Blink

Satoru had no interest in figuring out why Medivh had added Slow Fall after Blink—perhaps Mr. Guardian had fallen before?

All his attention was drawn to the explanation of Blink's casting principles.

The Flying Thunder God Technique, created by the Second Hokage and brought to prominence by the Fourth Hokage, was arguably the most astounding space-time ninjutsu. Satoru had long heard of it.

But Flying Thunder God was clearly beyond Satoru's current reach.

Blink, on the other hand, was practically a simplified version of Flying Thunder God.

Unlike Flying Thunder God, which required a formula to be inscribed beforehand, Blink needed no external object at all. The distance and direction of the teleportation were entirely determined by the user.

Of course, as an instant-cast spell, Blink had limited range. Anything farther would be Teleportation, which could not be cast out of thin air either.

In exchange, Blink also lacked Flying Thunder God's ability to anchor coordinates that remained even after the caster died.

The principle behind Blink was also why it was classified as a transmutation spell—

At the moment the caster blinked, air, water, and other matter at the destination would be swapped to the point of origin.

Thus, Blink came with another minor spell—Displacement Technique.

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

It was truly one of the best support techniques for home, travel, murder... well, combat.

"The spell's simple yet elegant nature has enabled its widespread use—but Blink's true magical principle lies in replacing the caster's bodily tissues with matter from the target location. In other words, the caster's displacement is merely a side effect of the spell."

"Blink's casting posture is exceptionally elegant."

The Book of Medivh explained Blink's casting principles very clearly, but this "casting posture"...

And this principle—wasn't this just Amenotejikara?!

"Next are the various bizarre accidents Blink has caused..."

Satoru covered his forehead as he looked through the hundreds of cases listed in the book, all caused by improper use of Blink and marked as records from the Dalaran Kirin Tor.

"Case No. 10012-c: A barstool was removed from Squeebli Cogsprocket's rear using fire. The burns caused by the incident were minimized."

"Case No. 19798-g: Three mithril support rods were extracted from Yenus Killian's head using corrosive fluid. Thanks to the corrosive fluid donated by the Royal Alchemist Society (RAS). Side effect: the corroded scalp suffered incurable hair loss."

"Case No. 14761-aa: Cecia Wallerby was separated from a barn using a goblin lumber machine. Unfortunately, the collateral damage was quite severe. However, Mrs. Wallerby, left with only one arm and one leg, still lived happily."

"Case No. 16616-x: Harland Wilson was separated from General Turalyon's statue using magma from Ironforge's Great Forge.

The incident caused moderate collateral damage. Mr. Wilson was unharmed, but children at a nearby school witnessed the entire process of the general's statue melting. The sight inflicted trauma on their young minds that would be difficult to heal."

"Case No. 11773-c: Six juicy watermelons were removed from Sinira Redblade's torso. The collateral damage was reduced to the minimum. We successfully salvaged four intact watermelons and donated them to the local orphanage."

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

Satoru, who had been drinking soda water, sprayed it out in one mouthful.

As for the number of watermelons, hehe...

Well... compared with Flying Thunder God, which had a fixed marker, and Amenotejikara, which was activated with physical objects, Blink...

It really was a tiny bit more dangerous.

In fact, the location mentally anchored by the caster was equivalent to Flying Thunder God's positioning formula. Therefore, the most important factor in using Blink safely and efficiently was the precision of that mental anchor.

If the mental anchoring process could be made sufficiently precise, Blink's practicality in short-range combat could surpass Flying Thunder God.

It was simply that repeated use required extremely skilled casting technique.

And besides...

"Blink doesn't need to be reported at all. Never mind the principles—its effects are practically identical to the Substitution Technique. It just uses air to activate it. An illusion? Of course they won't see through it... as usual, I'll pin it on Dad."

A smug smile appeared at the corner of Satoru's mouth. This counted as a reasonable use of relying on his father, didn't it?

If his dad had not been this capable, could he have been as reckless as he was now? He would have holed up somewhere long ago and refused to come out until he became an Archmage.

Building connections? What connections could someone without strength build? But having a protector despite lacking strength was a different matter, wasn't it...

If Advisor, whose strength rivaled a Hokage's, had developed a few Rank A or Rank S ninjutsu—or even forbidden techniques—it was no big deal, right?

Rank B techniques and the like were even more normal!

With a clear conscience, Satoru learned Blink and naturally picked up Slow Fall along with it.

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 as it had when it was first developed.

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

That was right. Satoru had once been somewhat afraid of heights—the sort who would get dizzy looking down from the third floor.

With the godly rooftop-jumping techniques of Blink and Slow Fall, that embarrassing problem cured itself without medicine.

So, brimming with confidence, he gathered his friends and went to practice taijutsu.

Since Dai was away on a mission, they were currently following the standard training regimen he had left behind.

And today's exercise was one that Satoru had always dreaded most—

Rock climbing!

One-handed rock-climbing training was a practical taijutsu exercise many ninja performed.

Free from his fear of heights, Satoru truly completed this exercise for the first time today.

"Huh? Guys, there seems to be someone up there!"

Choza, the most gifted at taijutsu, was the first to climb up the cliff. Satoru came second, while Shikaku and Inoichi arrived almost simultaneously.

"Whew... Even with the Arcane Body Tempering Technique, I'm still no match for Choza, who specializes in taijutsu."

Satoru caught his breath and looked toward where Choza was pointing.

"Someone? Who is it?"

Below the cliff was the riverside lawn Satoru and the others often visited, while above it stood a patch of woods.

"He looks a little older than us. He should be a student too."

Looking carefully, Satoru recognized the child practicing with ninja tools in the woods ahead.

"Isn't that Prince—cough, Nawaki?"

"Nawaki?"

Inoichi froze for a moment, then quickly remembered.

"Oh, Lady Tsunade's younger brother and the First Hokage's grandson. He's three grades above us."

Shikaku curled his lips.

"Tch... Nawaki is one of those hot-blooded types who goes around shouting that he'll become Hokage all day!"

Shaking his head helplessly, Shikaku sighed.

"That's why hot-blooded types are such a pain... Nawaki should graduate next year, right? I heard the conflicts between the nations have intensified again. When the time comes, what they face may be a real battlefield."

The escalating conflicts between the nations that Shikaku mentioned had still been information limited to the upper ranks a few years ago. Now, it was basically public knowledge within Konoha's major clans.

"Yeah. Strictly speaking, we're in our third year now, and we've already learned most of the theoretical knowledge.

If drills and practical training begin next year, then if the war becomes urgent, graduating early and entering the battlefield isn't impossible."

Satoru's words made Shikaku's face twitch. Someone as intelligent as him, combined with the Nara Clan's position as Konoha's strategists, naturally understood this.

"So it's no wonder Nawaki is training so desperately."

Choza rubbed his stomach and nodded firmly.

"We're training hard too, so we're hot-blooded types as well!"