"Teacher Cangwu, didn't we already finish the first stage of training?"
"Why do we still need balloons?"
Naruto looked at the balloon in his hand and asked in confusion.
Sakura and Sasuke stopped their first-stage training and perked up their ears to listen.
"Go fill it with water." Cangwu pointed to the faucet nearby.
"Fill it with water... I get it!" Naruto furrowed his brow. Once he understood, he scampered over to fill it.
"Wait, fill these balloons too."
"Okay!"
Sasuke and Sakura looked at the basketful of balloons in Naruto's arms.
While Naruto's filling them, I should pick up the pace! Sasuke thought.
That's great... The next stage is probably popping water balloons... My chakra's almost gone again... Sakura's train of thought was interrupted.
A loud bang rang out.
Naruto left a shadow clone to fill the balloons while he brought a filled one over to Cangwu.
"Teacher Cangwu, what do I do next?"
Cangwu didn't waste time. He picked up the water balloon.
"The second stage is a more advanced exercise."
"For this stage, you need to make sure the chakra you release is steady and continuous."
"Keep going until you burst the water balloon."
As he spoke, the balloon in Cangwu's hand began to wobble.
The bulge rippling across its surface showed that the water inside was rotating clockwise.
Naruto widened his eyes, trying to get a better look.
But the balloon still hadn't burst after a long while, so he asked, "Teacher Cangwu, why hasn't the balloon popped?"
"What do you think it takes to make it pop?" Cangwu asked with a smile.
Naruto held his chin and thought for a while.
"I know!"
"Teacher Cangwu, when you used the Rasengan to knock down that tree... the break was really messy. You also said the Rasengan was an irregular—"
Bang—
Before Naruto could finish, the water balloon in Cangwu's hand burst.
Water splattered all over Naruto's face, but he didn't complain. Instead, he happily went to get another filled balloon.
He knew what was going on now.
Especially since he'd seen Cangwu control the water's movement inside the balloon with his own eyes.
It looked far harder than the first stage, but Naruto wasn't discouraged.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A string of shadow clones appeared.
If the chakra rebounded, the shadow clone would disappear right away.
It might have seemed like a waste of chakra.
But Naruto had chakra to spare.
Even if he just worked at it bit by bit, he was still progressing much faster than the genius Sasuke.
And that was exactly what happened.
Naruto had his shadow clones fill the balloons.
Sasuke immediately felt the pressure.
As Sakura rested, she murmured in surprise,
"Th-this is like Naruto suddenly had a breakthrough..."
In other words, the idiot Naruto had started acting normal.
He'd even figured out how to have shadow clones fill the balloons while he trained with another group of clones.
Cangwu watched the ripples constantly appearing in the "water balls" in Naruto's hands.
He shook his head with a smile. "That kid's got talent."
His father, Minato Namikaze, was a man whose hair color was enough to suppress the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline.
He was possibly a direct descendant of the Senju Clan.
His mother, Kushina Uzumaki, was the princess of the fallen Land of Whirlpools.
The Uzumaki Power was incredibly strong.
If she hadn't been confined to Konoha, she would have been a ninja every bit as capable as Minato.
The Uzumaki Clan's unique abilities—not Kekkei Genkai—including the Mind's Eye of the Kagura and Adamantine Sealing Chains, as well as their sealing arts that were the envy of the entire shinobi world.
How could the son of those two possibly be an idiot?
It was just that Kurama had played dirty, bullying Naruto, who'd "grown up on Kotoamatsukami."
If the Nine-Tails hadn't interfered with Naruto's chakra, he wouldn't have struggled so much with the Clone Technique.
But then again, all three kids had finished the first stage of Rasengan training in a single day.
Sigh... People really shouldn't compare themselves to one another.
For once, Cangwu let himself feel a little proud.
The main reason they'd finished so quickly was that they'd trained so well at walking on water and climbing trees.
But the second stage depended on the individual.
Even Naruto, with his multiple shadow clones and newfound understanding of the basic principle, wouldn't be able to master it today.
With that thought, Cangwu lifted his eyes.
He silently took back what he'd said.
"That's fast progress. Could that tsundere Nine-Tails be asleep?"
"What Nine-Tails?" Sasuke's voice suddenly rang out.
Cangwu, of course, wasn't startled.
"If you're done, go train on the second stage with Naruto." Cangwu smiled and patted the little Uchiha Sasuke on the head.
Hmm... he wasn't using hair gel. That hairstyle was natural.
Sasuke said nothing and turned to fetch two water balloons.
Then he came back and held them out in front of Cangwu.
Cangwu didn't immediately understand what he meant.
Sasuke didn't say anything either.
He just kept holding out the balloons.
After a few seconds, Cangwu couldn't help laughing.
Sasuke turned his head away with practiced ease.
So tsundere, and so easily embarrassed.
If he were a girl, this would be pretty amusing.
Cangwu chuckled and shook his head.
Then he took the balloons and repeated the explanation he'd just given Naruto.
Sasuke only walked away with them after Cangwu had repeated every word without missing a thing.
Hadn't he already heard all that? Watching Sasuke's back, Cangwu realized that sometimes Sasuke's thoughts were a lot like a girl's.
When he turned around,
he saw Sakura standing with her hands behind her back, smiling at him.
"Teacher Cangwu~"
Sakura held out her hands, with a water balloon in each.
The hopeful look in her eyes told Cangwu that she wanted a one-on-one explanation too.
She already knew all this... Forget it. Next time, he'd explain it to them all together.
Cangwu put on a helpless smile. "All right."
And so, he repeated the key points of the second stage once again.
After watching Sakura walk away, thoroughly satisfied,
Cangwu finally turned to leave.
Whoosh—
A golden flash streaked by.
When it reappeared, it was behind a tree a hundred meters away.
"Lord Cangwu."
Haku knelt on one knee, respectfully.
"You don't have to go through all that."
Had this kid started openly wearing women's clothes?
But, to be fair, biologically speaking,
men were better suited to skirts than women.
"Lord Cangwu, may I meet that child?"
Haku raised his chin slightly.
Cangwu knew who he meant without turning around.
"Sure. But that day... no, that kid definitely won't recognize you. He'll think you're an absolute beauty."
Forget Naruto—Cangwu himself had been momentarily dazed when Haku lifted his pretty little face.
Ahem. Maybe... it wasn't such a bad thing.
This time, the makeup was even more exquisite.
If not for that slightly protruding Adam's apple,
he really would have been...[The male hare's feet twitch and kick, the female hare's eyes grow misty. When two hares run side by side, how can you tell which is male and which is female?]
"Thank you, Lord Cangwu~" Haku's lips curved slightly as he covered his mouth and chuckled.
You even did your nails?
No, wait!
Good grief, is that really your voice?
Answer me!
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