Sealless Ninjutsu Development Methods (4)

Blue lightning flickered in Hagoromo's palm as though it had come alive. His fingers seemed unable to restrain the chakra mass, and danger and destruction appeared ready to erupt at any moment.

Kakashi and the others instinctively leaned back, doing their utmost to put distance between themselves and that ball of lightning. Their subconscious told them, quite simply, that the thing was dangerous.

Hagoromo was impersonating the original creator and demonstrating someone else's ninjutsu right in front of its true creator, yet he did not feel the slightest bit ashamed.

"Power comparable to an S-rank ninjutsu!" Unlike Kakashi, who had recoiled, Minato Namikaze's eyes lit up. The technique's power was certainly formidable, but that was not what attracted Minato most. What did he see? This was Sealless Ninjutsu. Hagoromo had achieved chakra nature transformation without hand seals and formed an enormous amount of chakra. The difficulty involved was easy to imagine. That was what fascinated him most.

"It truly is incredible. Kushina, I never expected your disciple to develop Sealless Ninjutsu with such power..." Minato said with deep admiration. Inspired by the Tailed Beast Ball, he was currently developing the sealless Rasengan. However, he was still in the exploratory stage. The Rasengan had only a simple prototype, let alone the addition of chakra nature transformation to it.

Sealless Ninjutsu required no hand seals, allowing it to be cast instantly in battle. Compared to ninjutsu that required dozens of seals, it possessed an incomparably great advantage.

"Of course. The facts prove that I am a teacher exceptionally skilled at teaching students and guiding them to unleash their own potential," Kushina declared shamelessly.

Hagoromo considered what might happen if he told them that he had completed this technique before ever meeting Kushina.

After thinking it over for a while, he decided to agree with Kushina's claim. He had no interest whatsoever in finding out what would happen if he told the truth.

However, Minato's understanding of the technique was mistaken at the moment, so Hagoromo hurriedly explained, "Senior Minato, you're mistaken. This ninjutsu cannot be considered Sealless Ninjutsu."

"Is that so? But you truly didn't form any hand seals just now, did you?" Minato's face was full of confusion. Had Hagoromo formed seals just now? Impossible. If he really had, there was no way he could have hidden it from Minato's eyes.

Then why did Hagoromo say it was not Sealless Ninjutsu?

"Actually, Chidori cannot truly be considered Sealless Ninjutsu. My body is simply rather special. I was born with an extremely high affinity for Lightning Release, which is why I can cast it without seals." Hagoromo dispersed the Chidori in his hand, then continued, "Chidori requires hand seals."

As he spoke, he began forming hand seals again.

Ox—Rabbit—Monkey.

After the three seals, a ball of lightning appeared in Hagoromo's palm once more.

Well, he was really doing this for Kakashi's benefit. Hagoromo was still a conscientious pirate. Although he had taken away the credit, he did not intend to deprive Kakashi of even the right to use it.

As the original developer of Lightning Blade, Kakashi should be able to use this ninjutsu soon after obtaining the seal sequence.

"I see. So it is merely a matter of talent?" After learning that Chidori could not be considered Sealless Ninjutsu, Minato's interest in the technique immediately dwindled considerably.

After their brief exchange, Minato had no choice but to admit that Hagoromo truly was a genius-class ninja. Setting Chidori aside, it was already extraordinary for someone so young to wield Lightning Release with such proficiency.

But that was not the same thing as the Sealless Ninjutsu he sought.

At this point, Hagoromo could already use both Lightning Release and Fire Release. He had been born with these two chakra natures. Naturally, compared to Fire Release, he was more proficient in and preferred Lightning Release. Lightning Release and Fire Release each had their own merits: Lightning Release possessed greater single-target destructive power, while Fire Release covered a wider area... Of course, that was not why Hagoromo disliked Fire Release. He disliked it because he could not get his hands on A-rank Fire Release Ninjutsu.

That was right. Kushina did not know any A-rank Fire Release Ninjutsu either. It was said that even Konoha had none.

It was truly a sad story.

Aside from those two innate chakra nature transformations, Hagoromo had also been studying other nature transformations under Kushina. However, he had not made any progress yet.

Regardless of how everyone else felt, Hagoromo enjoyed the meal quite a bit. Over the following days, he scarcely saw Kushina at all. Only after Minato left did she throw herself into Sealing Technique development with boundless energy.

Then, over the following week, she solved several difficult problems in succession, and this forbidden technique was thus declared complete.

One Early Morning a week later, at the edge of Konoha's barrier in its northwestern corner, there stood a dense forest rarely visited by anyone.

A tall and a short figure, a man and a woman, had begun sneaking around there while the sky was only faintly bright.

That was right. The two were Kushina and Hagoromo.

Kushina carried an enormous sealing scroll and walked to a certain distance from Konoha's protective barrier before stopping there.

There was no helping it. She could not go any farther. Otherwise, the barrier would react, possibly drawing Anbu ninja to the area. That might further prevent their forbidden technique experiment from proceeding.

"Hagoromo, come here. Place this scroll beside the barrier. For special reasons, I cannot get too close to it," Kushina said to Hagoromo.

Hagoromo nodded, took the sealing scroll that was even taller than him, and walked step by step toward the edge of the barrier.

He could roughly understand why Kushina could not approach Konoha's barrier. Previously, she had tried to sneak off to the front lines. Fortunately, the Hokage had caught her and brought her back. From then on, Konoha's barrier had been fitted with a special detection mechanism for Nine Tails Chakra. So long as Kushina, the Jinchuriki, approached the barrier, the Hokage would know immediately.

Thus, for Kushina, Konoha was both a barrier protecting her and a cage imprisoning her.

Hagoromo carefully placed the scroll at the very edge of the barrier, then spread it out across the ground according to Kushina's instructions.

The inside of the scroll was covered in densely packed characters. The characters converged into lines, and the lines combined into a formula.

The shape displayed by the formula itself was far more complicated than the Four Symbols Seal, and it also differed from the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique that had originally appeared in the Naruto World.

After unfurling the scroll, Hagoromo quickly ran back to Kushina's side.

It was not that he was timid. He simply wanted to stay farther away from that dangerous thing.

"Reporting to Second Platoon Leader, our Italian Cannon has been set up and is ready to detonate at any time!" he reported to Kushina.

Kushina did not actually understand what the hell Hagoromo had just said, but somehow, she understood what he meant.

She nodded. At this moment, she was completely unlike her usual self. In short, her expression was extremely serious.

"Anyway, let's back up a little first, then back up some more. The range of this formula is still unclear, so we must ensure our own safety."