The Common Flaw of Geniuses

In this relatively isolated era, the existence of Tailed Beasts was classified information to ordinary shinobi, and all kinds of information about them circulated only among the upper ranks of the major shinobi villages.

"Aoba, you really know a lot."

Minato's eyes showed admiration. He himself loved reading, and whenever he rested, he could stay home reading all day.

The fact that Aoba had discovered information about Tailed Beasts in the hospital's records meant he had read extensively, even digging through materials that had been sitting there for who knew how long. If the information had been that obvious, it would not have remained confined to the upper ranks.

"Aoba, your observations are very sharp. That's right—my inspiration came from the Tailed Beast Ball."

"I want to develop a ninjutsu that doesn't require hand seals, something ordinary shinobi can use, similar to the Tailed Beast Ball."

Minato raised his hand and felt the lingering chakra in his palm. "If I can achieve a similar Chakra Shape Transformation and activate it without hand seals, it would be a tremendous advantage on a rapidly changing battlefield."

"The thought process of a genius."

While everyone else was forming hand seals to cast techniques, he was thinking about developing a seal-less ninjutsu.

Perhaps that was what ordinary people saw as a genius who was one step ahead.

The reason the Rasengan kept failing now was because Minato was being too greedy.

That was also a common flaw among geniuses.

He did not just want to form a ball. He wanted to go straight to developing the long-range throwing effect of the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken.

Aoba knew the answer, but he could not say it outright. For one thing, he would not be able to explain where he got it.

"Actually, I saw some research on technique development with Teacher Ueno."

Aoba fiddled with the popsicle stick in his hand, carefully choosing his words. "I think developing a new technique is like performing a complicated surgery. If you try to finish every step at once from the very beginning, you often fail because you lose sight of one thing while attending to another."

"Oh?"

Minato was intrigued. "Do you have any insights, Aoba?"

"Based on the research left behind by my predecessors, I made some minor improvements to a special ninjutsu."

Aoba stood up, dusted the dirt off his pants, and walked over to Jiraiya. "Lord Jiraiya, would you mind helping me test it?"

"Oh? You want to test your new ninjutsu on me?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, then generously said, "No problem. Go ahead."

"Excuse me."

Aoba extended his right hand and pressed it against Jiraiya's arm.

[Chakra Absorption Technique Version 2.0 activated.]

His palm grew slightly warm, and a powerful suction force abruptly appeared.

Yet the next second, Aoba felt as though he had pressed his hand against a towering mountain.

The chakra within Jiraiya was enormous.

"So this is the amount of chakra a Kage Level powerhouse possesses?"

He himself was just a tiny mound, a small hill. He would probably crumble with a single collision.

Moreover, Jiraiya's chakra was terrifyingly dense. Aoba's weak suction was like trying to suck up cement through a straw—it could not budge it in the slightest.

"Heh, interesting."

Jiraiya grinned, seeming to understand what Aoba was trying to do, and voluntarily loosened his control over his chakra.

Only then could Aoba absorb some chakra, but the effect was still pitiful. Compared to Kurenai's reaction back then, Jiraiya seemed to have no reaction at all.

"All right, thank you for your cooperation, Lord Jiraiya."

A few minutes later, Aoba removed his hand.

"A technique that directly steals an opponent's chakra?"

Jiraiya looked at him with great interest. "An interesting idea. It just absorbs too little. Against someone with a large amount of chakra, it's practically ineffective."

"Yes, that's something that still needs improvement."

Aoba completely agreed. He wrote several lines in his notebook: "When the opponent's total chakra is too great, or their control is strong enough, absorption efficiency drops dramatically. The technique's structure needs improvement to strengthen its pulling force."

Watching Aoba seriously take research notes, Jiraiya and Minato exchanged glances. They both found it a little amusing, yet a trace of approval flashed through their eyes.

This kid was not showing off. He was conducting experiments. He was learning.

Suddenly, Jiraiya saw someone else's shadow in Aoba—a person who had been just as obsessed with pursuing techniques.

After finishing his notes, Aoba closed his notebook and looked at the thoughtful Minato.

"Senior Minato, look, this technique was originally conceived to remove foreign chakra lingering in an injured person's body. After improvements, it can already be used in actual combat to some extent. Of course, it still has many flaws, but isn't that the charm of ninjutsu? Ninjutsu development should be rigorous. How could anyone succeed in one step?"

"You want to throw that chakra ball out, which is equivalent to trying to achieve the step of 'draining the enemy dry outright.' But if you cannot even make the ball remain stable in your hand, how could you possibly make it remain stable while flying?"

"Medical Ninjutsu has the Mystical Palm Technique and Yin Healing Wound Destruction. Both were developed step by step from basic Medical Ninjutsu. Why not set a smaller goal first? For example, make the ball stop exploding in your hand. Even if you can't throw it, if you hold it and shove it straight into an enemy's face, the power should still be considerable, right?"

His words jolted Minato awake.

Minato froze in place, his azure pupils suddenly contracting.

"Hold it... and attack directly..."

He murmured to himself, then immediately came to a realization. "That's right! Why did I have to obsess over long-range attacks? With the Flying Thunder God Technique, I can teleport directly beside an enemy and strike from point-blank range!"

"As long as I solve the problem of stabilizing its shape, the throwing and Nature Transformation can be developed later!"

Minato's eyes shone frighteningly brightly. He gave Aoba a grateful look. "Aoba-kun, you've really helped me tremendously! I was indeed fixating on the wrong thing. You have to eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time."

With Aoba's suggestion, Minato stopped obsessing over launching the chakra ball.

Instead, he began thinking about how to stabilize the chakra ball first.

He focused all his mental energy between his palms.

"Disorder... flow... compression... maintain!"

Bzzzz—!

The hum of chakra rang out once more!

Although he now had a clearer goal, the chakra ball still could not remain stable for long.

Aoba could see that Minato was only one step away from developing the Rasengan.

On the afternoon of the third day, Minato stood in the middle of the training ground.

Azure chakra gathered in his palm once more and began to rotate slowly.

The rotation grew faster and faster. The outline of the chakra ball became clearer and larger, then it suddenly dissipated with a hiss like a leaking balloon.

"I can't even form it, and it still explodes..."

"It just won't stabilize. Controlling this is too difficult..."

Minato formed quite a few chakra balls in succession. Some succeeded, some failed, but the chakra balls were extremely unstable.

If he could not ensure stability every time, then it was not a complete ninjutsu.

"I once heard that when refining chakra, it's easier if you refine it according to the direction of the hair whorl on your head. If that's true, then maybe this ninjutsu too..."

Jiraiya suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Minato: "..."

Minato was speechless. That was just superstition, wasn't it?