Tailed Beast!

"Learning Sensing Jutsu?"

Hearing Kushina's arrangement, Shinichi was not surprised.

At the same time, he did not look down on Sensing Jutsu just because he had already mastered the Byakugan. As Kushina had said, Sensing Jutsu and the Byakugan were entirely different.

The Byakugan provided a full 360-degree field of vision without blind spots. Those who awakened the Byakugan could even extend their sight over areas more than a kilometer away.

Every pair of Byakugan in the Hyuga Clan had a different viewing range, but most fell within that scope. Even Shinichi Hyuga's Byakugan could "only" cover a range of five kilometers at most.

Moreover, limited by the user's ability to process information, Byakugan users often needed to focus intensely when scouting distant enemies.

Its range was relatively small, but its precision was extraordinarily high. That was the defining trait of Byakugan perception.

However, the kind of Sensing Jutsu Kushina spoke of was rather different. Sensing Jutsu generally focused on detecting Chakra. Things that did not carry Chakra could not be sensed, and its precision was nowhere near comparable to the Byakugan.

In exchange, Sensing Jutsu had a much larger range than the Byakugan. Of course, that also depended on the user's own capabilities; not everyone could possess such a vast sensing range.

Among the foremost users of Sensing Jutsu were the Fourth Hokage and the Second Hokage, the two masters of the Flying Thunder God.

The Second Hokage's sensing ability was extremely powerful. Simply by placing his hand on the ground, he could accurately detect an enemy's location, numbers, and even the relative strength of certain individuals.

The Fourth Hokage's sensing ability was just as terrifying. He could even sense the battlefield of the Fourth Shinobi World War a hundred kilometers away from within the shrine where he had been revived by the Impure World Reincarnation.

The typical traits of Sensing Jutsu were its strong specificity, its effect on individuals possessing Chakra, and its sufficiently vast range.

For the Flying Thunder God, the user needed to sense the location of their marks. In that regard, the Byakugan was comparatively weak. After all, in the middle of battle, who had the time to carefully search for a mark within their field of vision?!

But Sensing Jutsu was different. The moment one sensed their own Chakra, they could perform a Space Jump.

The Byakugan and Sensing Jutsu were ultimately two separate systems.

In this regard, even Jiraiya, Minato's teacher, was far inferior to Minato Namikaze. Jiraiya needed to actively use a technique like the Ceiling Cover Formation to sense an enemy's location, but Minato Namikaze did not even need hand signs to sense enemies.

Many of the ninja who failed to learn the Flying Thunder God had lacked the talent for Sensing Jutsu.

The Uzumaki Clan's secret sensing technique was the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, which could easily cover a range of ten kilometers.

"Sensing Jutsu is also called enemy-detection ninjutsu."

"Put simply, it means sensing different Chakra."

"Whether it is an enemy's or your own, you need to sense and distinguish that Chakra."

"The technique I'm going to teach you is called the Mind's Eye of the Kagura."

"Blend your own Chakra into the air and use it to expand your sensing range."

"How far you can sense depends on your individual ability."

"I'll teach you the hand signs. Try casting it first and see what it feels like."

Under Kushina's guidance, Shinichi began training in the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. Before this, he had thought the Mind's Eye of the Kagura was a Kekkei Genkai exclusive to the Uzumaki Clan, but now it seemed that it could at most be considered a Secret Technique, not a Kekkei Genkai.

Moreover, its method of use was quite unusual. Unlike Nagato's sensing technique, Rain Tiger Vision, this technique combined Chakra with the air to expand one's sensing range.

Nagato's technique, on the other hand, combined Chakra with rain, allowing every place in the Rain Country where it rained to fall within Nagato's sensing range.

After understanding the basic principles of Sensing Jutsu, Shinichi could roughly understand why Tobirama could sense an enemy's location and strength merely by touching the ground.

The basic principle was probably the same. It was simply that the object combined with the Chakra differed slightly, causing different techniques to produce different effects.

There was no saying which of these Sensing Jutsu was better or worse.

The Mind's Eye of the Kagura would most likely have difficulty sensing Chakra fluctuations underground. Tobirama's Sensing Jutsu likewise had "blank areas." In terms of precision alone, none of these techniques could compare to the Byakugan.

But if it was for using the Flying Thunder God...

"The range of Sensing Jutsu is often directly related to the user's amount of Chakra."

"The greater your Chakra, the larger your sensing range tends to be."

"I can sense that your Chakra is immense, Shinichi. It isn't even weaker than mine."

"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call you a Tailless Tailed Beast. If you can master the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, your sensing range should not be any smaller than mine once you become proficient."

Kushina was using "encouraging education." While teaching Shinichi how to disperse his Chakra and blend it into the air, she was also sensing his Chakra.

At that moment, Shinichi had his eyes closed and formed a hand sign with one hand, using it to help himself disperse his Chakra.

After an unknown amount of time, amid the darkness and chaos of his inner world, a glowing speck suddenly appeared. It felt incredibly powerful to Shinichi, yet also exceptionally warm.

As he carefully sensed it, a violent aura came from deep within the glowing speck. Shinichi's body trembled involuntarily, and he swiftly opened his eyes.

At the same time, within Kushina Uzumaki's body, the Nine-Tails, which had been sleeping all this time, seemed to sense something and abruptly opened his eyes.

His body was tightly bound by Chains formed from Sealing Jutsu. One sealing spike after another pinned his tails and body firmly against a massive sphere of rock.

The instant he awoke, the Nine-Tails began roaring furiously within the sealing space. The terrifying gale from his roar shook the sealing space.

Kushina, sitting beside Shinichi, seemed to sense something. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she gently rubbed her lower abdomen.

Within the sealing space, golden Chains shot out of the void and wrapped directly around the Nine-Tails' mouth. His roars came to an abrupt halt, and the sealing space returned to silence.

Blood vessels bulged in the Nine-Tails' eyes as hatred rising from the depths of his heart churned within him.

Freedom... freedom that was forever beyond reach.

Outsiders only knew that the Nine-Tails was supposedly a collection of "hatred and Chakra." But how could humans understand that the Nine-Tails' hatred had accumulated day after day through that endless, lightless life of imprisonment?

Back when the Sage of Six Paths created the Tailed Beasts by splitting apart the Ten-Tails, Kurama had merely been a harmless, adorable little fox. When he parted with the Sage of Six Paths, he had even shed tears.

Yet now, the hatred and violence contained within his Chakra could even affect a Jinchuriki.

The moment Shinichi Hyuga sensed the emotions contained within that "glowing speck," he abruptly opened his eyes and withdrew from his inner world.

He stared blankly at Kushina before him, his eyes filled with shock.

"That was..."

Shinichi had guessed what the glowing speck in his inner world was. It was Kushina's Chakra, and the suppressed emotions emanating from its depths were probably...

"Oh?"

"You sensed it?"

"That is a Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails sealed inside my body!"

"Shinichi, after sensing that terrifying existence, are you afraid? Afraid of me, this... monster..."

Kushina lowered her head and asked with a complicated expression. When she raised her head to look at the young Shinichi beside her, an almost imperceptible trace of expectation flashed through her eyes.

"Am I afraid? A little."

At those words, Kushina's eyes dimmed, though only for an instant.

"But I'm afraid of the Tailed Beast, not Teacher Kushina."

"The Tailed Beast is the Tailed Beast, and Teacher Kushina is Teacher Kushina."

"You aren't a monster, and I won't be afraid of you."

Shinichi Hyuga smiled brightly as he spoke with complete sincerity.

Hearing that, Kushina suddenly smiled as well. "That's what I thought."

As she spoke, Kushina murmured,

"I think that in the future, my child... definitely won't be afraid of his mother either..."