Naruto: The Legend of Red Haired Shanks

At this moment, somewhere on the sea, Shanks suddenly felt something. 

He turned his gaze toward Jiraiya's direction. 

"That's strange… this weird feeling… did something just happen?" 

This was the first time Shanks had ever experienced something like this. 

It wasn't the will of the world appearing—it was his Observation Haki giving him a natural instinct. 

But there was no sense of malice or anything else—just an odd pull. At the same time, he could feel a strange ripple in his spiritual energy for a brief moment. 

"Captain, what's wrong?" 

Amado and Shisui both looked at Shanks. 

Shisui, noticing Shanks suddenly zoning out, became alert, but he couldn't sense anything unusual. There were no enemies nearby. 

"I felt like a bit of my spiritual energy was taken away just now… not sure why." 

Shanks scratched his head as he spoke. 

"Spiritual energy?" 

"That doesn't sound good…" 

Amado sounded concerned. He had no clue how spiritual energy worked. 

It always felt like anything related to it just didn't follow any logical rules. 

"It's fine. I'll recover after a good sleep." 

"That much?" 

Hearing Shanks' words, Shisui was a little surprised. 

Amado, on the other hand, just looked at Shisui curiously. 

"Is that a lot?" 

Amado had no understanding of these things. 

He didn't even have chakra, so even if they explained it to him, he might not get it. 

"For a normal person, yeah, it's a lot." 

Shisui nodded and explained to Amado. 

"Ninjas create chakra by combining physical energy and spiritual energy. 

Sage Mode requires natural energy too, which means an even greater demand for spiritual energy. 

Shanks has surpassed Sage Mode, which means his spiritual energy is far beyond even the most talented members of the Uzumaki Clan." 

"Not to mention, Shanks' spiritual energy is strong enough to affect the Dragon Veins… and even influence the will of the world itself." 

"So, for him to feel like he lost even a tiny bit of spiritual energy… that means it was actually an enormous amount." 

"How enormous are we talking?" 

Amado asked straightforwardly. 

"Well… about enough to let the Eight-Tails unleash its full power." 

Shanks replied. That was the best comparison he could make—he hadn't interacted much with the other Tailed Beasts. 

If it were the Nine-Tails, the energy might be even greater. 

"..." 

"..." 

The moment Shanks said that, not only did Shisui go silent, but Amado did too. 

Amado didn't fully understand how ninjas worked, 

but he definitely knew what kind of monster the Eight-Tails was. 

Orochimaru's group even had part of the Eight-Tails, 

and the research data had been shared with Amado—so he was quite familiar with Tailed Beasts. 

The Eight-Tails? 

That thing isn't something normal people can control. 

If an ordinary person lost that much spiritual energy, they'd be dead already. 

And yet, here Shanks was, acting like it was no big deal—just sleep it off?

"As expected, the gap between people can be huge." 

Amado looked up at the sky, while Shisui beside him was at a loss for words. 

"By the way, is the difference between the Uzumaki and Uchiha bloodlines really that big?" 

Amado asked. Shanks and Shisui had come to find him out of curiosity—they wanted to see the cloning experiments he was conducting on the ship. 

Amado also took the opportunity to check their bodies, trying to understand what was going on with them. 

And that's how they ended up in this situation. 

"I'm not sure, but normal Uzumaki clan members definitely aren't like Shanks." 

Shisui shook his head. Shanks' physique was anything but normal. They were all from ninja bloodlines, so why was he so much stronger? 

"We still don't have a clear answer, but I get the feeling that someone like Captain Shanks just can't be cloned. There are too many unpredictable factors." 

"On the other hand, Uchiha blood, like what Shisui has, should be possible to study given enough time." 

Even though they hadn't made any breakthroughs yet, Amado could already draw some conclusions based on his experience. 

Both the Uchiha and Uzumaki bloodlines were very stable, which meant they weren't just random mutations. But Shanks? He was an exception within the Uzumaki clan. 

"Could it be because of natural energy? Normal people can't control natural energy, so it affecting my body isn't too surprising, right?" 

Shanks thought about it. His chakra had already been reabsorbed back into his body, but ever since he reached the Reverse Sage Mode, natural energy had been flowing through him effortlessly. 

When necessary, he could even control some of it, though it wasn't the same as Senjutsu chakra. 

And the only reason he could do this seemed to be his incredibly strong mental energy. But how strong was it exactly? Even Shanks himself didn't know. 

Whenever he needed to use a certain power, he just had to think about it, and it would happen. Even if the power wasn't there, he could somehow force it into existence through sheer willpower. 

That was why Orochimaru, despite borrowing the power of the world's will and the Dragon Vein, still had to fight Shanks for so long. 

Even when it looked like Shanks was completely spent, he could always squeeze out just a little more power. 

"This does make sense. Under the influence of natural energy, the body mutating isn't unusual at all." 

"But normally, such mutations should be uncontrollable. There's a high chance of turning into some kind of monster, unless the human body has something similar to ninja blood that regulates the natural energy." 

Amado shook his head. This was all just speculation for now. He still needed to properly study the Uzumaki and Uchiha bloodlines first. 

Honestly, as an ordinary person, he felt a little jealous of these ninja clans. They didn't even have to try—they were just naturally stronger than most people from birth. 

On paper, the difference wasn't that huge—about 0.3 to 0.6 higher than normal humans. 

It didn't seem like much, but that was just the starting point. 

The real problem in the ninja world wasn't just the gap between ninja clans and ordinary people. Sure, the starting points were different, but ordinary people could always work harder, right? 

The problem was that ninjas weren't like lazy aristocrats who sat around doing nothing. 

They had a head start, more resources, and they still worked insanely hard. How were ordinary people supposed to compete with that? They couldn't. 

Forget ninjas—just look at the class system in Shanks' old world. Even if everyone started at the same level, the ones with better resources always had the advantage. Ordinary people still had no way to rise up. 

"Something similar to ninja blood? I have no idea. I don't know much about ninja clans." 

"Me neither." 

Hearing Amado's words, both Shanks and Shisui suddenly looked clueless. 

Shanks only understood the general concept—he had no idea about the details. 

"But even if you can't clone ninja bloodlines, being able to clone normal people is already impressive." 

"Still, since you've come this far, why not make more clones? Wouldn't that speed up your research, Amado?" 

Shanks and Shisui turned their attention back to Amado. In fact, there was already a cloned body of Amado on the ship, but it had been kept sealed inside a cultivation pod, never awakened. 

"This is just a living corpse. It doesn't have my memories or the necessary conditions to function properly. 

To fully activate it, I have to die first. Only then can it be awakened." 

Amado explained again. 

They had been researching cloning technology for a long time, but there were still major flaws in the process. 

"Orochimaru's research facility has some tissue samples from the Eight-Tails, Gyuki. They've been using cloning technology to replicate it. 

But those cloned tissues only contain the Eight-Tails' power—they don't have its mind or soul." 

"That's the biggest flaw of cloning technology right now. It can only create a body." 

"The Eight-Tails? Honestly, being able to clone a body at all is already impressive. But cloning the real thing? That's impossible." 

Shanks added, and as he thought about the Tailed Beasts, another question crossed his mind. 

 "The nature of a Tailed Beast is actually quite similar to that of a Devil Fruit. You could even say that a Tailed Beast is like the strongest Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit. 

So, just like Devil Fruits, they are unique." 

Shanks pointed it out. 

Tailed Beasts and Devil Fruits share many similarities. In fact, Devil Fruit users and Tailed Beast Jinchuriki are pretty much the same. 

The key difference is that Jinchuriki aren't weak to water since they haven't eaten a Devil Fruit and don't carry the traits of the original Divine Tree. 

Likewise, White Zetsu isn't affected either, because it also lacks the Divine Tree's characteristics. 

"When you put it that way, it makes sense. But Jinchuriki power is much harder to control. Compared to that, Devil Fruit abilities are easier to handle." 

Shisui suddenly realized—could Tailed Beasts actually be a branch of Devil Fruits? 

They don't have too many side effects, but their advantages aren't that overwhelming either. And in the worst-case scenario, they could be deadly. 

"Devil Fruit abilities are actually hard to control too. Most users can only develop them at a basic level." 

Amado looked at Shanks, assuming he would understand this point. 

"Yeah!" 

Shanks nodded. He didn't expect Amado to be researching Devil Fruits as well. 

As expected of a genius. Meanwhile, someone like him, who didn't like to think too much, figured it was best to just sit back and listen. 

"It's actually quite similar to Tailed Beasts." 

"Some Jinchuriki can't fully use their Tailed Beast's power, while others can use it perfectly. And then there are the rare few who can go beyond the Tailed Beast's own limits." 

"This kind of phenomenon exists with Devil Fruit users too—it's called Awakening. It allows the power of the fruit to surpass its original limits." 

After Shanks finished speaking, Shisui suddenly had a thought. 

"It sounds like… chakra nature transformation?" 

Shisui's words immediately made Shanks realize something. If you looked at it that way, wasn't Awakening basically the same as chakra nature transformation? 

"A genius-level idea. As expected from my… crew member." 

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