Mount Hood lay in the Eastwood Mountain Range, and at its base was a quaint little village. The villagers there lived off the land, and didn't have much to do with the outside world.
Currently it was dawn, and the villagers were congregated at the village gate to see off a young man of fifteen or sixteen years of age. He seemed thin and weak, but had a healthy, fair complexion, and an overall charming appearance. He wore an ordinary green robe that had apparently been washed so many times it was nearly worn through. Something about the way he was dressed, plus the innocent look in his eyes, made him seem exceptionally quick-witted.
His name was Naruto.
"Dear elders and fellow villagers," he said, "I am on my way to learn about immortal cultivation. I shall miss all of you!" The young man wore a slightly pained expression, as if he couldn't bear to part with his fellow villagers. This made him look even more charming than before.
The surrounding villagers exchanged glances, shrugged helplessly, and then pretended to look even more reluctant to see him leave.
A white-haired old man stepped out of the crowd and said, "Naruto, ever since your dad and mom left us, oh so long ago, you... you have been, er-" he paused for a moment "-such a good kid!" Seeing that Naruto hadn't left yet, he continued, "Don't tell me you're not interested in living forever? All you have to do is become an immortal, and then you can live forever! That's a really, really long time! Well, it's time for you to leave now. Even a baby eagle must learn to fly eventually. No matter what situations you run into out there, you have to hang in there and keep moving forward. Once you leave the village, you can't come back, because your path will always lie ahead, not behind!"
The old man patted Naruto kindly on the shoulder.
"Live forever..." Naruto murmured. A tremor ran through him, and a look of determination slowly filled his eyes. Under the encouraging gazes of the old man and the other villagers, he nodded his head seriously and looked around at everyone one last time. Finally, he turned and walked away from the village.
As he disappeared off into the distance, the villagers started to look more and more excited. Their forlorn expressions turned to those of joy, and the kind-faced old man began to tremble. Tears even streamed down his face.
"Justice from the heavens! The weasel... is finally gone! Who was it that told him they saw an immortal in the area? Whoever it was, I'm going to give you a huge reward on behalf of the village!"
The village was soon echoing with cries of rejoicing. Some people even took out gongs and drums and began banging them excitedly.
"The weasel is gone," someone said, "but oh, my poor chickens. He hated the roosters crowing at dawn, so he somehow got all the kids in the village to eat every chicken we had..."
"Today is the beginning of a new era!"
By this point, Naruto was still fairly close to the village, and could actually hear the sounds of the gongs and drums. He even caught wind of some of the cries of excitement.
He stopped in his tracks, a strange expression on his face. After a moment, he cleared his throat and proceeded on his way. Accompanied by the faint sounds of rejoicing, he began to make his way toward Mount Hood.
Mount Hood wasn't a very tall mountain, but it was covered with thick vegetation. Therefore, despite the fact that it was dawn, beneath the trees, it was dark and quiet.
"Double-Dog told me that he was hunting some wild pigs a few days ago and saw an immortal flying around..." Naruto proceeded along, heart thumping. Suddenly, a rustling sound could be heard from some nearby shrubs. It almost sounded like a wild pig, and it immediately caused Naruto to grow extremely nervous. The hair on the back of his neck stood up straight as he asked, "Who is it? Who's there?!"
He quickly pulled four axes and six machetes out of his travel pack, but that in and of itself didn't make him feel much safer, so he also produced a bit of black incense from within his robe, which he clutched tightly in his left hand.
"Don't come out!" he shouted, trembling. "Don't even think about coming out! I've got axes and machetes, and this incense can call lightning from the heavens, and even summon immortals! If you dare to show your face, you're dead!" Finally, he turned and ran toward the mountain path, simultaneously juggling all of the various weapons in his hands. Clanking sounds could eventually be heard as axes and machetes began to fall to the ground left and right.
Perhaps whatever it was that had been rustling around in the shrubbery really did end up getting frightened by him. The sounds ceased, and no wild animal burst out of the bushes. Naruto hurried toward the mountain, wiping the sweat from his brow. By this point, his face was pale, and he was almost considering giving up this crazy idea of climbing the mountain, but then he thought about the incense stick, which his parents had handed down to him before they died. Supposedly, it had been passed down from their ancestors, a gift bestowed by a down-and-out immortal they had saved. Before departing, the immortal had given it to them to pay back the kindness they had shown. Furthermore, the immortal had even promised to take a member of the Uzumaki Clan as a disciple. He told them that merely burning the incense stick would summon him to their side.
Naruto had actually lit the incense stick more than ten times in the past few years, and yet, no immortal had ever shown up. It had eventually reached the point that Naruto was starting to suspect whether or not the story about the immortal was even true. Finally, he'd resolved to climb the mountain. For one thing, the incense stick was almost used up, and also, there was the matter of the flying immortal being sighted recently.
And that was how he ended up in his current situation. His theory was that if he could get a bit closer to the immortal, then perhaps it would be easier for that immortal to sense the incense stick.
Standing in front of the mountain, he hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and decided to keep going. Thankfully, the mountain wasn't very high, and it didn't take long to reach the peak, where he stopped, panting. He looked at the village down below, and an emotional expression appeared on his face. Then he glanced at the finger-nail sized bit of black incense. It had clearly been burned on numerous occasions, and was almost completely used up.
"It's been three years. Bless me, mom and dad. It has to work this time!" Naruto took a deep breath, and then carefully lit the incense. A stiff breeze instantly kicked up, and in the blink of an eye, dark clouds filled the sky. Lightning crackled, and deafening thunder boomed in his ears.
The majesty of the entire scene caused Naruto to tremble, fearful that he might be killed by the lightning. He very nearly spit on the incense to extinguish it, but managed to hold back.
"I've lit this incense twelve times in the past three years, and this is the thirteenth time. I have to let it burn! Come on, Naruto! The lightning won't kill you. At least probably not..." All twelve times that he had lit the incense in the past, there had been lightning and thunder, and yet no immortal had ever appeared. Each time, he had gotten so scared that he spit on the incense to put it out. He actually found it a bit strange that a supposedly immortal stick of incense could be extinguished with some ordinary saliva.
Naruto sat there shaking in fear as the thunder boomed around him. Suddenly, a streak of light appeared in the air off in the distance.
It was a middle-aged man wearing luxurious clothing. He had the demeanor of a transcendent being, yet he looked weary and travel-worn. In fact, if you looked closely, his eyes seemed to flicker with extreme exhaustion.
"Finally I can see exactly what moron has been lighting that incense stick all the time for the past three years!"
Every time the man thought about what he had experienced during the past few years, he got extremely annoyed. Three years ago, he had sensed the medicinal aura of an incense stick he had given away back when he was in the Chakra Condensation stage. That immediately caused him to recall the debt he owed back in the mortal world.
The first time he flew out in response to the incense stick being lit, he had assumed it would be a simple matter of heading out and then immediately returning. He had never imagined that before even being able to find the incense, its aura would suddenly vanish, severing his connection to it. If it had happened only once, it wouldn't have been a big deal. However, over the course of three years, the aura had appeared more than ten times.
Over and over again his search was interrupted, ensuring that he was constantly leaving his sect and then going back. Back and forth, back and forth. It was torment.
As he closed in on Mount Hood, he caught sight of Naruto. Fuming with numerous frustrations, the man landed on the mountain top and waved his hand, instantly extinguishing the sputtering incense stick.
The thunder ceased, and Naruto stared at the man in shock.
"Are you an immortal?" Naruto asked cautiously. Still unsure about what exactly was going on, he slipped his hand behind his back and grabbed an axe.
"You may call me Taruho. Are you from the Uzumaki Clan?" The middle-aged cultivator's eyes shone like lightning as he measured up Naruto, ignoring the axe behind his back. To him, Naruto seemed delicate, almost pretty, and reminded him of his old friend from years ago. Furthermore, his latent talent seemed suitable. Taruho's anger gradually began to fade.
Naruto blinked a few times. Although he was still a bit scared, he sat up straight and quietly said, "Junior most definitely is from the Uzumaki Clan. I'm Naruto."
"Alright, well tell me this," Taruho said, his voice cool. "Why did you light that incense so many times over the past three years!?" He very much wanted to know the answer to this question.
As soon as Naruto heard the question, his mind spun as he tried to come up with a good answer. Finally, a melancholic expression appeared on his face, and he looked down toward the village at the bottom of the mountain.
"Junior is a sentimental and righteous person," he said. "I simply couldn't bear to part with my fellow villagers. Every time I lit the incense, I was overwhelmed with feelings of sorrow. The mere thought of leaving them behind was far too painful."
Taruho stared in shock. He had never considered such a possibility, and as such, the anger in his heart faded even more. He could tell from this young man's words alone that he was definitely good material.
However, the next thing he did was send his divine sense down toward the village, and he heard the sounds of drums and gongs and rejoicing. He even heard the villagers talking about how glad they were that 'the weasel' was gone. An unsightly expression appeared on his face, and he felt a headache coming on. He looked back at the charming and pure Naruto, who seemed like he wouldn't hurt a fly, and suddenly realized that this kid was a villain to the core.
"Tell me the truth!" Taruho said, his voice echoing like thunder. Naruto was so frightened that he started shaking.
"Hey, you can't blame me!" Naruto said, sounding very miserable. "What kind of crappy incense is this anyway!? Every time I lit it, lightning would start crashing around everywhere! I almost got killed on several occasions! In fact, avoiding that lightning thirteen times was quite a feat!"
Taruho looked silently at Naruto.
"If you were so scared, then why did you light it over ten times?!" he asked.
"'Cuz I'm scared of dying!" Naruto replied indignantly. "Isn't the point of immortal cultivation to be able to live forever? I want to live forever!"
Taruho was once again struck speechless. However, he found the kid's fascination with living forever laudable, and realized that his personality might change a bit after some hard training in the sect.
After a moment of thought, he waved his sleeve, sweeping Naruto up into a beam of light that shot off into the distance.
"Alright, come with me," he said.
"Where are we going?" asked Naruto, suddenly realizing that they were flying. "Ah, we're so high..." The ground was very, very far down, causing the blood to drain from his face. He immediately dropped his axe and grabbed onto the Immortal's leg.
Taruho looked down at him clutching his leg. Feeling a bit at a loss, he replied, "The Spirit Stream Sect."
The Spirit Stream Sect was located in the Eastwood Continent on the lower branch of the Heavenspan River, and was divided between the north and south banks. Its history stretched back countless years, and was very famous in the area.
Eight enormous cloud-wreathed mountains towered over the Heavenspan River. Four of those mountains were located on the north bank of the river, whereas three were on the south bank. Shockingly, one mountain, the most majestic of them all, rose up from the middle of the river itself.
The entire top half of that mountain was covered with brilliant white snow, and rose up so high that the peak of the mountain wasn't even visible. The middle of the mountain had been hollowed out, allowing the golden river water to flow right through it, and causing the mountain itself to somewhat resemble a bridge.
Currently, a beam of light was speeding along near the south bank of the Spirit Stream Sect. It was none other than Taruho and Naruto. As they raced into the servants' quarters beneath the third peak, it was just possible to hear Naruto shouting out in fear.
He was scared to death from all the flying. They had passed over countless mountains, and the entire time, he had felt like he was losing his grip on Taruho's leg.
Eventually, everything turned into a blur. When everything finally became clear again, he realized that they had landed just outside of a building. He stood there, legs trembling, looking around at a scene that was very different from what he was used to back at the village.
Towering up in front of the building was a huge stone, upon which three characters were written in flamboyant calligraphy.
Department of Servant Affairs.
Sitting next to the stone was a pock-faced woman. As soon as she caught sight of Taruho, she rose to her feet and clasped hands in greeting.
"Send this kid to the Ovens," Taruho said. Without another word, and paying no further heed to Naruto, he then transformed into a beam of light that shot off into the distance.
When the pock-faced woman heard him mention the Ovens, she stared in shock. She looked Naruto over, then handed him a bag which contained a servant's uniform and other items. Face expressionless, led him away from the building toward a nearby path, simultaneously explaining some of the basic sect rules and customs. The path was paved with green limestone, and wound through numerous buildings and courtyards. The fragrant aroma of plants and flowers filled the air, and the entire place seemed like a celestial paradise. As he looked around, Naruto's heart began to thump with excitement, and his previous nervousness and anxiety began to fade.
"This place is awesome," he thought. "It's way better than the village!" His eyes shone with anticipation as he followed the woman along. The scenery only continued to get more and more spectacular. He even saw some beautiful women along the way, which instantly caused his heart to surge with delight.
Soon, Naruto got even more excited. That was because he caught sight of what appeared to be their destination; at the end of the path was a seven-story building that sparkled like crystal. There were even celestial cranes soaring in the air above it.
"Are we there yet, Elder Sister?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Yes," she replied coolly, her face as expressionless as ever. She pointed to a small path off to the side. "That's where we're going."
Naruto looked in the direction she was pointing, heart bursting with anticipation. But then, his entire body went stiff, and he rubbed his eyes. He looked again, a bit more closely, and saw a gravel path lined by haphazardly-constructed thatch-roofed huts that looked like they might disintegrate at any moment. A strange aroma wafted out from the area.
Naruto wanted to cry, but no tears would come. Still clinging to a scrap of hope, he asked the pock-faced woman another question.
"Elder Sister, did you point in the wrong direction just now?"
"Nope," she replied coolly, stepping onto the gravel path. When Naruto heard her response, all of the beauty of the place seemed to disappear. A bitter expression appeared on his face as he continued to follow her.
Before long, he caught sight of the end of the decrepit path, where he saw several huge black woks running around. After a moment, he realized that the woks were actually attached to the backs of several incredibly fat young men. These young men were so obese that it seemed like squeezing them would cause pure fat to ooze out. One of them was even fatter than the others, so fat that he looked like a mountain of flesh. Naruto was even worried that the man might explode from being so fat.
The entire area was filled with hundreds of huge cooking woks, within which fat men were boiling rice.
Sensing that someone had approached, the young men looked up and saw the pock-faced woman. The fattest of the young men, the one who looked like a mountain of flesh, hefted his ladle and hurried over. The ground trembled as he walked, and his fat bounced and jiggled in a way that made Naruto stare in shock. Without even thinking about it, he began to feel around for an axe.
"The magpies were singing especially beautiful songs this morning, and now I know why," the mountain of flesh cried out as he ran over. His eyes flickered with a lustful gleam. "It was all because you were coming, big sis. Could it be that you've changed your mind? You finally realized how talented I am, and want to take advantage of this auspicious day to formally become my Daoist partner?"
The pock-faced woman looked at the mountain of flesh with both disgust and anger.
"I'm just here to deliver this kid to the Ovens," she said. "Task accomplished. I'll take my leave now!" Then she hurried off.
Naruto gasped. He had taken the time to check out the woman on their way here, and she really looked like a freak. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of taste this fat man had. Apparently even someone with a face like hers got him all hot and bothered.
Before Naruto could consider the matter any more, the mountain of flesh was suddenly standing in front of him, panting a bit. The young man was so huge that Naruto found himself completely covered by his shadow.
Naruto looked up at the enormous young man and his quivering rolls of flesh, and swallowed hard. This was actually his first time ever seeing someone so fat.
The mountain of flesh glanced resentfully at the pock-faced woman, who was making her way back up the gravel path, then looked back at Naruto.
"Well well, we have a newcomer. We'd left a spot open for Sora to join, so this complicates matters."
Naruto felt nervous just looking at the young man's enormity, and subconsciously took a few steps back. "Elder Brother, I am your humble... er, humble servant Naruto..."
"Naruto? Hmm... White skin, slender and dainty. You look pretty innocent. Excellent, excellent. Your name really fits my taste." The mountain of flesh looked him over, then clapped Naruto on the shoulder, which very nearly sent Naruto flying off to the side.
"Uh, what's your name, Elder Brother?" Naruto took a deep breath and looked up thoughtfully as he prepared to make fun of the young man's name.
The mountain of flesh chuckled and slapped his chest, causing the fat to ripple back and forth. "I'm Big Fatty Choji. That's Second Fatty Chikara, and that's Third Fatty Kuro..."
As soon as Naruto heard these incredibly stirring names, he abandoned any plans to make fun of them.
"As for you," Big Fatty Choji continued, "from now on, you'll be Ninth Fatty Naruto! Er... Wait a second, Junior Brother. You're way too skinny! If you go around looking like that, you'll lose face for the Ovens! Well, I guess that doesn't matter for now. Don't worry. After a few years, you'll get fat too. Then we'll call you Ninth Fatty Naruto."
When Naruto heard the nickname Ninth Fatty Naruto, he grimaced.
"Well, since you're already our Ninth Junior Brother, you don't count as an outsider any more. Here in the Ovens, we have a long-standing tradition of carrying woks on our backs. See this wok here on my back?" He slapped the wok and continued boastfully: "It's the king of woks, forged from the highest quality iron and engraved with an earthflame spell formation. When you use this wok to cook up spirit rice, the flavor is far, far better than the rice cooked in any other wok. By the way, you'll have to choose a wok to carry on your back, too. Then you'll look really impressive."
Glancing at Big Fatty Choji's wok, and realizing that everyone else in the Ovens was similarly adorned, Naruto suddenly got an image of himself walking around in such a fashion.
"Elder Brother," he blurted, "is it possible to opt out of the wok-carrying thing...?"
"Are you kidding me? Wok-carrying is an important tradition in the Ovens! Later on when you're out in the sect, people will see the wok on your back and instantly recognize that you're from the Ovens! Once they know that, they won't dare to pick on you. The Ovens has a lot of influence around here, you know!" Big Fatty Choji winked at Naruto. Allowing no further discussion of the matter, he led Naruto to one of the thatch-roofed huts, within which were stacks of thousands of woks, most of which were covered in layers of dust. Clearly, no one had been in here for quite some time.
"Go ahead and pick one, Ninth Junior Brother, then come on over and help tend to the rice. If the rice burns, then the Outer Sect disciples will make a scene again." With that Big Fatty Choji turned and ran back to join the other fat men as they hustled and bustled among the more than one hundred cooking woks.
Sighing in despair, Naruto looked over the woks, and was agonizing over which one to pick when he suddenly noticed one particular wok off in the corner, buried under a big pile.
It was a unique wok that, instead of being circular, was shaped like an oval. It almost didn't even look like an oval, but rather, like a turtle shell. There were also some faint markings visible on its surface.
"Eee?" Naruto's eyes brightened, and he quickly walked over and squatted down to look at the wok more closely. After dragging it out and examining it further, his eyes began to shine with satisfaction.
He had been fond of turtles ever since he was young, mostly because they represented longevity. Considering that he had come to learn about immortal cultivation for the purposes of living forever, as soon as his saw the turtle-shell wok, he knew that it was an auspicious sign, a good omen.
After he emerged with the wok, Big Fatty Choji caught sight of him and hurried over, ladle in hand.
"Ninth Junior Brother, why did you pick that one?" he asked sincerely, rubbing his ample belly. "That wok has been in there for years, and nobody has ever used it, mainly because it looks like a turtle shell and people don't want to put it on their backs. Umm... are you sure, Ninth Junior Brother?"
"I'm sure." Naruto said resolutely, looking fondly at the wok. "This is the wok for me."
Big Fatty Choji tried to dissuade him some more, but eventually realized that Naruto had made up his mind. Finally, he gave him a strange look and stopped trying. After assigning him one of the Ovens' thatch-roofed huts for housing, he went back to work.
Soon, dusk had fallen. Naruto sat in his thatch-roofed hut, examining the turtle-shaped wok. One thing that stuck out to him were the designs traced on the back of the wok, which were so faint that you wouldn't see them unless you looked closely.
He could instantly tell that this was no ordinary wok. Carefully putting it on the stove, he looked around the little hut. It was very simple. In addition to the stove, it had a bed, a desk, and an ordinary copper mirror hanging on the wall. As Naruto had his head turned to look around, the seemingly-ordinary wok behind him suddenly emitted a flash of violet light!
As far as Naruto was concerned, this had been a day packed with all sorts of momentous events. He had finally arrived in the land of his dreams, a world of immortals. At the moment, he was still in a bit of a daze.
After a bit of time passed, he took a deep breath, and his eyes began to shine with anticipation.
"I'm gonna live forever!" As he sat there, he pulled out the bag which the pock-faced woman had given him.
Inside the bag was a medicinal pill, a wooden sword, some incense, a servant's uniform, and a command medallion. Finally, there was a bamboo scroll with several small characters written on the cover.
"Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art. Chakra Condensation Manual."
It was evening, and Big Fatty Choji and the others in the Ovens were bustling about. Meanwhile, Naruto was looking at the bamboo scroll, eyes shining with anticipation. He had come here in order to learn how to live forever, and he held the key to achieving that goal in his hands right now. After taking a deep breath, he opened the scroll.
Moments later, his eyes were gleaming with excitement. The bamboo scroll had three pictures, and accompanying text that described how cultivation was divided into two stages of Chakra Condensation and Foundation Establishment. As far as the Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art, it was divided into ten levels, each of which corresponded to the ten levels of Chakra Condensation.
By practicing cultivation to a given level, it was possible to exercise control over physical objects. After reaching the third level, you could control half of a small cauldron. At the sixth level, it became half of a large cauldron. At the ninth level, it was a full cauldron. As for the final full circle, you could actually control two full cauldrons.
Unfortunately, this scroll only described up to the third level of the art, with no further information about the subsequent levels. The key to the whole thing was cultivation, using a prescribed set of breathing techniques to develop the Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art.
Naruto cleared his mind and began to regulate his breathing. Then he closed his eyes and imitated the posture depicted in the first picture in the bamboo scroll. He was able to hold on for three breaths of time before intense pain filled him. Finally, he let out a shout and gave up. From what he could tell, using this breathing technique actually sucked all the air out of him, making it impossible to actually breathe.
"This is way too hard," he thought. "According to the description under the picture, when you practice this kind of cultivation, you should be able to sense a strand of Chakra flowing through you. Just now, though, the only thing I felt was intense pain." He was starting to get frustrated. However, for the sake of living forever, he gritted his teeth and tried again. He repeated the process over and over again until it was the middle of the night. During that entire time, he never once sensed any sort of Chakra in his body.
He had no way of knowing it, but even someone with exceptional latent talent who tried to cultivate the first level of the Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art would need at least a month to succeed, unless they had some outside help. Considering that, it was simply impossible that he could have succeeded after only a few hours.
Body aching painfully, Naruto finally stretched, and was about to go wash his face when, all of a sudden, he heard a commotion outside. He stuck his head out of the window and immediately caught sight of a sallow-faced young man standing in the door of the main courtyard of the Ovens. He looked angry.
"I'm Sora! Whoever it was that took my spot here, get the hell out here right now!"
The motion of Naruto sticking his head out of the window instantly attracted the attention of the sallow-faced young man. Enraged, he yelled, "So, you're the guy who took my spot!"
It was too late for Naruto to duck his head back into the window. He immediately pasted an innocent expression onto his face and said, "No, it wasn't me!"
"Liar! You're so skinny and short, you're obviously a newbie here!" Sora clenched his hands into fists and stared furiously at Naruto. He was so angry that he looked like he might explode at any moment.
Feeling quite wronged, Naruto peeped: "It really had nothing to do with me!"
"I don't care! Three days from now on the southern slope of the sect, you and I are gonna have a fight to the death! If you win, then I'll have no choice other than to suck it up. If you lose, then I get my spot back." Sora shoved his hand into his robe and pulled out a blood notice, which he threw onto Naruto's window sill. The notice was covered with countless versions of the character "DIE," all of them written in blood.
Naruto looked down at all the "DIE" characters and couldn't miss the killing intent roiling off of them. His heart went cold. Then he remembered that Sora had just mentioned a 'fight to the death,' and he gasped.
"Elder Brother, this isn't that big a deal! Why did you have to go and use your own blood to write so many characters? Didn't it... hurt?"
"Not a big deal?!" Sora roared, gnashing his teeth. "Humph! I've been living frugally for ages. I saved up spirit stones for seven years! Seven years, do you hear me!? Only then could I afford to bribe the honor guard into getting me a spot in the Ovens! Then you decide to stick your foot into the door? This enmity will never be reconciled! Three days from now is the day you die!"
"I think I'll pass," Naruto said, picking up the blood notice gingerly between his thumb and forefinger, and then tossing it out the window.
"YOU!" raged Sora. Suddenly, he felt the ground shaking, and he realized that there was a mountain of flesh standing there next to him. It was hard to say how long Big Fatty Choji had been standing there, but there he was, off to the side, coldly measuring up Sora.
"Ninth Fatty," he said, addressing Naruto, "you're on dish duty with Second Brother." Then he looked back at Sora. "As for you, stop causing such a ruckus! Get your ass out of here!" He swept his ladle through the air threateningly, causing a gust of wind to spring up.
Sora's face fell, and he backed up several steps. He wanted to keep arguing, but seeing the impatient look on Big Fatty Choji's face, he shot a venomous look at Naruto, then stalked off.
As Naruto thought about it, he realized that considering the vicious look Sora had given him, he was certain to pop up again at some point. Therefore, the best thing to do in this situation would be to stay put in the Ovens. Most likely, Sora wouldn't dare to come back there and cause trouble.
Days passed. Naruto slowly got used to working in the Ovens during the day, and cultivating the Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art at night. However, progress was slow. Eventually he got to the point where he could endure for four breaths of time, but no more, leaving him very frustrated.
On one particular night in the middle of his cultivation session, he suddenly heard a big commotion among the fat Elder Brothers.
"Close the gate, close the gate! Hurry up, Second Fatty Chikara, close that gate!"
"Third Fatty Kuro, check and see if anyone is spying on us. Quickly!"
Naruto blinked in shock. Having learned from his previous mistake, he avoided the window and peeked through a crack in the door. What he saw was a bunch of fatties bustling around the courtyard so fast they were almost flying.
Moments later, the main gate to the Ovens was closed tightly. Furthermore, for some reason, a light mist had sprung up, making the fatties look even more mysterious than ever.
Naruto watched the scene playing out. The fatties were now hustling over to one particular thatched hut. Despite all the mist, Naruto could clearly see Big Fatty Choji's formidable frame, and he seemed to be speaking to the others. The whole scene was very odd, so Naruto began to edge away from the door in an attempt to pretend he hadn't seen anything at all.
However, it was at that exact point that Big Fatty Choji's voice echoed out: "Ninth Fatty, I know you're watching. Get out here!" Although he didn't speak very loud, his voice instantly weighed down on Naruto.
Naruto blinked a few times, then slowly walked out the door, putting on the innocent expression of a person who wasn't capable of even hurting a fly.
As soon as he neared the group of fatties, Big Fatty Choji grabbed him and pulled him over to stand among them. Almost immediately, Naruto caught a whiff of some unique aroma, something that instantly caused a warm feeling to spread throughout his body.
He looked around at the others, and saw that they all had euphoric expressions on their faces. For some reason, he also felt enlivened. It was then that he noticed that Big Fatty Choji was holding a magical mushroom in his hand. It was about the size of an infant's hand, and as translucent as crystal; all it took was a single glance, and anyone could tell that it was no ordinary item.
Big Fatty Choji looked over at Naruto, then held out the mushroom and gruffly said, "Come on, Ninth Junior Brother, take a bite."
"Uhh..." replied Naruto, eying the magical mushroom. Then he looked around at all the fat Elder Brothers, and hesitated. Big Fatty Choji instantly got irritated. From the look on his face, if Naruto didn't eat the mushroom, the two of them would become enemies.
It wasn't just him. Second Fatty Chikara, Third Fatty Kuro, and all the others were all glaring at Naruto.
Naruto swallowed hard. Even in his wildest dreams, he would never have imagined himself in a situation where people would flip out in anger if he didn't take a bite of a priceless magical mushroom, as if it were nothing more than a chicken leg. And yet, that was exactly what was happening right in front of his very eyes.
Naruto's heart was thumping as he gritted his teeth and accepted the magical mushroom. Finally, he opened his mouth and took a big bite. The mushroom instantly dissolved in his mouth, causing a wonderful sensation to fill his body, something many times more intense than what he had experienced moments before when merely smelling it. Almost instantly, his face flushed bright red.
"Excellent. Elder Iruka demanded that we use this hundred-year-old magical mushroom in a soup. If we all take a bite, then we'll have to sink or swim together!" Big Fatty Choji looked extremely content as he opened his mouth and took a nibble. Then he tossed the mushroom to the next fatty in line, and soon, all of them were munching on mushroom flesh. Now that they were all chewing together, the group smiled at Naruto as if he were now one of them.
Naruto chuckled as he realized that all these guys were essentially partners in crime. Furthermore, considering they had gotten so fat this way, it probably wasn't dangerous to join them. It was little wonder Sora had given him a challenge notice with the word "DIE" written on it so many times….
"Elder Brother," Naruto said, "that magical mushroom was scrumptious! I feel like my whole body's on fire!" He licked his lips and looked impatiently at Big Fatty Choji.
In response, Big Fatty Choji's eyes began to shine brightly. With a hearty laugh, he flamboyantly pulled out a sealwort flower, which he handed to Naruto.
"Now do you see how amazing the Ovens is, Junior Brother? I wasn't lying! Alright, eat up. Eat till you're stuffed!"
Naruto's eyes began to shine as he took a big bite. Next, Big Fatty Choji pulled out some sort of natural precious material, something that looked like a golden jewel, which emanated a fragrant aroma.
Naruto needed no prompting from Big Fatty Choji. He immediately took a bite and swallowed it down. The tangy flavor filled him with a wonderful sensation. After that, Big Fatty Choji produced an incredibly sweet red spirit fruit.
More items emerged. Magical mushrooms, various medicinal ingredients, spirit fruits and other precious items. Naruto partook of them all, as did the other fatties. He ate so much that soon, his head was spinning. He almost felt drunk, his body hot and burning to the point where white steam rose up from the top of his head. He already felt as fat as a ball.
The more he ate, the more kindly Big Fatty Choji and the others looked at him. In the end, they slapped their stomachs and laughed heartily, and they all truly seemed like partners in crime.
Head swimming, Naruto stretched out his arms and legs. His hand landed on Big Fatty Choji's giant stomach, and his foot landed off to the side. He began to laugh along with the others.
"Other servant departments would kill to get one of their own into the Outer Sect. But we kill to make sure we stay out! Who wants to go there anyway? What's so good about the Outer Sect, huh?" Big Fatty Choji sounded very proud of this. As he finished speaking, he pulled out a ginseng root. The root itself had countless faintly visible age rings, and was covered with numerous rootlets. Clearly, this ginseng root was very old.
"Ninth Junior Brother, our cultivation bases are all strong enough that we could have become Outer Sect disciples a long time ago. However, we prefer to hide our true level. Look, there are Outer Sect disciples who would kill for the chance to get a single bite of a one-hundred-year-old ginseng root like this. Do we look scared?" Big Fatty Choji subsequently plucked a rootlet off and popped it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Then he handed the ginseng root to Naruto.
Naruto was so stuffed he almost couldn't see straight. "Elder Brother, I'm full... I really can't eat another bite-"
Before he could even finish speaking, Big Fatty Choji plucked off a rootlet and stuffed it into Naruto's mouth.
"Ninth Junior Brother, you're far too skinny, so skinny that the girls in the sect won't like you. In our sect, they like guys like us Brothers, stalwart and plump! Come on, eat..." Big Fatty Choji let out a huge burp. Then he picked up a stack of empty bowls, simultaneously pointing to two scrolls hanging on either side of the nearby thatched hut, upon which was written a couplet. "Look, we have a saying here that goes I'd rather starve to death in the Ovens than struggle up the ladder in the Outer Sect."
Naruto looked over at the couplet and said, "Yeah, for sure! We all want to starve to death here! Uh... yeah, starve to death."
Then he slapped his stomach and let out a burp.
Hearing this, Big Fatty Choji and the others all started laughing. They all were finding Naruto to be increasingly charming.
"Today is a great day," Big Fatty Choji said. "Ninth Junior Brother, I have something important to tell you. We have certain ways of doing things here in the Ovens, and to fit in, you need to memorize a certain mnemonic. Pay attention. Fruits and herbs of a magical nature; Nibble the edges but spare the stem; Slice the meat thin when there's some to butcher; As for the bones leave some flesh on them; Spirit congee? Water it down until it's thin; Fine wine? Half a cup will do you in.
"These six lines were compiled after years of suffering by previous generations. If you go about eating following these principles, then you're guaranteed to be safe. Alright, let's call it a night. Head to sleep everyone, today's midnight snack is over. The Outer Sect disciples are still waiting for their soup." As he spoke, Big Fatty Choji began to fill the empty bowls with rice gruel.
Naruto's head was spinning, and he couldn't stop thinking about the six lines of truth he had just been told. He looked over at Big Fatty Choji and the others filling up the bowls, let out a burp, then squatted down to examine the bowls themselves. Then, his mouth turned up into a smile.
"Elder Brothers, these bowls are too nice."
Big Fatty Choji and the others looked back at him with strange expressions.
Looking as charming as ever, he chuckled and said, "At first glance, they don't look very big, but can actually hold a lot of food. Why don't we make them look big, but hold less food? For example, we could make the bottom of the bowls... thicker!"
Big Fatty Choji stared in shock, as though he had just been struck by lightning. His rolls of fat then began to quiver, and his eyes began to shine brightly. The other fatties began to pant, and their fat also began to tremble.
All of a sudden a loud smacking sound rang out as Big Fatty Choji slapped his thigh. Then he threw his head back and laughed uproariously.
"Yes, yes, YES! That's an idea worth passing down! Future generations in the Ovens will all benefit from this! Ninth Junior Brother, I never imagined that someone as charming as you would actually be as crafty as this! Hahaha! You were born to be a part of the Ovens!"
Everyone was in a wonderful mood, and were extremely pleased with Naruto. Not only was he very charming, he seemed to have lots of crafty ideas. Big Fatty Choji decided that a reward was in order, and pressed a grain of spirit rice into Naruto's hand.
Naruto laughed happily as he staggered back to his room. Before he could climb in bed, all of the spiritual energy he had absorbed by eating the various precious materials suddenly burst out inside of him. His head spun, and he flopped face-first down onto the ground, where he immediately began snoring.
He slept wonderfully for the entire night. The following morning at dawn, when he opened his eyes, they shone brightly. He looked down to find that he was fatter than the day before. Furthermore, his skin was covered in a sticky layer of filth. When he hurried out to wash up, Big Fatty Choji and the others were preparing breakfast for the sect disciples. When they saw Naruto's bedraggled appearance, they started laughing.
"Ninth Junior Brother, all that filth comes from the impurities in your body. Once you get rid of it, it will be much easier for you to practice cultivation. Take a few days off, we won't need your help anyway. In a few days you can start working again."
"Don't forget about that grain of spirit rice! Eat it up quickly before it goes bad."
"Sure thing," Naruto replied. Feeling quite energetic, he returned to his room and grabbed the turtle-shaped wok off of the stove. After filling it with water from the washroom, he returned and put it back on the stove. Then he pulled out the grain of spirit rice to examine it. It was about the size of his thumb, crystalline in appearance, and fragrantly aromatic.
"If immortals eat this stuff, then it must be incredible." Sighing, he threw a few pieces of wood into the stove, then lit the fire. He was immediately hit by a blast of heat, which caused him to back up, blinking anxiously. Then he looked down at the fire and clicked his tongue.
"That's no ordinary fire. It lights faster and also burns a lot hotter than the fire in the village." Taking another look at the burning logs in the fire, he realized that they were not ordinary pieces of wood.
About this time, the fire began to burn even hotter than before, and Naruto watched in amazement as one of the designs etched into the back of the turtle shell wok began to light up, starting at what appeared to be the tail of the turtle shell and ending where the head would be. Soon, the entire design was shining brightly.
Naruto stared in amazement, then slapped his thigh.
"I knew it! This is some sort of treasure! It's definitely way better than Eldest Brother's wok!" More certain than ever that this wok was something extraordinary, Naruto quickly tossed the grain of spirit rice into the water.
Then he sat off to the side with the Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art bamboo scroll. Emulating the movements and breathing techniques depicted in the first picture, he began to cultivate.
He had only just begun when, suddenly, his eyes went wide; the posture which had been so difficult to maintain just the day before, was now much easier to assume. In fact, he actually felt very comfortable, without the slightest sensation of awkwardness. In addition, the breathing technique no longer left him feeling as if he were suffocating. Instead, he felt a very pleasant sensation.
Furthermore, he was absolutely certain that before today he could only maintain the posture for about three or four breaths of time, but this time, after seven or eight breaths, he didn't feel the least bit of pain or discomfort.
Suppressing his excitement, Naruto calmly continued until thirty breaths of time had passed. Just when he was finally starting to feel weak and uncomfortable, a strand of Chakra suddenly appeared inside of him. It was very cold, and swirled around rapidly; before it could make a full circle through his body, it vanished. However, Naruto was so excited he leapt to his feet.
"Chakra! Hahaha! Finally some Chakra appeared!" Bursting with excitement, he began to pace back and forth in his room. He quickly came to the conclusion that it must have something to do with all the precious materials he had consumed the previous night. Suddenly he wished he had eaten more.
"No wonder Elder Brother Choji would rather starve to death in the Ovens than go climb the ladder in the Outer Sect. Not even the Outer Sect disciples would have opportunities like this." Sitting down anxiously, he once again began to practice cultivation.
This time, he was able to maintain the posture and breathing for a full sixty breaths of time. At that point, a flow of Chakra appeared in him, almost a trickle, that rapidly circulated through his body.
Having experienced this once before, he was ready, and began to guide the Chakra through a specific path, as indicated by the first picture in the bamboo scroll.
Soon, the Chakra was flowing through him in just the way he wanted. He maintained the posture and movements indicated in the first illustration, and as he did, he could sense streams of coldness emerging from various parts of his body, almost like drops of water, which merged into the Chakra flow, causing it to grow larger and larger.
In the end, it was like a tiny stream, flowing in a continuous cycle. A tremor ran through him, and it was as if a layer of fog had suddenly been stripped away from his mind. A rumbling sound echoed out from his body.
He suddenly felt lighter and more agile than before. At the same time, globules of filth were expelled from the pores all over his body.
Unlike last time, the stream of Chakra inside of him didn't vanish, but instead, remained there, circulating through his body. Naruto opened his eyes, and they shone even more brightly than before. His mind even seemed to move a bit quicker and his body felt lighter and faster.
"A permanent Chakra vessel," he thought excitedly. "That's the sign that I've successfully cultivated the first level of the Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art! It also means that I've reached that, what's it called...? The first level of Chakra Condensation!" Naruto was overjoyed, and immediately ran to the washroom.
When Big Fatty Choji and the others saw him, they exchanged knowing glances. Although they were a bit surprised that Naruto had reached the first level so quickly, they all knew why it had happened.
After returning to his room, Naruto took a deep breath, and then began to study the bamboo scroll more thoroughly.
"After cultivating the first level of the Violet Chakra Cauldron Control Art, I should be able to control physical objects. Wow, this is basically an immortal magical technique. I should be able to shoot things through the air." Eyes shining, he followed the instructions prescribed in the scroll, moving both hands together in a special way to perform an incantation. Then, he waved his finger at the nearby desk. Instantly, the stream inside of him surged like a bucking bronco, racing toward his right index finger and then out through the tip of his finger.
It turned into something like an invisible thread, which then attached itself to the nearby desk. However, almost as soon as it reached the desk, the connection grew unstable, and the thread disintegrated.
Naruto's face went pale. After a moment of recuperation, he reviewed what he had just done, then decided to give up on moving the desk. Instead, he pulled out the wooden sword from his bag and placed it on top of the desk. He wasn't sure what type of wood the sword was made from, but despite being much lighter than the desk, it still seemed unusually heavy. He waved his finger toward it, and the wooden sword twitched, then slowly floated an inch up into the air before falling back down onto the desk.
Naruto was anything but discouraged. After a few more excited attempts, he was able to get the sword to rise higher and higher. Soon it was ten inches, then twenty, then thirty... By the time dusk fell, he could get the wooden sword to fly in a straight line. Although it wasn't very fast, and he couldn't quite make it turn, it wouldn't fall down as easily as it had when he first started practicing.
"Henceforth, I, Naruto, am an immortal!" He rose proudly to his feet, held his left hand behind his back, and then waved his right hand, causing the wooden sword to fly unsteadily back and forth in his room.
Eventually, his Chakra began to grow unstable, so he put the wooden sword away and continued to practice cultivation. Later, he caught wind of a fragrant aroma coming from the wok, causing him to raise his head and take a deep sniff. Suddenly feeling ravenous, he realized that he had been busy cultivating all day, and had completely forgotten about the spirit rice boiling in the wok. He immediately walked over and lifted the lid to look inside.
The moment he did, the strong, fragrant aroma of spirit rice wafted out. Furthermore, at some point during the process, a brilliant, glowing silver design had appeared on the surface of the rice!
The design was clearly visible, and when Naruto looked at it closely, he suddenly felt lost within the light. After a while, though, the design began to fade. He narrowed his eyes, and after some more thought, picked up the grain of spirit rice and held it in his hand for a closer look.
"That design looks really familiar..." His eyes flickered with a thoughtful gleam. He ducked his head to look under the stove, and saw that the fire had long since burned out. The pieces of wood were nothing more than ash now, and the design on the wok had once again faded into obscurity.
However, he could still tell that the silver design on the grain of rice was the same design as the one on the back of the wok.
He decided not to continue to investigate the design, and to be safe, chose not to eat the rice for the time being. Instead, he put it into his bag, sat there for a moment in contemplation, then left his hut to help Big Fatty Choji and the others.
Before long, half a month had passed. Naruto's cultivation progress had once again slowed down. However, after some discreet inquiries, he learned that silver designs never appeared on spirit rice when it was cooked.
His curiosity had definitely been piqued. The more he learned about it, the more it seemed that there was something special about this particular grain of rice, not to mention his wok, which seemed even stranger. A few days later, Third Fatty Kuro left the Ovens to go purchase supplies, giving Naruto the perfect opportunity to sneak into the Four Seas Room, a place where servants could get general information about cultivation.
On his way back to his hut, he did his best to conceal the excitement which filled his heart. After closing the door behind him, he immediately took out the grain of spirit rice and studied the silver design. Gradually, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
"When immortals practice cultivation, there are three skills they can't do without. The first is medicine concocting, the second is equipment forging, and the third is spirit enhancement!" Naruto thought back to the images he had dug up when searching through the ancient records in the Four Seas Room. One of them had closely resembled the silver design that was now visible on the grain of rice.
"Spirit enhancement!" After a moment, he took a long, deep breath.
Spirit enhancement was a special technique in which the energy of heaven and earth was forced into physical objects. It was a type of magic that essentially replaced the natural functions of nature, a technique which could be used on medicinal pills, incense, or magical items. Unfortunately, it was forbidden by heaven and earth, ensuring that the rate of success was limited. A success would lead to the item being vastly more powerful. A failure would result in the spiritual energy of the item becoming completely useless.
The most shocking thing about spirit enhancement was that it could be performed over and over again. Every success increased the effects of the spirit enhancement by tenfold, leading to heaven-shaking, earth-toppling transformations.
Of course, the more precious the item was to begin with, the more terrifying the results of success would be.
Unsurprisingly, the chances of success decreased with each enhancement. In fact, after a certain point, even some spirit enhancement grandmasters wouldn't dare to go any further. After all, the ramifications of a failure in that case would be difficult to accept.
"The ancient records said that the Spirit Stream Sect's guardian treasure is an item that was somehow enhanced ten times by spirit enhancement. The Heavenhorn Sword!" Naruto's throat felt dry. Eyes shining with disbelief and confusion, he swallowed and looked over at the turtle-shaped wok. There were ten faint decorative lines on the back of it, and when he looked at them, his heart began to beat so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.
As of this moment, he was sure that the design which had appeared on the spirit rice was a mark of spirit enhancement. Furthermore, the source of that design was none other than his wok!
After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth. If he didn't get to the bottom of this mystery, he wouldn't be able to sleep. He knew for a fact that this wok was something extraordinary, and therefore, he couldn't let anyone in on his secret.
He waited until it was late in the night, then very quietly tip-toed over to the wok. After taking a deep breath and trying not to think about what would happen if he failed, he pulled out his wooden sword and threw it inside, the same way he had thrown the grain of rice in.