Developing a New Technique

Early in the morning, Sasuke came to Chuanhe Residence as usual, planning to go to school with Hui.

"Meow, is that Lord Sasuke? Hui studied too late last night. I think he'll be late today," Amber's voice called down from the roof.

"Tch, that guy. I'm not waiting for him, then." In a bit of a bad mood, Sasuke went to school by himself.

Even after class began, Sasuke still hadn't seen Hui. Now he was starting to worry. Had something happened to Hui last night?

Beside him, Naruto kept tossing little paper balls at Sasuke.

Sasuke was so fed up that he was about to throw one back and tell Naruto he didn't know either when Hui finally appeared.

Hui's voice sounded a little hoarse. "I-Iruka-sensei, sorry. A lot happened yesterday, and I stayed up late."

Iruka had been around the block enough times to seem to understand what was going on as soon as he saw Hui.

"Hui, come on in. Just don't be late next time. As for your punishment, you'll stand in the hallway at lunchtime tomorrow!"

Hui awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "I-Is that so? It won't happen again, Iruka-sensei."

Naruto watched everything quietly from the side. Had something happened at home to Hui? Naruto knew that look all too well. He'd spent countless nights looking just like that.

At noon, they met on the familiar rooftop.

The three of them were there as usual. The difference was that this time, Hui had actually brought two lunch boxes.

"What's wrong, Naruto? Hurry up and eat, or your food will get cold."

After hesitating for a long while, Naruto finally spoke. "Hui, let me treat you to ramen tonight. Sorry, Sasuke. I'll make it up to you next time."

Sasuke turned his head and pursed his lips. "Tch, who wants ramen? Just go with Hui."

Hui was looking a little listless, and he replied without thinking, "Huh? Weren't we supposed to train today?"

Naruto said cheerfully, "Hehe, this isn't just any ramen. It's the kind that'll put a spring in your step!"

Hui understood what Naruto meant. He was a little curious about the ramen, but he had an even better idea—one that would let Naruto do this without spending any money.

Besides, he needed to focus on developing a jutsu for the time being. It would be a waste to let his inspiration slip away.

So Hui said, "Haha, it's fine. Naruto, I've got a good idea. Let's go next week. We'll go together then. We already promised to train, so don't back out."

After another day of boring classes, the three of them headed to the river to train as promised.

Naruto and Sasuke had grown much more familiar with each other, and their bickering had become less sharp.

Once again, they practiced wall climbing and tree climbing under Hui's guidance.

But as Hui trained alongside them, his thoughts drifted to "four-dimensional space."

Rasengan, Rotation, and Water Mirror Technique weren't suitable for practicing outside, so all he could do was try to recreate yesterday's Four-Dimensional Perception under the current conditions.

The chakra control that had once come easily to him gradually became sluggish. His movements slowed, too.

This makes it harder as well? Hui wondered.

He didn't show any obvious signs of anything being wrong. He realized he could still sense something similar to what he had felt yesterday, only it wasn't as clear.

Whether it was because of the Three Tomoe or Four-Dimensional Perception, his chakra control was now astonishingly strong. The slight sluggishness barely affected him.

As he kept sensing his surroundings, he discovered that there seemed to be some [Shortcuts] in the three-dimensional world. He only needed to borrow a path through the fourth dimension to easily skip that distance.

He couldn't find such an opportunity whenever he wanted, but there happened to be one right in front of him—a [Shortcut] less than a meter long.

Hui poured a large amount of chakra into his feet and stomped down hard, moving in a way similar to the Body Flicker Technique. He vanished from where he stood and reappeared a meter away, still charging forward without losing speed.

It worked! He'd call this technique [Space Leap]. Even if it was exposed, no one would figure out its true nature right away.

Once again, the masked ninja were watching. Their one-eyed leader stared at Hui's movements, his heart pounding. He was so fast! Even the leader hadn't seen what happened in that instant.

But he had no idea that if he could see it, that really would have been supernatural.

For Hui, that evening's training was dull and tedious. It seemed he no longer needed to practice at this basic level.

As for Naruto and Sasuke, they didn't make as much progress that day as they had on their first day of Water Walking.

After all, the ground wasn't water. They fell over again and again, until neither of them had the energy to tease the other. Their strange synergy had faded, and their progress had slowed with it.

"Naruto, how about I take you to the hospital? Sorry, I was so focused on training today that I didn't keep an eye on either of you." Looking at Naruto's bruised and battered face, Hui apologized.

"Haha, I'm fine, I'm fine. These little scrapes will be gone after a good night's sleep," Naruto said, still full of energy.

Seeing Naruto like that made Hui feel awful.

"Hmph, take this." Sasuke casually tossed Naruto a bottle of some unknown liquid.

"What's this?" Naruto caught it with both hands and stared at Sasuke in confusion.

"It's a family Secret Medicine. I don't want to see you coming in tomorrow with a bruised-up face," Sasuke said, turning his head away.

Hearing that, Naruto stood there holding the Secret Medicine, stunned for a moment. He carefully tucked it away, then threw an arm around Sasuke.

"Thanks, Sasuke. I knew you cared about me."

"Y-You idiot! Let go of me, you moron. Who said I cared about you?"

Sasuke still couldn't bring himself to be honest.

Looking at the two of them, Hui felt relieved.

Afterward, the three of them each went back to their... homes.

That night, Hui tried to release a [Rasengan] in his room. This time, his powerful chakra control let him overcome every obstacle with ease.

"This is practically dimensional suppression! No, no, I still need to train properly." Looking at the jutsu that had humbled him, Hui spoke with a rueful sigh.

It seemed he'd managed to use [Rotation] as well. Although it wasn't what he had originally set out to do, Hui was still very happy.

Chuanhe teased him from the side. "Your Rotation isn't the same as the Hyuga's. The original Rotation can even counterattack. Yours is, at best, just a giant Rasengan."

Hui's spirits sank at that. All right, it seemed there were still things he hadn't figured out.

At this point, his only remaining goal seemed to be the Water Mirror Technique. Wait, what about the Flame Explosion Technique? That impossible compression—could it have been compressed into the fourth dimension?

That would explain why the shadow clones hadn't burst, even under that degree of compression. During the charging phase, the destructive force wasn't in the three-dimensional world at all. What they saw was only the light spilling out.

He recalled the entire process of the Flame Explosion Technique once more. Before, he hadn't understood it at all, but now he saw its secret.

Something about this technique seemed very wrong. If he removed the limit on how far it could be compressed, it would be more like...

Dimensional ascension?!