Chapter 64: Asuma Has an Existential Crisis, Sponsored by a 12-Year-Old

"Yeah," Garou replied casually. "Leaves do burn easily."

Asuma blinked.

…That wasn't the answer he was expecting.

He wasn't even sure why he asked in the first place. Maybe he thought Garou would surprise him. But this… this was just textbook botany.

Still, Asuma chuckled quietly to himself. It was ridiculous to expect a child, brilliant or not, to grasp something as nebulous as the Will of Fire.

Let alone explain it.

The Will of Fire wasn't some phrase from a scroll. It was something you felt, lived, earned, often through pain, sacrifice, and countless deaths. Garou was a genius, yes.

But he hadn't yet walked those paths.

And maybe that was okay.

Maybe just understanding what it meant to be part of a team… maybe that was enough, for now.

Asuma stood and brushed off his pants. He was about to excuse himself when Garou spoke again.

"I don't really understand the Will of Fire," he admitted, looking up from the smoldering papers. "But I do know that for a tree to grow, it first needs roots, a trunk, and a healthy environment. Only then can its leaves thrive."

Asuma froze mid-step.

He turned slowly to stare at the boy, caught between a laugh and a stunned silence.

His gaze drifted downward, thoughts spinning.

"…And what would you say the 'roots' are?"

"The roots are the roots," Garou replied earnestly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Plants grow from their root systems. No roots, no leaves."

Asuma blinked.

He'd asked that question out loud.

He hadn't even meant to, it had slipped, a quiet doubt from somewhere deep inside, voiced before his mind caught up. And Garou, unaware of its emotional weight, had given the most literal, and yet profound, answer imaginable.

No roots, no tree.

No foundation, no future.

It hit harder than Asuma expected.

All his life, he'd watched Konoha's leadership obsess over its metaphorical roots.

Especially Danzo.

But Danzo's version… it had always felt wrong.

Garou's take, in contrast, was simple and warm. A tree wasn't something to be hidden underground. It was something meant to grow, to support, to shelter.

"…Right," Asuma muttered. "You're absolutely right."

He smiled and raised a hand to ruffle Garou's hair, but the boy leaned away.

"Hey, don't touch someone's head. Especially not a smart person's head."

"Hahaha, fair enough," Asuma chuckled. "Alright, I owe you a meal next time."

Garou waved him off with a faint smile.

As Asuma disappeared into the twilight, Garou let out a slow breath.

Shaking his head, he turned back inside.

He had work to do.

After syncing briefly with his shadow clone, he sent it off to the Forest of Death. Garou poured a larger-than-usual portion of his chakra into the clone this time, nearly 70%. That left his main body with only 30% of his stamina and focus, but it was enough. He'd recover fast.

Of course, with so little energy left, he wouldn't be able to train jutsu or work on barrier seals tonight.

So instead… he decided to check in on Tenten.

With all the time that had passed, she must've made some progress on her chakra tool training.

Her family lived on the outskirts of the village in a quieter, more open part of town. Their backyard doubled as a forge, complete with bellows, anvils, and even a charcoal kiln.

He spotted the cart out front, used to haul weapons and tools to various vendors, and followed the trail of smoke curling from the chimney.

The forge running this late wasn't typical.

Most forging in Tenten's household was done in the morning or just after lunch, when the air was cooler.

Is she experimenting?

Garou hurried his pace.

From the street, he could already hear the sharp rhythm of hammering, metal striking metal in perfect intervals.

He peeked inside.

There she was.

Tenten, sleeves rolled up, a light sheen of sweat across her forehead, working alone under the dim glow of the forge.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

A bell chimed above the gate as he stepped closer.

"Who's there?" she called out sharply, pausing mid-strike.

"It's me," Garou said, hopping into view. "Didn't expect you to set traps. I nearly missed that one."

Tenten looked up, blinking. Then her face brightened.

"Garou-kun! I thought you were swamped with the Fire Temple deal?"

"I just wrapped it up."

She nodded knowingly.

"I heard from Kakashi-sensei. Sounded like it was a massive project."

"It was. But now I've got some time, so I figured I'd check in. Chakra tools are rare and important, can't let the research stall."

"You're not wrong," she said, returning to her work. "I've finished the books you lent me. Been practicing my forging ever since."

From the way she hammered, it looked like she was working on a blade of some kind.

Garou kept quiet.

Despite having read a decent amount on tool creation, actual forging was still beyond him. He didn't know the exact procedures, only the broad strokes, and who knew if modern blacksmithing rules even applied in this world?

So he observed.

"Truth is," Tenten said after a few minutes, "I kept thinking and thinking, but nothing was clicking. Then my dad told me something obvious. Stop thinking. Just start hammering."

"Sounds right."

"I've also managed to train my hands to stay stable in Limitless Leaf State now."

"Good. That's essential."

"I've been working on a theory, too. About your armor idea, the 'infinite core' or whatever you called it. It might not be possible. At least not yet. Not with what Konoha can build."

"I don't need perfection," Garou said. "Just basic storage capability for now."

"That's what I figured. And for that, I think I've got a prototype we can try."

She wiped her hands, then handed over a worn notebook.

At the end was a full schematic, an early concept diagram for a chakra-enhanced storage weapon.

Garou flipped through it.

From what he could see, the mechanical layout was solid. She had clearly studied well. But the sealing and array work still needed help.

"Tenten, your hardware design's great, but the chakra arrays… they're not quite viable yet. Some are inefficient. Others are a bit too idealistic."

"Well," she shrugged, "I didn't want to hold things up, so I drafted what I could. But yeah, I'm still learning the seal side."

Garou sat on a stone bench and pulled out a pen.

"Give me a sec. I'll rewrite the final draft for testing. Let's take it to the Hokage tomorrow, see if we can build a trial version."

"Already?" she asked, blinking.

"If we wait too long, the official labs will finish dissecting the Four Legendary Ninja Tools, and we'll be left picking scraps."

"…Good point."

She leaned over his shoulder, watching him sketch.

"But what about materials? Chakra-infused iron's not cheap."

"Let the village supply them," Garou said bluntly. "Why should we pay out of pocket? I already used my stockpile for personal experiments."

He shot her a look. "We've done enough for Konoha to deserve some backing. If the Hokage says no…"

"…We ask Danzo," she finished, smirking.

"Exactly."

Once he finished the revision, he passed it over.

Tenten stared at the new blueprint.

She swallowed. "Why did you change so much?"

"Your design was too ambitious. Too expensive. It was flawless for a final version, but we don't need that yet. What we need is a prototype."

"But without chakra-infused iron, how can we store anything?"

Garou smiled.

"Shadow clones," he replied simply.

Tenten froze.

Then it clicked. Her logic had been bound by conventional materials. She assumed they needed rare metals to act as chakra containers.

But if the system was stabilized through clones…

No need for chakra iron at all.

Just synchronization, and a good sealing array.

Suddenly, the impossible looked practical.

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