A Crazy Week

Uchiha Chen sat alone in the Training Ground.

A swirling mass of Chakra suddenly appeared in his hand.

He controlled the mass of Chakra, splitting it into five small streams. Then, those five streams precisely slipped through the holes in five Kunai.

Uchiha Chen let out a breath. He had completed the fourth stage of Chakra control.

The manga had only mentioned simple exercises like water walking and tree climbing for Chakra control. But those methods were far too crude when it came to controlling Chakra.

And Uchiha Chen had completed that kind of basic training long ago.

He often controlled the intensity of his Chakra while casting small Ninjutsu to train his Chakra control.

In the past, Uchiha Chen had always believed that his Chakra control precision was already exceptional.

He had not expected there to be an even more advanced realm beyond it. Tsunade truly deserved to be called a master in this field.

Following Tsunade's methods, he could now successfully divide a large mass of Chakra into several smaller streams and precisely insert them into the holes of Kunai.

Uchiha Chen felt that he used far less Chakra than before to cast Ninjutsu of the same power. His Genjutsu had also become much harder to detect.

Now, Uchiha Chen was about to begin the next stage of training.

Another swirling mass of Chakra appeared in his hand.

He took out a leaf. When he placed it into the mass of Chakra, the seemingly gentle, faintly glowing Chakra shredded it to pieces.

He had failed.

Uchiha Chen focused all his attention again, maintaining the stability of the Chakra's output. Then, with his left hand, he cautiously tested the waters and placed another leaf onto it.

This time, his control improved slightly. The leaf spun once within the mass of Chakra, then was shredded by Chakra whose direction had slipped beyond his control.

More than half an hour later, Uchiha Chen looked at the fragments of leaves scattered across the ground, then at the mass of Chakra continuously spinning in his hand. A satisfied smile appeared on his face. The result was still far from ideal, but reaching this point so quickly was no small feat.

That was right. This stage involved controlling the direction of Chakra's movement. Generally speaking, Chakra underwent irregular Brownian motion internally.

Chakra was extremely violent. Controlling every bit of it and making it move in one direction was difficult. Those with strong precision in Chakra control could control its direction of movement and make it move in a regular pattern.

Put simply, the precision required at this stage was actually very close to the initial prototype of the Rasengan.

Uchiha Chen did not know how Minato had developed the Rasengan in the first place.

Most likely, he had reached this level of precision in Ninjutsu control, then gained inspiration after observing the Tailed Beast Bomb.

Of course, learning the Rasengan and developing the Rasengan yourself were two entirely different things.

For a talented person, mastering a Ninjutsu might not take long. Naruto and Sasuke had both learned A-Rank Ninjutsu while they were still Genin. He only needed to practice according to the methods from the original work.

But learning a Ninjutsu only meant that you had learned it. Their strength had still only been at the Chunin level, and there would not be any particularly dramatic increase.

But if one were to develop an entirely new Ninjutsu from scratch, the meaning behind it would be completely different.

In the original work, Minato had also spent three years developing this Ninjutsu. Throughout that process, he had continually improved in Chakra shape transformation and precision Chakra control.

During that process, you had to study extensively on your own. And once Minato developed this Ninjutsu, he immediately possessed top-tier strength.

That was not because he had mastered the Rasengan, but because he had constantly learned and grown throughout its development.

That experience benefited him for the rest of his life.

Ninjutsu was certainly important, but it was by no means everything.

Therefore, for Uchiha Chen, developing the Rasengan now according to the methods from the original work would be completely meaningless.

It would not help his Chakra control in any way. Other than gaining an A-Rank Ninjutsu and the reputation of a genius, it would not bring any other qualitative improvement to his strength.

More importantly, Uchiha Chen's current Chakra reserves could not support an A-Rank Ninjutsu like the Rasengan.

After all, he was only six years old.

By the time Uchiha Chen finished his day of training, it was already nearly six in the evening, having started at eleven in the morning.

Uchiha Chen narrowed his eyes and surveyed the sky. The sun had passed through the rolling clouds and slanted westward, painting Konoha in its distinctive twilight hues.

Uchiha Chen could only pack up and prepare to leave the Training Ground.

For the past few days, he had been staying at Tsunade's house.

Of course, they were not living together.

Tsunade's house was large, and there were many empty rooms in the courtyard.

Uchiha Chen walked very carefully. He scrutinized his surroundings, and he was already becoming a little neurotic.

Over the past few days, Tsunade had launched dozens of surprise attacks against him.

The difficulty of those attacks had gone from blatant at the start to bizarre and tricky by the end.

Because Uchiha Chen truly had not expected that one blade of grass by the roadside would actually be Tsunade in disguise...

Nor would you expect Tsunade to put an Explosive Tag inside your blanket, even if its blast was very weak.

Tsunade never grew tired of this kind of prank and used it with practiced ease.

In her own words, she was cultivating a ninja's vigilance.

Had Nawaki grown up happily in that kind of environment?

No wonder. No wonder. Uchiha Chen had always found Nawaki a little strange.

How should he put it? At first glance, Nawaki was indeed a fresh-faced, cheerful boy... but his expressions, movements, and even the overall aura and temperament he gave off invariably made people think of... an idiot.

Anyone would be tortured stupid in that environment.

Although Tsunade kept claiming that she was teaching him seriously, Uchiha Chen thought her methods were despicable and shameless.

Tsunade was simply treating him like a toy to satisfy her love of pranks.

Thanks to Tsunade's carefully staged ambushes and their high-intensity sparring, Uchiha Chen's points had been skyrocketing lately. His ability to guard against traps had also greatly improved.

Though Uchiha Chen could not say exactly how much his strength had improved during this week,

his precision Chakra control, his grasp and use of underhanded tactics... well, and his ability to run away, were absolutely first-rate.

Uchiha Chen quietly slipped back into his room.

Uchiha Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed Tsunade was not home tonight. Tsunade occasionally stayed out all night. In her words, it was an appropriate rest period to let Uchiha Chen balance work and rest.

In truth, there was only one possibility: she had gone gambling again with money she had swindled from who knew where.

Uchiha Chen had originally had some money in his pocket. Then, on the first night, Tsunade had rummaged through his things and taken it while he slept.

Then she had immediately tossed a miniature Explosive Tag into his bedding.

So now, Uchiha Chen only wanted to end this crazy training as soon as possible.