Blink

Satoru no longer felt like studying why Medivh would follow Blink with Slow Fall—perhaps the Guardian had fallen before?

All his attention was captured by the explanation of Blink's casting principle.

Created by the Second Hokage and perfected by the Fourth Hokage, the Flying Thunder God Technique was a spatial ninjutsu that could be called the most astonishing—Satoru had naturally heard of it for a long time.

But Flying Thunder God was clearly not a realm Satoru could reach now.

And Blink was, in essence, a simplified version of Flying Thunder God.

Compared to Flying Thunder God, which required pre-inscribed formulas, Blink's teleportation didn't need external aids at all; the distance and direction of the teleportation were entirely up to the user's decision.

Of course, as an instant-cast spell, Blink had a limited range. Any further would be Teleportation, which also couldn't be achieved through casting out of thin air.

But conversely, Blink also lacked Flying Thunder God's ability to anchor coordinates, even persisting after the caster's death.

Blink's principle was also why it was classified as Alteration—

At the moment of blinking, the air, water, and other substances at the caster's target location would be swapped with the starting position.

Therefore, Blink was accompanied by a minor spell—Displacement Technique.

After the caster blinked from point A to point B, they could use Displacement Technique to instantly return to point A.

It was truly one of the best auxiliaries for traveling, killing people, or... well, combat.

"The spell's simple yet elegant nature allows for its widespread utilization—the true magical principle of Blink lies in replacing the caster's bodily tissues with substances from the caster's target location—in other words, the caster's displacement is merely a side effect of this spell."

"Blink's casting posture is very elegant."

The Book of Medivh described the principle of Blink very clearly, but this "casting posture"...

And this casting principle, wasn't this Amenotejikara!

"Next, are the various bizarre accidents caused by Blink..."

Satoru rubbed his forehead as he looked at the hundreds of accidents listed in the book, caused by improper use of Blink, with data sources marked as Dalaran Kirin Tor.

"Case 10012-c: Removing a high chair from Squeebli Cogsprocket's backside using the method of roasting with fire. The accompanying burns were minimized."

"Case 19798-g: Extracting 3 mithril support rods from Yenus Killian's head with corrosive liquid. Thanks to the Royal Alchemist Society (RAS) for donating the corrosive liquid. Side effect: The corroded scalp developed incurable hair loss."

"Case 14761-aa: Separating Cecia Wallerby and a barn using a goblin logging machine. Unfortunately, the accompanying damage was quite severe. However, Mrs. Waller, who was left with only one hand and one foot, still lived a happy life."

"Case 16616-x: Separating Harland Wilson from General Turalyon's statue using lava from Ironforge's Great Forge.

Accompanying damage was moderate. Mr. Harland was unharmed, but the children at a nearby school witnessed the entire process of the melting statue, and such a scene inflicted irreparable trauma on their young minds."

"Case 11773-c: Removing 6 juicy watermelons from Sinira Redblade's torso. The accompanying damage was minimized. We successfully salvaged 4 intact watermelons and donated them to the local orphanage."

"Pfft... Cough, cough, cough..."

Satoru, who was drinking soda, spat it out.

The number of watermelons, heh...

Well then... Compared to the coordinate-based Flying Thunder God, Amenotejikara which used physical objects, Blink...

It was indeed a little bit more dangerous.

In fact, the caster's mental anchor point was equivalent to Flying Thunder God's positioning formula, so the most important factor for safely and efficiently using Blink was the accuracy of the mental anchor.

If the mental anchoring process could be done well enough, the practicality of Blink, at least in small-scale combat, would be enough to surpass Flying Thunder God.

It was just that continuous use required the caster to have very skilled casting techniques.

And...

"Blink doesn't require any reporting. Never mind the principle, its effect is almost the same as the Substitution Technique, just using air to cast it. A smokescreen? Of course, you won't see through it... As usual, I'll push the blame onto Dad."

A smug smile appeared on Satoru's lips. Wasn't this a reasonable application of nepotism?

If his dad wasn't so capable, would he be acting so recklessly now? He would have long been holed up somewhere, not emerging as an Archmage.

Building connections? What connections could you build without strength? But without strength, having a protective umbrella, that's another matter entirely...

It wasn't a big deal for a consultant whose strength was comparable to a Hokage to research some A-rank, S-rank ninjutsu, or even forbidden jutsu, was it?

B-rank and the like were even more normal!

Studying Blink with a clear conscience, Satoru naturally learned Slow Fall as well.

After all, it was also a life-saving spell.

The improved version of Slow Fall recorded in The Book of Medivh no longer required casting materials like when it was first developed.

With this spell, Satoru was no longer afraid of heights...

That's right, Satoru was a bit afraid of heights before; he would get dizzy just looking down from the third floor.

With the "cliff-diving divine skill"—Blink and Slow Fall, this embarrassing problem was cured.

Thus, he confidently dragged his friends to practice Taijutsu.

Since Dai was out on a mission, they were currently doing the regular training items Dai had left behind.

And today's item was one Satoru had always dreaded the most—

Rock climbing!

Single-handed rock climbing training is a very practical Taijutsu training exercise that many ninjas do.

With his fear of heights gone, Satoru was truly completing this exercise for the first time today.

"Huh? Everyone, there's someone up there!"

Choza, who had the best Taijutsu, was the first to climb the cliff. Satoru was second, and Shikaku and Inoichi arrived almost at the same time.

"Hoo... Even with the Arcane Body Tempering Technique, I'm still not as good as Choza, who focuses on Taijutsu."

Satoru took a breath and looked up in the direction Choza was pointing:

"Someone? Who is it?"

Below the cliff was the riverside lawn Satoru and the others often frequented, while above the cliff was a forest.

"He looks a bit older than us, probably a student too."

Satoru looked closely and recognized the child practicing ninja tools in the forest ahead.

"Isn't that Prince... cough, Senior Student Nawaki?"

"Senior Student Nawaki?"

Inoichi was startled, then quickly remembered:

"Oh, he's Jonin Tsunade's younger brother, the First Hokage's grandson. He's three years ahead of us."

Shikaku grinned:

"Tsk... Senior Student Nawaki is also one of those hot-blooded types who's always shouting about becoming Hokage!"

Shaking his head helplessly, Shikaku sighed:

"That's what you get with these hot-blooded types... Senior Student Nawaki should be graduating next year. I heard the conflicts between countries are intensifying again, so perhaps what they'll face then will be a real battlefield."

The increased conflicts between countries that Shikaku mentioned were information limited to the higher-ups a few years ago, but now, it was basically public knowledge within Konoha's major clans.

"Yeah, strictly speaking, we're third-years this year, and we've learned most of the theoretical knowledge.

If we start practical exercises and application training next year, and if the war situation is urgent, it's not impossible for us to graduate early and be deployed to the battlefield."

Satoru's words made Shikaku's face twitch. As intelligent as he was, coupled with the Nara Clan's position as advisors in Konoha, he naturally understood this.

"So it's no wonder Senior Student Nawaki is practicing so desperately."

Choza patted his belly and nodded vigorously:

"We're also practicing hard, so we're actually hot-blooded types too!"