Chapter 6: I Have a Home in the Naruto World
The exhausted Shen returned to his house. Sitting cross-legged on the wooden bed, he immediately began refining chakra. This was his first time refining chakra on Earth (from now on, the planet where Naruto exists will be referred to as Earth).
Closing his eyes, he began the process—and the moment he did, he was shocked.
"This—this is such an enormous amount of energy! Am I dreaming? Just how stupid was Momoshiki? A planet this powerful, and instead of developing it as his base, he used it to plant a God Tree??? And even left a servant to guard it?"
"Hm? No… even if Momoshiki were stupid, he wouldn't be this foolish. Could it be he intended for Kaguya to act as a cover? Treat Earth as just another ordinary planet for planting a God Tree, making others think it's nothing special. Then, once he comes to Earth and eats the second chakra fruit, with no one daring to oppose him, he could peacefully turn Earth into his own base?"
"But then Kaguya had an accident. To protect her children, she ate the fruit and became powerful. Not wanting to attract too much attention, Momoshiki gathered us servants to capture her—creating the illusion that even after eating the fruit, she still couldn't fight against many people. That way, the secret of Earth stays hidden."
"Wait… was Momoshiki in the original anime really this smart? Whatever. No matter how much I guess, I can't deal with him right now. Let Kaguya drag things out for now. Then when Momoshiki realizes everything is completely out of his control… hehe, his expression will definitely be priceless."
While refining chakra, Shen indulged in his thoughts. Feeling the speed at which he was gathering chakra, it was easily over a hundred times faster than in the Ōtsutsuki homeland—and this still wasn't even his limit. If he weren't worried about Kaguya, who was connected to the God Tree, noticing him, he would have already gone all out absorbing natural energy to refine chakra.
The Ōtsutsuki bloodline was indeed powerful. Humans on Earth could only refine chakra by mixing physical and spiritual energy, but he could directly extract it from natural energy. Which method was stronger was obvious at a glance.
Feeling the growing abundance of chakra within his body, Shen smiled. His chakra level had roughly reached that of a Chūnin in the Naruto world. Thinking back to how he previously exhausted all his chakra just by using chakra mimicry a few times and reinforcing a small foundation, he felt a bit embarrassed.
Shen felt that surviving so long against Kaguya in that alternate space had truly been a miracle. If he hadn't pre-simulated the Shadow Clone Technique and Transformation Technique, he would have definitely died there.
Looks like he really needed to properly study ninjutsu.
After all, he possessed Ōtsutsuki blood, was born with all seven chakra attributes, and had naturally superior chakra control compared to Earth's humans. With all these advantages, if he still couldn't become strong, he might as well smash his head.
After recovering enough chakra, Shen stood up, preparing to continue his mansion-building plan.
Looking at the dozen giant logs lying nearby, he sighed.
"If only I had Wood Release… Hashirama could build a house in seconds. Meanwhile, I don't even know a single basic five-element jutsu, let alone Wood Release, the hardest of bloodline limits."
In his opinion, Wood Release was closer to a Bloodline Elimination—combining Water Release, Earth Release, and Yang Release. As for Yamato's version, that was just a crippled, incomplete form of Water and Earth.
Fortunately, what he needed next was only chakra mimicry. It didn't consume much chakra—just mental energy. And with his fused dual souls, mental exhaustion was the least of his concerns.
Raising his hand, a blue chakra axe appeared. Swinging it at a massive log, he quickly shaped square wooden beams.
Stacking the processed wood together, he continued refining each piece one by one. With repeated swings, logs were split into neat timber. Dispelling the chakra axe, he shook his arm—he wasn't very tired, but constant motion still made his arm sore.
Carrying the processed wood to the prepared foundation, he began inserting beams into the ground. After placing pillars around the perimeter, he started dividing rooms.
The bedroom had to be on the east side. Outside it, he needed a study—or rather, a research room—where he could experiment with the five elemental releases. It had to be spacious; otherwise, if something exploded, he'd have nowhere to sleep.
"…Actually, better to do ninjutsu research outdoors."
So he changed the plan: outside the bedroom would be a living room, then further west a dining room, followed by the kitchen. Conveniently, there was a waterfall in a shaded area—perfect for placing a bathroom below it, with the upper stream as the water source.
Though it felt a bit odd, downstream wouldn't affect upstream anyway.
With the layout planned, he began building the walls. Carrying the remaining wood, he placed beams horizontally along the inner sides of the pillars, stacking them layer by layer.
Looking at the two-meter-high wooden walls, Shen smiled. He formed a half-meter wooden peg and slammed it in with his palm. The peg, about six to seven centimeters thick, pierced through the wall and pillar.
Checking inside and out, he was satisfied—no cracking. The materials held perfectly.
Repeating the process, he secured each beam. Soon, the outer walls were complete. Looking at the rectangular wooden structure, he grinned.
Next came the interior partitions.
Following his earlier plan, he drove wooden stakes into the ground, then built inner walls. This time, unlike the outer walls, he carved grooves into the sides of each pillar and slid wooden boards into them. The fit was perfect—flush and seamless, without any protrusions.
He finally finished dividing the rooms before noon. Next was the roof, which he planned to complete in the afternoon. It was just beams and wooden panels anyway. He didn't intend to use tiles—they were too troublesome to fire.
There was plenty of grass nearby. Once he built drainage grooves, he could simply layer grass on top, just like traditional rural houses.
Though he had never lived in such a house, he had seen them built before. Even if they weren't luxurious, they were perfectly capable of sheltering against wind and rain.
After eating a meal of mushroom soup and root vegetables, Shen resumed construction.
He installed beams, laid wooden boards, plastered a layer of mud, then covered it with split bamboo arranged in a crisscross pattern. After that, he gathered large amounts of grass and layered it from the eaves upward.
Finally finishing, Shen looked at the dust covering his body—and suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha! Hahaha! This… this is my home from now on! My home! Hahahahaha!"
Standing before the still-rough house, he laughed loudly. From this moment on, this wooden house marked the true beginning of his journey in the Naruto world.
Glancing around, he awkwardly realized—
"…I forgot to add windows."
After some quick fixes, he carved out several windows in the outer walls and made sliding panels. Looking at the now-complete house, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Next, he just had to wait for the wood and roof mud to dry. With bamboo and grass covering the roof, the mud layer wouldn't get soaked by rain.
Stripping off his clothes, Shen jumped into the river, washing away dust and fatigue. After cleaning up, he returned to his old shelter. By then, the sun was setting—though sadly, there was no "heartbroken traveler at sunset" in sight.
After eating the preserved wild goose, he resumed training.
He knew his current strength was still weak—nowhere near enough to contend with Kaguya or Momoshiki. What he needed now was rapid growth, reaching their level as soon as possible.
After training to his limit, he sighed.
He wasn't Naruto, the protagonist. His current limit seemed to be around Chūnin level. While his chakra volume matched that of a Chūnin, his actual combat ability was far inferior—even against an average Konoha Chūnin.
Not to mention their combat experience far surpassed his.
He relied on crude energy attacks that couldn't even be called proper ninjutsu. Even his weapons were inferior—a kunai cost his opponent only stamina, while his attacks consumed chakra. Their taijutsu was systematically trained; his was just basic punching and kicking.
If not for his Byakugan giving him superior perception, he probably couldn't even stall for time.
With a deep sigh, Shen lay down, deciding not to think about it anymore. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep.
Meanwhile, three kilometers away—
A woman darted through the treetops, moving swiftly. Behind her, a large group of armored samurai pursued her relentlessly.
"Faster! Pick up the pace!" shouted a leader among them. "The forest is dense and it's night—we can't lose her! Capture that woman!"
The pursuing group accelerated.
Ahead, the fleeing figure—more accurately a girl—glanced back. Despair flickered in her eyes, but she didn't stop running. Even at her limit, she believed her lighter clothing would outlast the heavily armored samurai.
Ten minutes later—
She was surrounded.
"Yokota Kiyomi, surrender!" one samurai shouted, gripping his sword tightly. "You cannot escape our encirclement!"
"Damn it… did those villagers lie?" Yokota Kiyomi muttered, holding her short blade, scanning her surroundings for any sign of help.
On her escape, she had passed through a village and learned that a lone hunter lived in this forest—someone who had only recently arrived. She had hoped it might be her long-lost uncle and planned to join forces with him to kill the pursuing samurai.
But after searching deep into the forest, she hadn't seen a single soul.
Now, she was almost completely desperate.
At this point, she only hoped to kill a few enemies before dying—at least making it worth it.