Rasengan Complete!

After a night's rest, Naruto's hand injury had noticeably improved.

Though a Senzu Bean could heal it outright... Jimo figured that if he cured him, that stubborn brat would definitely stay up all night working on the Third Stage—the maintenance training...

These past few days, Jiraiya had been sleeping outside... leaving him to suffer alone in the inn...

Naruto's sleeping habits were exactly as he remembered—half the night, he'd be yelling "Rasengan! Rasengan!" at the top of his lungs, keeping him up the whole night through.

The three of them walked along the road, and Naruto started asking Jiraiya what the Third Stage training was.

"Why don't you ask Jimo? Maybe his explanation's better than mine!"

Jiraiya walked on ahead without looking back.

Jimo tossed Naruto a balloon. At first, Naruto thought it was filled with water, but seeing it float lightly toward him, he realized it was an air balloon.

"The Third Stage is this!"

"Pop!"

Before Jimo could finish, Naruto inflated the balloon with chakra and burst it.

"Let me finish, will you!"

Jimo gave Naruto a sharp knock on the head.

"Look at this balloon in my hand—see any difference?"

Jimo pulled out another one and held it in his palm.

Naruto stared at it for a long time. Aside from the balloon sticking firmly to Jimo's palm, there was nothing off about it.

Jiraiya frowned from the side.

"This kid's talent is insane... in such a short time, he's already controlling the Rasengan's chakra this well..."

Jimo found a tree and slapped the balloon onto it. The moment it burst, the trunk was drilled through with a hole.

A swirling orange chakra sphere appeared in Jimo's palm. At its core, it spun erratically like a miniature typhoon.

"First Stage: I had you use a water balloon, stirring the water with chakra to burst it. That was to get you used to irregular chakra rotation and high-speed rotation against water resistance."

"Second Stage: The rubber balloon was to compress the amount of chakra you inject—in other words, to boost its power!"

"Third Stage..."

Before Jimo could speak, Naruto cut in.

"Third Stage is maintaining chakra stability while increasing power! It's keeping the balloon from bursting under high-speed irregular rotation and increased chakra injection!"

"Smart!"

Jiraiya couldn't help but praise him.

Before this training, Jimo taught Naruto a trick.

He'd previously shown Naruto how to use a Chakra Jade and throw it.

"Just like when you condense a Chakra Jade, first compress the chakra into a sphere! Then stir the chakra inside that sphere!"

With that, Jimo demonstrated himself...

He'd been preparing the groundwork for Naruto to learn the spinning technique all along...

Jiraiya had lost count of how many times Jimo's talent had stunned him. He was used to it by now.

With this training, Naruto even overcame the need to use both hands to shift chakra from directional to irregular rotation.

"This kid's got a knack... he actually created a technique extremely similar to the Rasengan..."

Jiraiya watched the two of them train the whole way.

Before they even reached Short Book Street, Naruto could already use the Rasengan one-handed. Though its power wasn't as great as the two-handed version, its activation speed in combat was definitely much faster.

Because Naruto finished the Rasengan training early, the three of them arrived at Short Book Street ahead of schedule.

"Run! There's a monster!"

Several residents rushed toward them.

"A snake... a huge snake..."

Hearing that, the three of them all looked in the direction the residents had come from.

The grand buildings had already collapsed.

"Is it Orochimaru..."

Jiraiya frowned...

"This is bad..."

Before he could react, Jimo had already taken off on the Flying Nimbus toward that place.

"What a convenient ability..."

Jiraiya grabbed Naruto by the scruff of the neck and started heading off into the distance.

"Long time no see, Tsunade... you sure were hard to find."

Orochimaru spoke in a sinister tone.

Tsunade felt extremely uncomfortable under his gaze...

"You didn't come to me just to catch up, did you?"

Tsunade watched him warily... She had been away from the village for so long, deliberately avoiding any news about it.

"Then I'll be direct. I have a favor to ask..."

"If it's about healing your arm, don't bother. I'm no longer a medical ninja..."

The moment she saw him, Tsunade noticed Orochimaru's arm hanging unnaturally, trembling slightly.

"Only a medical ninja like you could treat this..." Kabuto said from the side.

"Such a serious injury? How did it happen..."

Tsunade knew Orochimaru's capabilities—self-inflicted harm was nothing new to him.

"While killing the Third Hokage, I got careless and that old man injured me..." Orochimaru said flatly. "Don't look at me with such a terrifying expression... All things with form will eventually wither, and people are no exception..."

"Besides... if you heal my arm, I can use a forbidden technique... to revive the two people you love most. Think it over?"

Just as Orochimaru kept tugging at Tsunade's nerves, a beam of light descended from the sky.

"Those who toy with the dead will go to hell!"

A full-power Kamehameha blasted into Orochimaru... He and Kabuto were sent flying by the immense force.

"Since someone's come to interrupt, I won't linger. I'll give you one week... I look forward to your answer..."

Orochimaru's voice echoed from afar...

"Whew... made it... just in time..."

Jimo leaped down from the Flying Nimbus and respectfully bowed to Tsunade.

"This Humble One is Konoha chunin Jimo. Please wait, Lady Tsunade... Lord Jiraiya is on his way..."

Tsunade looked at Jimo, full of confusion. She had participated in the ninja war and seen plenty of strange techniques, but this was the first time she'd encountered one that fired chakra directly outward.

The two of them sized Jimo up as if they wanted to dissect him.

"Kid, you're... a chunin?"

Tsunade asked doubtfully, staring at the crater blasted into the ground—this didn't look like a technique a chunin could use...

"Yes, Lady Tsunade..."

After answering a few questions, Jiraiya arrived on the scene, panting heavily.

"Tsu... Tsunade... long time no see..."

"Never mind that—the kid behind you is about to be shaken to death by you."

Tsunade pointed behind Jiraiya, where Naruto's face was purple, foam dripping from his mouth, already unconscious.

"Forget it... let's talk somewhere else..."

Jiraiya hoisted Naruto onto his shoulder, and the group decided to head to a tavern in town to eat and talk.