Konohagakure, Second Training Ground.
The morning of the second day after returning to the village.
"Rasengan!"
"Boom!"
Menma had come here to continue his ninjutsu training.
Looking at the not-too-impressive crater blasted into the ground,
Menma frowned slightly, clearly dissatisfied.
"The Chakra compression still isn't enough. I need a greater volume, along with steadier control. The rotation itself isn't a problem. The key is further reinforcement. Should I try using a Shadow Clone too? No, that would take too much time."
Menma murmured softly, stroking his chin.
As an A-rank ninjutsu, the Rasengan's difficulty was beyond question. It was only because Menma truly had talent for techniques that he could initially grasp the Rasengan in such a short time. In the Original Work, Naruto had found it difficult to control his Chakra due to interference from the Nine-Tails Chakra at first. He had needed to create a Shadow Clone to help control his Chakra and use the Rasengan. That had been a last resort to begin with.
Otherwise, forget one week—even if Naruto had been given a month, he might not have mastered the Rasengan.
Creating a Shadow Clone gave him an extra pair of hands, which did indeed allow for more precise control over Chakra compression.
But that also made the problem obvious.
The Rasengan's greatest advantage over other A-rank ninjutsu was that it required no hand seals. If he had to add the step of creating a Shadow Clone, wouldn't that greatly weaken the Rasengan's advantages?
What people wanted was speed and surprise!
Naruto later on clearly no longer suffered from Nine-Tails Chakra interference, but because he had already grown used to using the Rasengan that way, he used Shadow Clones time and again. Menma had no intention of doing that. Condensing Chakra with one hand before unleashing