Flying Thunder God

In the Senju's underground laboratory that evening, Tobirama Senju sat at a long table, writing and sketching, leaving precise spatial coordinate lines on the paper.

His expression was grave. This was the most crucial step in the Flying Thunder God Technique: constructing a network of spatial anchors that could be traced in reverse.

Suddenly, the air warped, and a pale, slender hand reached out of the void. Droplets of blood that had yet to clot clung to its fingertips as it gripped his wrist firmly.

"The third marker point needs to be changed." Utsusemi's ethereal voice echoed.

Tobirama Senju looked up sharply. Utsusemi's blood trickled down along his veins and dripped onto the tabletop, leaving dark red stains.

Not long ago, the girl had been folding Explosive Tags into paper cranes and secretly drawing on the laboratory bench.

Now her Tenseigan shimmered with light, and fine Chakra Threads wound around all ten of her fingertips.

They traced a complex geometric structure in the air: a model of spatial folding that even Tobirama had yet to fully conceive.

Utsusemi had only been involved in the Flying Thunder God research for a little over a month. The theories she had written on wrapping paper under "Teacher Five*'s little lessons" had now entered the practical stage.

She stood in the center of the laboratory, and the entire space was enveloped in a strange energy field.

She used her Tenseigan to fix the spatial coordinates, constructed a passage with the Limitless Cursed Technique, and finally used Yin-Yang Release...

"You'll die." Tobirama pulled his bleeding wrist free, his face cold. "Your meridians can't withstand continuous spatial jumps."

He reached out to feel Utsusemi's feverish forehead. Her normal temperature was only 36 degrees, but now she had reached a heat only found in a Sage Body. "Stop. Your brain tissue is overheating."

But Utsusemi smiled, her smile so innocent it was almost pathological. "Yin-Yang Release will reshape everything."

She tilted her head and smiled. "I'll always have the freshest meridians and brains."

Her fingers continued to dance in the void, and the spatial model shifted constantly under her control. It grew more and more complex, and more and more dangerous.

The laboratory's four walls began to tremble slightly, as though reality itself were being redefined.

Just then, the door opened. Itama pushed it open with dinner in hand, and this was the scene he saw.

Itama quickly cleaned up every trace of Utsusemi's blood, deftly and swiftly destroying the biological samples.

He had long since grown used to cleaning up afterward. Destroying traces of blood was basic training for a ninja.

Utsusemi was leaning against Tobirama, guiding his fingers with hers and showing him how to touch the spatial coordinates.

Her gentle voice sounded almost like she was talking in her sleep. "It should be like playing the shamisen..."

She rested her head against Tobirama's chest, her eyes hazy. "The rhythm of the spatial folds matters more than Hand Seals."

The instant Tobirama Senju touched the coordinates, the laboratory began to turn insubstantial.

The edges of the tables and chairs blurred, the lights stretched into bands, and the air rippled like water.

The world was slipping into another dimension.

Itama watched it all silently, his little face full of worry.

A second before everything became completely insubstantial, Tobirama's right hand, forming the seals in reverse, burst with dazzling blue light, and the strange phenomenon stopped instantly.

The spatial vibrations came to an abrupt halt, and the laboratory returned to normal.

Only the residual energy fluctuations in the air proved that what had just happened had not been an illusion.

When the Flying Thunder God inscriptions appeared on the scroll, Utsusemi's mark was a curious one: a long-haired cat wearing a blindfold, drawn in a single uninterrupted stroke.

"That's... Gojo Cat!" Utsusemi leaned against his knee, her cheeks flushed and her consciousness already fading.

She tried to get up, but she swayed as though walking on cotton and finally collapsed limply back into his arms, hot steam rising from her hair.

Tobirama Senju restrained her on his lap to prevent her from making another spatial jump while she was delirious.

He lowered his head and continued recording the experimental data:

Spatial folding error rate: 0.0007%. The theoretical maximum jump distance could reach ninety kilometers, but the user's physiological tolerance was limited to only four consecutive jumps...

Utsusemi was an exception. She had already completed seven unstable jumps over a distance of eight hundred kilometers.

But the price was an overheated central nervous system, fragmented memories, and a brief dissociation of her personality.

"Second Brother!" Itama suddenly rushed in, holding up a torn page covered in crayon scribbles, his voice on the verge of tears. "Big Sister said she was going out to bask in the moonlight!"

On it was a "Flying Thunder God safety manual" drawn in crayon. A crooked stick figure wore a black blindfold, with a note beside it: "Remember to fasten your spatial seat belt~♥"

Tobirama Senju abruptly lifted the haori on his lap, only to see a Shadow Clone grinning foolishly and flashing him a victory sign.

With a pop, the Shadow Clone vanished, leaving behind only a puff of smoke.

Utsusemi was already nowhere to be found in the laboratory. She had completed a spatial jump in a state as though her sanity had evaporated, and no one knew where she had gone.

At noon the following day, Hashirama pushed open the laboratory door, and the sight before him made him freeze.

The floor was covered with sixteen kinds of spatial coordinate conversion charts. Draft papers lay scattered like snowflakes, and scrolls were piled layer upon layer into small mountains.

Tobirama sat in the middle of the wreckage, his tired face vacant, a pen still in his hand.

"So..." Hashirama carefully stepped around the jumble of documents on the floor and asked, "Have you successfully developed the Flying Thunder God?"

"The theoretical verification is complete," Tobirama explained hoarsely. "Only the practical test remains. Did you find Utsusemi?"

Where did Utsusemi jump to?

Although she was strong enough to protect herself and had never made enemies with anyone, Tobirama was still deeply worried. She had little combat experience and might come to harm.

"No need," Hashirama said lightly, scratching his head and laughing. "Itama said Utsusemi just came back on her own. There's no need to worry about her."

Deep in the valley, a stream reflected the distorted moonlight. Utsusemi's boot tips touched lightly against the stones, her figure swaying like an illusion.

Her consciousness was hazy, and she could not tell whether what she saw in the water was the moon's reflection or her own dissipating soul.

But she laughed, freely and exuberantly.

It was the first time since transmigrating that she had felt such pure freedom.

There were no rules or restraints, no boundaries between past and future.

She spread her arms, wanting to embrace the entire moon.

Her laughter echoed through the valley, carrying madness and release.