NOVEL WEB Chapter 28: ch 28
11:48 AM – Isolated Training Zone, Stark Tower Basement
The silence here was only relative.
Between the low hum of generators, the metallic friction of retractable ceilings, and the soft whir of pressure sensors, the air seemed to breathe artificially.
But to Naruto, this place felt like a sanctuary.
Not for praying.
For passing something on.
He knelt at the center of the improvised dōjō, his black coat folded at the waist. The seal marks tattooed on his forearms pulsed faintly. In front of him stood Tony Stark in a lightweight suit—his torso covered by a catalytic chest plate, his arms bare, and his expression openly skeptical.
A few meters away, on a pale tatami mat, Natasha Romanoff sat cross-legged in training gear. Eyes closed. Breath steady. Her chakra… perceptible.
But unstable.
"Well. I'm ready to be spiritually whooped ninja-style. Tell me where I'm supposed to stick the incense," Tony quipped, arms crossed.
Naruto didn't answer. At least not with words. Just a barely-there smirk.
"Okay. Noted. Humor not received. This is going to be long."
"It's going to be new," Naruto finally said, opening his eyes slowly.
"Worse."
"Vital."
---
The Shin'yū no Musubi couldn't be taken. It had to be felt.
Naruto explained it like an ancient myth—with disarming simplicity.
> "This spiritual friendship bond isn't a pact. It's a vibration. A harmony. Like two instruments tuning to the same frequency."
Tony tried to laugh it off. But nothing came out.
He felt the gravity of the moment. Naruto placed two fingers lightly on his sternum. A subtle pressure. And a wave.
"Feel that?"
"Tingling."
"That's your chakra reacting—for the first time—to an external connection. Not a machine. Not metal. Me."
Tony frowned.
"You're saying your energy is… in my body?"
"Just an echo. An invitation."
Naruto opened his palm between them. A thin red filament, almost translucent, appeared—floating like a string of living energy.
"Shin'yū no Musubi. If you accept this resonance… you'll gain access to one percent of my strength, my longevity, and my chakra."
Tony stood still. One percent. Ridiculous on paper. And yet… nothing about this felt small.
He raised his hand.
"I survived an Afghan cave. Obadiah Stane. And my own guilt. If this bond can help me survive the rest…"
He laid his hand on Naruto's.
The filament pulsed.
> [ Spiritual Friendship Bond Activated.]
> [Access Granted: 1%. Connection in Progress.]
Tony staggered slightly. Images. Memories that weren't his. A lonely boy. A war. A promise to the dead. A hand reaching into darkness.
He found himself sitting on the ground, hands trembling.
"What… was that?"
"What you needed to know to carry a part of me. What I was… before I came here."
Tony didn't reply.
But he didn't joke either.
---
The training truly began.
Naruto guided Tony through breathing exercises. Not for oxygen—for resonance. So that the air entering his lungs wasn't just biological reflex, but a gateway. A loop.
Tony leaned into it.
He tried forming a basic mudrā. Failed. Tried again. And little by little… a sensation.
Something.
At 12:48 PM, he levitated a bolt.
At 1:14 PM, he wrapped his fist in a faint but stable red shimmer of chakra.
At 2:05 PM, he looked at Natasha with a new smile:
"I think I just felt my heart… smile."
And she, wordlessly, returned the smile.
---
For Natasha, the learning went deeper.
She already knew the bond with Naruto.
But to understand it? Stabilize it? Use it consciously? That was another thing entirely.
Naruto knelt before her.
"You feel my warmth, don't you? Even when you sleep."
"Yes."
"You sense my chakra sometimes, even when I'm far away."
"Yes."
"Then now, you have to use it. Not just carry it. Guide it."
He placed his hand gently on her forehead.
"You're more than a vessel. You're a conduit."
The Seishin no Musubi ignited between them. Like a slow flame stretched between two hearts.
And then, the training began.
Natasha repeated mudrā. Learned to slow her heart rate to direct her flows. To focus intent. To turn emotion into pure energy.
She failed.
Then failed again.
But never backed down.
And at 3:22 PM, a protective dome shimmered around her. Unstable. But real.
Naruto smiled.
"You just formed your first psychic defense."
She wiped a bead of sweat.
"I feel drained."
"That's normal. You just created a miracle."
She looked at him. Long and hard.
"And if I want to go further?"
"Then you'll have to learn to become one—even without me."
She nodded.
And for the first time, she channeled chakra through her fingers—without guidance. Free. Fluid. Alive.