Fuinjutsu' labeled on it. It was probably the accumulation of years of his father's research on the Uzumaki style Fuinjutsu along with his moms. There were also his father journals and diaries collected from the year he was still in academy until the year he become the Hokage.

......….

Days flew passed.

In the backyard of the Namikaze estate, a figure was flying about the place.

"Dragon Fist!"

"Dragon Tail Whip!"

"Dragon Claw!"

…

Naruto's figure was lively and flexible. He executed the Dragon movement sets with astounding grace, as though a true flood dragon was dancing, traversing across the hills and trees of the backyard.

This was already beyond the level of average fist techniques. Naruto has achieved a high level of mastery in the skill, allowing him to execute the moves as easy as breathing. Even Hinata was impressed with his movements.

Hinata doesn't know where Naruto learned his fist technique from, but she was not concerned about the matter. To her, this was nothing compared to the secret of him being the son of the Fourth Hokage. "Maybe it's one of his father's techniques?" She thought.

Naruto's movements gradually grew faster and faster, and the air in the surroundings bellowed as though the mighty waves of the sea. Leaf after leaf was lifted into the air by Naruto's movements, and as though boats before powerful waves, they danced alongside the air currents around his body.

"It's about time!"

A thought flashed across Naruto's mind. The blood in his body flowed faster and faster, and he had a feeling that he would reach the 'Silver Bone' stage of 'Asura Body Art' by today.

Pow pow pow!

The air currents around Naruto suddenly burst. Boom! His body suddenly shuddered as a bundle of chakra within his body burst. It felt as though he has broken through a certain bottleneck, and endless Natural Energy from the surroundings gushed into his body.

Kacha, the crisp sound of cracking bones sounded from his entire body. In that instant, under the aid of the Natural Energy, Naruto's body suddenly burst forward. In the blink of an eye, he dashed twenty meters with a single step.

"Hahaha, I've finally reached the Silver Bone stage!"

Naruto was delighted.

Naruto rarely gets so agitated, and this was one of the few rare moments. In the path of 'Asura Body Art', after overcoming the bottleneck in the 'Silver Bone' stage, the connection between his body and mother nature will become even stronger, allowing one to absorb Natural Energy from the environment even faster. The natural energy will strengthen his fleshly body and gradually increase his body chakra reserve.

This was the main difference between Asura Body Art and other shinobi body strengthening technique. In fact, it could be even be considered as a pseudo-Senjutsu technique.

When a shinobi reached Silver Bone stage, his physical prowess such as one's strength, dexterity, and speed would significantly increase, greatly strengthening one's fighting capabilities.

He might be the strongest Hokage of the Konoha village in his previous life, but he has already lost his fighting prowess. Thus, Naruto could only start anew. And 'Asura Body Art' is the best starting point that he could ever hope for.

If say, Naruto's four limbs were bound before, a single hand of his was free now.

"Wow! Naruto-kun. That's so amazing! Your speed is almost on par with a Jounin!"

By the corridor Hinata walked down the steps. A look of admiration and delight hung on her faces.

Hinata was training her chakra control by walking on the surface of the water at the nearby pond. Her talent in chakra control is truly amazing. It only took her half a day for her to successfully run around on the water surface, treating it like it was solid ground.

"Hehe. This is nothing. Though, I want to teach you this technique but unfortunately it could only be trained by people that have the same bloodline as me." Naruto sighed with regret.

At first, he wants to impart Hinata with the 'Asura Body Art' technique. However, He then realized that only Asura's direct descendant could learn the technique. Meaning only people with the Senju and Uzumaki bloodline could use it without having side-effects.

Hinata walked over with a smile.

She doesn't mind about it even for a little bit. For her, to be able to spend her time training her ninjutsu with the one she admires the most is like living in the dream.

They have been spending their time together for the past few days. They went to the academy together in the morning and then trained in Naruto's estate until late in the evening.

Although Hinata want to spend all her time together with Naruto, she couldn't stay the night to avoid Kurenai sensei from getting suspicious. Plus, even the thought of spending the night together with Naruto would make her too embarrassed to even breath properly.

"Oh? It's about time to send you home, right? Naruto said while wiping his sweat using a towel.

"Un." Hinata replied bashfully.

Although Hinata keep on rejecting his offer to send her home, Naruto didn't budge even for a little bit. He would always walk her home without fail, saying nonsense like "it's the responsibility of an adult" or something.