Super S-Class

The next morning, Tsunade brought Minato to a small lake in a secluded corner of the village.

The two stood on the bank, gazing at the azure surface of the water, and Tsunade nodded with satisfaction: "This place will do."

The power of Minato's Light Release was too great, and his attacks carried high-temperature explosions; the commotion was too significant, making it unsuitable for training in crowded areas.

Logically, when village ninjas practiced high-impact ninjutsu, they would head to the open areas outside the village.

However, in Tsunade's view, leaving the village still carried a potential risk for Minato, even if the probability was infinitely close to zero.

If safety isn't absolute, it is absolutely not safe!

Given the talent Minato had displayed, she couldn't be too careful.

Thus, Tsunade chose this training ground in the corner of the village.

The training ground was vast, featuring a forest environment and a small lake at its center, making it perfect for practicing Water Release and Fire Release ninjutsu.

"Although I said I'd help you train, I don't know the first thing about your Light Release."

Tsunade leaned forward slightly, hands behind her back, looking at Minato with a charming, inquisitive expression.

"Would you mind telling your teacher about it?"

"It's no trouble at all."

Feeling Tsunade's respect for the privacy of his abilities, Minato felt a warmth in his heart and said softly: "The power of Light Release is somewhat unique; it is activated directly through physical stamina."

"What ninjas call stamina is the energy that can be directly refined into chakra, containing both physical and mental power. But the stamina required for Light Release is purely physical strength, unrelated to mental power."

"So, strictly speaking, it doesn't really belong to the ninja system."

"Is that so..."

Tsunade pinched her chin: "That certainly sounds convenient."

For a ninja, to extract chakra, both physical and mental power are indispensable.

If mental energy is exhausted, even with abundant physical strength, one cannot extract chakra.

But Light Release had no such constraints.

"So, how do you plan to train?"

"In two directions!"

Minato held up two fingers: "The first direction is to deeply develop its inherent power; the second is to integrate it with the chakra system. I plan to start with the first."

Although the purpose of this training wasn't for the sake of training itself, since they were already out here, Minato wouldn't slack off.

"Judging by your previous performance, this ability seems to enhance your speed and can also directly unleash energy attacks."

Tsunade pondered: "It feels quite comprehensive already. Can it really be developed in other directions?"

"Yes, Teacher, it can."

Minato chuckled: "Didn't I say before? The essence of this ability is light. It isn't limited to the sunlight, firelight, or lamplight we can see with the naked eye, but rather the very concept of light!"

"For example, lasers, auroras, and even some light invisible to the naked eye can all be included!"

"..."

Tsunade's expression turned to one of surprise: "If that's the case, the value of this ability might not be inferior to Wood Release."

"Yes, and not only that, the direct combat capability of Light Release is very strong; there isn't much room left for development in terms of pure combat."

Minato said with a helpless shrug: "That's why I plan to develop its functional aspects."

"Isn't that a bit too confident?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow: "Why don't you show me what you can do? Demonstrate your power, speed, destructive force, and range for me."

"Very well."

Minato nodded. Although Tsunade didn't understand the Devil Fruit, she was a jonin after all; perhaps she could offer some advice from a different perspective.

"I won't demonstrate the power; Light Release doesn't have a direct strength bonus, it only enhances the force of attacks through speed. As for speed, Teacher, would you like to race me?"

"Oh?"

Tsunade immediately perked up: "How shall we race?"

Minato pointed to a tree on the opposite bank of the lake, several hundred meters away: "Using the lake as our track, how about we see who reaches the other side first?"

"Interesting!"

Tsunade agreed without hesitation, then picked up a pebble and tossed it lightly: "Let's use this as the starting gun. The moment it touches the water, the race begins."

Minato nodded: "That works."

Receiving his reply, Tsunade took a starting stance: "Then let's begin!"

As she spoke, she casually tossed the pebble toward the lake!

Under their watchful eyes, the pebble traced a parabola through the air and splashed into the water.

And the very instant the pebble touched the surface, the ground at the bank suddenly exploded!

Large chunks of soil and rock tumbled into the river as Tsunade kicked off, causing the entire riverbank to collapse under her force!

At the same time, her figure shot forward like a cannonball toward the opposite bank of the lake, leaving two churning wakes in the water behind her.

There is a saying that speed is power.

But in Tsunade's view, this statement could just as easily be reversed!

With her immense Monstrous Strength and meticulous chakra control, every step Tsunade took on the lake surface felt as if she were treading on solid ground.

Leveraging the reaction force of her Monstrous Strength, she pushed her speed to the absolute limit.

In the blink of an eye, she appeared on the far side of the lake!

Then, she stepped onto the grass of the opposite bank.

Before she could even celebrate, a certain blond youth appeared right beside her.

"This..."

Tsunade's mouth twitched as she turned to look back at the direction they had come from; the shore where they had been standing had completely collapsed, and the lake surface looked as if it had been ravaged by a hurricane, its ripples chaotic and messy.

"The speed boost from Light Release is quite high, after all..."

Minato scratched his head, grinning.

Tsunade was momentarily speechless.

Although she did not specialize in speed, with the augmentation of her Monstrous Strength, she was certainly no slower than those jonin who focused on speed.

Glancing at his face, which showed no signs of flushing or shortness of breath, Tsunade chuckled inwardly.

This kid really knew how to look after her feelings.

"Not bad. With this kind of speed, at least I don't have to worry about you being unable to escape when you encounter danger."

Tsunade nodded in satisfaction. "Next, let's see the power of this Light Release of yours. What you showed before shouldn't be your limit, right?"

Minato nodded; he was also curious about how much power he could generate if he pushed his current stamina to its absolute limit.

Thinking of this, he raised his palm toward the center of the lake, and a dazzling light began to radiate from his hand.

Although there was no grand, noisy buildup, the energy continuously gathering there made Tsunade feel a hair-raising sense of threat.

Suddenly, a sphere of light shot out from Minato's hand and plunged into the lake.

BOOM—

The next instant, the lake water erupted into the sky!

The terrifying explosion kicked up a giant wave nearly a hundred meters high, looking as if a red hemisphere had been slammed onto the lake; the blast radius covered almost the entire small lake!

The commotion was so great that it was clearly visible even from several kilometers away.

Unable to spare a moment for shock, the instant the giant wave surged, Tsunade grabbed Minato and bolted into the distance, her heart filled with irrepressible excitement.

The power of that single strike—it must have reached the level of an Ultra-S Rank, right?