Rasengan!

Just after the winter break, Konoha Ninja Academy welcomed a new semester.

The academic year in this world was divided into three terms: April to July, September to December, and January to March. (Identical to real-world Japan.)

At this moment, it was the January start of term, when winter gave way to spring.

At the opening ceremony, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, attended as usual and delivered an important speech.

This elder, who had governed Konoha for many years, always had something to say to the children at the start of each term.

He not only spoke of inherited ideals like the Will of Fire but also often shared interesting anecdotes from training, insights, and even some simple yet practical perspectives on ninjutsu, keeping his speech from becoming dull.

During his talk, he would occasionally pick a few students at random to answer their questions, and this year was no exception.

"...In training in ninjutsu, we often focus too much on the power of the technique..."

The Third Hokage used plain, slightly humorous language to explain some basic yet profound truths.

After finishing a segment on his views of ninjutsu, he paused. His kind, gentle gaze slowly swept across the neatly lined-up students below, ready to select a few children with raised hands, as was his custom.

At that moment, in the ranks of Class 2 of the third year, a student who calmly raised his hand instantly caught his attention.

Higashino Shinichi.

The Third Hokage's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, then he broke into an even more genial and warm smile. He raised his hand gently in that direction and said, "This student from Class 2, please stand. Do you have a question, or perhaps a thought you'd like to share?"

Shinichi stood up, first bowing respectfully toward the podium, then putting on a face of just the right amount of puzzlement and uncertainty. He began, "It's like this, Lord Third. Over the past two years, I've been trying to develop a new jutsu. In the end... well, it was a success, but it could also be called a failure, because I discovered that this technique seems to have a major problem that I can't solve on my own."

"Oh? Developing a new jutsu?" The Third Hokage's smile grew wider, with an encouraging tone. "It seems this student is a genius brave enough to explore."

He praised in a kind voice, but deep down, he didn't take it too seriously.

In his view, this so-called new technique was most likely a crude modification or combination of existing jutsu. Reaching C-Rank would already be impressive; touching the threshold of B-Rank would be extremely rare.

"Student, what is your name?" the Third Hokage asked gently, as if hearing it for the first time.

"Higashino Shinichi."

"Then, Shinichi," the Third Hokage nodded. "Why don't you explain in detail, or better yet, demonstrate your new technique directly? Let me see where the problem lies—I might be able to give you some advice."

Hearing this, Shinichi showed hesitation. He glanced uncertainly at the crowded ranks of students around him, as if wanting to speak but holding back.

The Third Hokage understood and smiled. "It seems Shinichi's new technique has quite a bit of power and noise, making it inconvenient to demonstrate here. How about this, Shinichi—come up to the podium."

"Yes!"

Shinichi responded, stepped out of his class's formation, walked through the crowd, and headed toward the podium. Meanwhile, suppressed murmurs of discussion broke out below.

"Shinichi? He actually developed a new ninjutsu on his own?"

"As expected of Shinichi... he always seemed to know a lot."

"So that's him! That ruthless guy! Every morning when I get to school, I see him using Shadow Clones to beat himself up!"

"Is he the one who beat Kakashi back then, Higashino Shinichi?"

"Just luck. Kakashi-senpai already became a Chunin—he's definitely way stronger now. They're not even on the same level anymore!"

"What kind of jutsu did he develop? Didn't you give him guidance?" the homeroom teacher of Class 1 asked curiously.

"I don't know. The kid never mentioned it to me." Teacher Matsumoto shook his head.

Mixed with exclamations of surprise, curiosity, and doubt, the fragmented whispers flowed through the ranks. All eyes were fixed on the back of the boy steadily walking toward the podium.

"Shinichi, perform your jutsu. No need to worry—I'm right here." The Third Hokage said with an encouraging smile, his gaze warm.

The two advisors accompanying him, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, also cast curious looks his way.

"Yes!"

Shinichi took a deep breath, his expression turning focused. He slowly raised his right hand, fingers spread naturally.

At first, only an invisible current of air gathered slightly toward his palm, as if condensing chakra.

"Hm?"

At the sight, the Third Hokage let out a soft exclamation at first, but in the next instant, his usual genial smile abruptly vanished.

Not only him, but Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu also changed expressions almost simultaneously.

On Shinichi's palm, the invisible gathering of chakra rapidly became visible to the naked eye!

It transformed into streaks of swiftly flowing, highly compressed azure chakra currents, spinning at an astonishing speed!

Buzz! Buzz!

A low hum, as if the air were being torn apart and then condensed again, faintly resonated.

In the blink of an eye, a pale blue sphere of light, about the size of a fist, composed entirely of highly condensed and frantically spinning chakra, hovered above his palm!

Inside the sphere, clear lines of chakra howled and swirled like a storm, stirring up visible, chaotic air currents that ruffled Shinichi's sleeves and the hair on his forehead.

Rasengan!

The new technique Shinichi had spoken of was none other than this high-level, seal-less ninjutsu—developed in the future by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, inspired by the Tailed Beast Ball, and classified as A-Rank!

At this point in time, Minato Namikaze might still be conceptualizing it, or perhaps just starting out, but this technique was definitely not yet complete, let alone unveiled.

In the original work, the principles and training process of the Rasengan were clearly demonstrated.

First stage—Gathering stage: gather Chakra in the palm of the hand.

Second stage—Balloon stage: release Chakra to make the water inside the balloon move chaotically until the balloon bursts.

Third stage—Rubber ball stage: maintain the released Chakra and solidify it until it can rupture a rubber ball.

Final stage: combine everything from before, concentrate high-density Chakra in the hand, continuously release and maintain it, then solidify it into a high-density Chakra sphere.

But after Shinichi completed the third rubber ball stage, he couldn't successfully enter the final stage. It seemed there was some trick to the Rasengan that hadn't been shown in the anime.

So he added a fourth stage—iron ball training. After he successfully made the iron ball burst, he also managed to use a stable Rasengan.

In other words, with the boost from various Traits centered around the [Genius] Trait, Shinichi's talent was that of a true absolute genius. Otherwise, even with the right ideas and methods, it would have been extremely difficult to independently develop the Rasengan.

And Shinichi's plan was to take advantage of this time when Minato hadn't yet developed the Rasengan, to develop this A-Rank Ninjutsu himself, and then demonstrate it at the opening ceremony—a public event attended by the entire school and Konoha's top brass—creating a sensational effect.

This would directly generate a comprehensive Trait related to ninjutsu talent!