Solutions and the Ninjutsu System

Minamoto Takuya frowned deeply and raised a hand to wipe away the blood seeping from his cheek, his fingertips feeling the faint pain and sticky warmth.

"Just as I thought..." he murmured in a low voice, tinged with helplessness and self-reflection. "At such terrifying speeds, there's a disconnect in my 'perception-action' chain."

With that, he sighed again. As expected, he was not a genius like Minato Namikaze.

The Fourth Hokage's incomparably fluid Flying Thunder God Technique seemed to appear before his eyes. If it were him, even with speed like mine, he'd surely be able to wield it as naturally as his own limbs, wouldn't he?

However, his discouragement lasted only an instant before Minamoto Takuya's gaze sharpened once more.

Every burst forward, every desperate dodge at the limit replayed in his mind. Those moments when he had brushed past danger, that sense of being "just a little short of avoiding it perfectly," told him that the gap was not an insurmountable chasm. It was merely a hair's breadth away!

The gap in reaction speed was far smaller than the leap in speed itself.

That realization flashed through his mind like lightning. Perhaps... I can use an external aid to bridge that hair's breadth?

Before long, an idea took shape in his mind.

"Shadow Clone!" Minamoto Takuya ordered in a deep voice. "Set it up again!"

Since his body's reaction speed could only be improved so much for the moment, he would equip it with a stronger "observation device."

The shadow clone said nothing. It silently vanished into the depths of the forest and began another round of deadly "renovations."

A short while later, everything was ready.

Minamoto Takuya took a deep breath, and a stream of chakra instantly flowed through the meridians around his eyes.

Buzz... Amid subtle fluctuations