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Although the shadow clones were mischievous, they still understood the importance of getting the job done.
A group of clones began pulling out tools, starting with diverting the river. This time, the process was even faster than before. With trees all around, they simply kicked them down, shoved them into the water, and blocked the flow with rocks and dirt.
The diverted water flowed into the forest, serving as irrigation. The muddy riverbed needed cleaning, so the clones filled large barrels with mud. Once they had enough, the clones carried the barrels through a portal and dumped them onto a tree in the Forest of Death, smashing the barrels to fertilize the area.
The entire Uzumaki construction crew, despite not being paid and having to cover their own food and lodging, worked with overwhelming enthusiasm—perhaps too much enthusiasm.
Suddenly, one clone shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" and charged toward an open area.
"BOOM!"
Mud flew into the air, leaving yet another massive crater. The rest of the shadow clones collapsed simultaneously, vibrating in perfect sync like industrial pile drivers.
Destroying their own kind seemed to be a family tradition, and the clones appeared to have inherited this trait.
The remaining clones continued working. Occasionally, one would lose its mind and explode, ending its short life with a bang.
Their final act was to deliver pain to their boss, reminding him that this was the consequence of not paying wages.
Meanwhile, the Third Hokage swallowed a few more painkillers. Earlier, one of the ANBU assigned to monitor Naruto had reported that he'd developed a new jutsu with considerable destructive power. Eager to see what Naruto was up to, Hiruzen pulled out his crystal ball to observe.
But almost immediately, he began to feel a headache coming on. "For heaven's sake, use your Shadow Clones for something productive! I didn't teach you this technique so you could turn them into construction workers or clay sculptors!"
And then there was the new jutsu. What was the point of it? It didn't guarantee hitting the enemy but ensured that everyone on their side would collapse. Was it really worth it just to dig up some soil?
As Hiruzen's head throbbed painfully, Konohamaru sneaked into his office.
"Grandpa, today I'm definitely going to beat you!"
Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose, sensing that something was off.
"Watch closely! Sexy Technique! Transform!"
Konohamaru wasn't half bad when it came to talent, especially with the Sexy Technique. He'd mastered it by noon and hurried over to challenge his grandfather in the afternoon.
Between the throbbing headache and the stress, Hiruzen's vision blurred, and he promptly fainted.
"Boss is truly amazing!" Konohamaru muttered after realizing he'd defeated his grandfather. But without any real effort on his part, the victory felt hollow, and he left, uninterested.
Before news of the Third Hokage fainting in his office at the hands of his grandson could spread, Hiruzen woke up and put a stop to it. The guards assumed he had simply been resting due to overwork.
On the other side, Naruto finally completed his pool project as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden glow over the landscape.
The water channels crisscrossed the area, forming seven or eight pools of varying depths. If Naruto hadn't remembered to cool down his clones' enthusiasm with ice, the construction might have gone on forever.
At first, he'd only planned to build one pool. But during construction, three craters were accidentally created by exploding clones. Rather than filling them in, Naruto decided to repurpose them into additional pools. Then, more explosions occurred during further construction.
Once the ice lowered the temperature, the clones stopped blowing themselves up at the construction site. Instead, they started detonating while transporting mud to the Forest of Death. True to its name, the Forest of Death claimed every clone that ventured there.
"I sent you to fertilize flowers, not scare animals with terrorist acts!" Naruto groaned. "This kind of performance art should be left to Deidara, not me. Exploding isn't part of my character—I'm a peaceful person from the 21st century who received a good education!"
But as the explosions continued, Naruto found that the pain became less intense.
Because he got used to it.
Moreover, he realized that the technique was viable. Right before exploding, the clones did unleash a burst of immense power.
It was like the force released when a pressure cooker suddenly blew up.
In the end, Naruto summarized the challenges he faced: heat dissipation. The human body couldn't expel such a massive amount of heat. If the process lasted too long, the result would likely resemble Might Guy after using Night Guy combined with a direct hit from Mei Terumi's Boil Release: Skilled Steam Murder. (Feel free to imagine the consequences.)
At that point, Naruto could only hope Shino's bugs would bite him to death, and Rock Lee would wrap him in bandages and place him inside Gaara's pyramid. Maybe then he could come back to wreak havoc in a thousand years.
Once the first issue was resolved, the second arose: how to maintain chakra temperature while dissipating heat from the body. Despite the physics experts of this world repeatedly rising from their graves, shaking their heads, and lying back down in an endless cycle, they still occasionally reminded him, "Young man, even if Amaterasu doesn't play fair, you still need to respect the Second Law of Thermodynamics."
Simultaneously cooling the body while heating chakra was utterly absurd.
After solving the first two problems, the third challenge emerged: physical endurance. The explosive force generated by heating chakra caused pressure to build up within the body due to inadequate heat dissipation.
In the end, the body would explode, sending a clear message: "Hero, please resurrect and try again."
These three interconnected issues drove Naruto so mad that he considered following his clones' example and exploding to achieve peace and quiet.
"I am a peaceful person, and I love peace," Naruto muttered to himself as he floated in the water wearing nothing but swim trunks, trying to calm his agitated mind after pondering these problems.
Changing one's beliefs from Marxism to ** was not something he should do lightly. Wait—lightly? He shouldn't do it at all!
"Aaaah!" Naruto grabbed his head in frustration, splashing water everywhere.
"These clones are toxic! Their influence is too strong!"
The more Naruto thought about it, the more irritated he became. Finally, he summoned another clone and sent it to the Forest of Death.
"BOOM!"
The pain returned, grounding Naruto and snapping him out of his spiral.
"Aaah! What was I doing just now?"
In the end, Naruto sank into the water, hoping the coolness of the river would soothe his frazzled nerves.
Once his emotions settled, Naruto climbed out of the water and prepared to continue his evening training.
He grabbed a mirror and checked his reflection, feeling like he looked better after a bath. Recalling iconic scenes from movies, Naruto flicked his hair dramatically under the dim evening light.
Then… two streams of water shot out of his ears.
"So, all those thoughts earlier were because water got into my brain, huh?"
With that realization, Naruto stopped overthinking. He put on his clothes and began his nightly iron-dragging exercise.
When he returned home that night, Kurama was still busy roasting his fur near the furnace, unable to play chess for another month. Left with nothing else to do, Naruto pulled out a beginner's piano book.
And… he started to feel anxious again. This thing was way too difficult! Two nights in, and he still couldn't make sense of it.
When humans experience an excess of negative emotions, they seek an outlet. As the saying goes, either you explode in silence or perish in silence.
Naruto chose the former—and perished spectacularly.
Amidst the chaos of shadow clones happily blowing themselves up in the Forest of Death (with the mindset that the original body wouldn't die anyway), Naruto suddenly realized he seemed to understand music now!
The book finally made sense!
As he drifted off to sleep, Naruto had only one thought:
What happened today? I just wanted to build a pool, and somehow it turned into this mess…