Training Ground 7 was soaked in mid-morning light, warm and wide and quiet in a way that made the entire place feel like a held breath. The grass shimmered. A slow breeze combed through the trees.
Ethan stood in the clearing with his arms crossed behind his back, posture straight but relaxed, watching the two boys arrive from opposite sides of the field like poorly-synchronized meteors.
Naruto burst in first—
arms flailing, grin too big for his face, half-eaten onigiri in hand.
Sasuke followed moments later—
slow, silent, vaguely irritated that Naruto was loud so early in the day.
Ethan only raised an eyebrow.
"Morning," he said.
Naruto waved energetically.
Sasuke grunted something approximating a greeting.
Perfect.
Everyone was in character.
---
I. Ethan's Announcement — "Today you're working together."
Ethan clapped his hands once.
"Alright. You two have individual chakra burst techniques now. Good. But today we go further."
Naruto perked up.
Sasuke looked mildly suspicious.
Ethan smiled.
"Today you learn your first joint technique."
Naruto gasped dramatically.
"LIKE—LIKE A SUPER MEGA ULTRA TEAM MOVE?!"
Sasuke's eye twitched.
"I refuse to name anything 'Ultra.'"
Naruto shoved him.
"DON'T RUIN MY DREAMS!"
Ethan held up a finger.
"Not naming it. Not today. First, you learn to synchronize chakra output for three seconds. Only three."
Sasuke crossed his arms. "Synchronize… with him?"
Naruto glared. "YOU SAY THAT LIKE IT'S HARD—!"
"It is hard," Ethan said calmly. "Both of you generate chakra very differently. Naruto uses volume and emotional ignition. Sasuke uses tension, structure, and compression. Combining those without exploding something is… tricky."
Naruto immediately brightened.
"We're gonna explode something?!"
"No," Ethan said firmly. "Not intentionally."
Naruto looked mildly disappointed.
---
II. Explaining Resonance — "Opposites make the strongest current."
Ethan drew two circles in the dirt.
Blue.
Red.
"Think of your chakra like sound waves. Naruto is loud—"
"HECK YEAH—"
"—and Sasuke is precise."
Sasuke nodded, satisfied.
"Loud waves and precise waves don't cancel each other. They create a new kind of wave: resonance. Stronger. Sharper. More stable. But only if you link your output for a moment."
Naruto tilted his head.
"Like… holding hands?"
Sasuke recoiled like someone suggested he lick a frog.
"We're not—"
"No," Ethan said tiredly. "Just stand close. Focus. Match each other's breathing."
Naruto snickered. "We're breathing buddies!"
Sasuke looked physically pained.
Ethan clapped again.
"Line up. Deep breaths."
---
III. The Attempt — "This is… a disaster."
Naruto and Sasuke stood shoulder-to-shoulder.
Naruto bounced.
Sasuke radiated quiet suffering.
"Okay," Ethan said. "Match breaths. Naruto, slow down. Sasuke, loosen up."
They tried.
They failed instantly.
Naruto inhaled too fast.
Sasuke inhaled too shallow.
Naruto's chakra spiked.
Sasuke's chakra contracted.
The air between them vibrated unevenly.
Ethan raised a brow.
"Again."
They tried again.
This time Naruto tried too hard to match Sasuke—
breathing so shallow he looked like a dying goldfish.
"WHY IS THIS HARD?!" Naruto wheezed.
"Because you're an idiot," Sasuke muttered.
But Sasuke wasn't doing much better—
his shoulders were too tense, his posture too stiff.
Ethan felt a headache forming.
"Okay," he said. "You're both banned from talking for the next three minutes."
Naruto gasped. "WHAT—?!"
"Talking ban starts now."
Naruto made a strangled noise but obeyed.
Sasuke looked peacefully relieved.
---
IV. Alignment — "They don't realize they're syncing."
Ethan stepped behind them.
"Close your eyes."
They did.
"Listen to the wind."
Leaves rustled softly.
"Listen to each other's breathing."
At first, it was awkward.
Naruto's breaths quick.
Sasuke's breaths steady.
But after ten seconds…
Naruto slowed without realizing.
Sasuke deepened without trying.
After thirty seconds…
the air between them warmed.
After forty…
Ethan felt it.
Two chakra signatures with opposite frequency patterns
beginning to align.
One bright and wild.
One focused and compressed.
The resonance built like the hum of distant thunder.
Naruto's whisker marks tingled.
Sasuke's fingers twitched with static.
Ethan smiled softly.
"Good… good. Now—push chakra outward. Gentle. Together."
---
V. The Birth of a Joint Technique — "A flash, a shock, a moment of perfect unity."
Naruto's chakra flared—
—but for the first time, it didn't explode.
It spread, like heat through water.
Sasuke's chakra followed—
not resisting, not overriding—
but shaping the direction Naruto created.
Like a hand catching a wild current.
Naruto gasped.
Sasuke blinked.
Their chakra streams met in the air between them.
And then—
FWUMP—
A contained shockwave rippled outward,
grass bending in a perfect ring,
leaves fluttering upward as though gravity forgot them.
The energy didn't burst.
It blended.
A golden-blue halo glowed around both boys.
Ethan felt it in his bones—
Team Resonance Level 1 Achieved.
Naruto's eyes shot open.
"DID WE DO IT?! DID WE REALLY DO IT?!"
Sasuke stared at his own hands.
"…That was… surprisingly stable."
Naruto rounded on him.
"STABLE? THAT WAS AWESOME!"
Ethan lifted a hand, halting the incoming argument.
"You both did extremely well. This was your first step into multi-user chakra forms. Harder than anything I've taught you so far."
Naruto beamed.
Sasuke tried not to, but the corners of his mouth betrayed him.
---
VI. The Node Responds — "Trajectory: Enhanced."
Ethan felt a shimmer in the air—
the faint, familiar presence of the Panel overlaying the world.
[NARUTO NODE — SYNC EVENT DETECTED]
Naruto–Sasuke Resonance: Unlocked
Potential: High
Stability: Moderate
Risk: Low
Team Formation Boost: +12%
[RECOMMENDATION]
Future technique fusion possible.
Maintain joint drills.
Ethan exhaled, satisfied.
Everything was going right.
---
VII. Aftermath — "Kids being kids again."
Sasuke stepped back, inspecting the tiny crater they'd formed.
Naruto stepped forward—
—and tripped into it.
Sasuke snorted.
Naruto popped up, grass in his hair.
"THAT WAS TOTALLY ON PURPOSE."
"Everything you do is 'on purpose,'" Sasuke said.
"It IS!"
Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Alright," he said finally. "Cool down, then we run through it again. Three more sync attempts before lunch."
Naruto pumped a fist.
Sasuke nodded.
But when they thought Ethan wasn't looking—
Naruto elbowed Sasuke lightly.
Sasuke didn't shove him away.
A tiny, silent victory.
Ethan smiled.
The future of Team 7 was slowly taking shape.
And he was right where he needed to be.