diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/sql/internal/ResultSetMappingProcessor.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/sql/internal/ResultSetMappingProcessor.java
index 0ed5efced51c..a6915963ba65 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/sql/internal/ResultSetMappingProcessor.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/sql/internal/ResultSetMappingProcessor.java
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ private List<String> columnNames(
 
 	private NavigablePath determineNavigablePath(LegacyFetchBuilder fetchBuilder) {
 		final var ownerResult = alias2Return.get( fetchBuilder.getOwnerAlias() );
-		final NavigablePath path;
+		NavigablePath path;
 		if ( ownerResult instanceof NativeQuery.RootReturn rootReturn ) {
 			path = rootReturn.getNavigablePath();
 		}
@@ -270,6 +270,9 @@ else if ( ownerResult instanceof DynamicFetchBuilderLegacy dynamicFetchBuilderLe
 		else {
 			throw new AssertionFailure( "Unexpected fetch builder" );
 		}
+		if ( alias2CollectionPersister.containsKey( fetchBuilder.getOwnerAlias() ) ) {
+			path = path.append( "{element}" );
+		}
 		return path.append( fetchBuilder.getFetchable().getFetchableName() );
 	}
 
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/orm/test/query/NativeQueryNestedTree.java b/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/orm/test/query/NativeQueryNestedTree.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..531ed8d12cb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/orm/test/query/NativeQueryNestedTree.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * Copyright Red Hat Inc. and Hibernate Authors
+ */
+package org.hibernate.orm.test.query;
+
+import jakarta.persistence.*;
+import org.hibernate.cfg.AvailableSettings;
+import org.hibernate.testing.orm.junit.*;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertDoesNotThrow;
+
+/**
+ * This reproduces an issue in Hibernate 6 parsing native queries.
+ */
+@DomainModel(
+	annotatedClasses = {
+		NativeQueryNestedTree.Tree.class,
+		NativeQueryNestedTree.Forest.class
+	}
+)
+@ServiceRegistry(
+	settings = {
+		@Setting(name = AvailableSettings.SHOW_SQL, value = "true"),
+		@Setting(name = AvailableSettings.HBM2DDL_AUTO, value = "create")
+	}
+)
+@SessionFactory
+@JiraKey(value = "HHH-18871")
+public class NativeQueryNestedTree {
+
+	@Test
+	public void test(SessionFactoryScope scope) {
+		// We want to make sure 'Could not locate TableGroup' no longer is thrown
+		assertDoesNotThrow( () -> scope.inTransaction( session ->
+			session.createNativeQuery( """
+				SELECT {t.*}, {t2.*}, {t3.*}
+				FROM TREE t
+				INNER JOIN tree t2 ON t2.parent_id = t.id
+				INNER JOIN tree t3 ON t3.parent_id = t2.id
+			""" )
+				.addEntity( "t", Tree.class )
+				.addJoin( "t2", "t.children" )
+				.addJoin( "t3", "t2.children" )
+				.list()
+		) );
+
+		assertDoesNotThrow( () -> scope.inTransaction( session ->
+			session.createNativeQuery("""
+				SELECT {t.*}, {t2.*}, {t3.*}, {t4.*}
+				FROM tree t
+				INNER JOIN tree t2 ON t2.parent_id = t.id
+				INNER JOIN tree t3 ON t3.parent_id = t2.id
+				INNER JOIN tree t4 ON t4.parent_id = t3.id
+			""")
+				.addEntity("t", Tree.class)
+				.addJoin("t2", "t.children")
+				.addJoin("t3", "t2.children")
+				.addJoin("t4", "t3.children")
+				.list()
+		) );
+
+		assertDoesNotThrow( () -> scope.inTransaction( session ->
+			session.createNativeQuery("""
+				SELECT {f.*}, {t.*}, {t2.*}
+				FROM forest f
+				INNER JOIN tree t ON t.parent_id IS NULL
+				INNER JOIN tree t2 ON t2.parent_id = t.id
+			""")
+				.addEntity("f", Forest.class)
+				.addJoin("t", "f.trees")
+				.addJoin("t2", "t.children")
+				.list()
+		) );
+	}
+
+	@Entity(name = "Tree")
+	@Table(name = "tree")
+	public static class Tree {
+		@ManyToOne(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
+		@JoinColumn(name = "parent_id")
+		private Tree parent;
+		@OneToMany(mappedBy = "parent", cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
+		private Set<Tree> children = new HashSet<>();
+		@Id
+		@GeneratedValue
+		private long id;
+	}
+
+	@Entity(name = "Forest")
+	@Table(name = "forest")
+	public static class Forest {
+		@Id
+		@GeneratedValue
+		private Long id;
+		@OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
+		@JoinColumn(name = "forest_id")
+		private Set<Tree> trees = new HashSet<>();
+	}
+}