Developing the Rasengan

In the distant woods, an extremely subtle fluctuation of chakra flashed and vanished; the sensation was cold and familiar, bearing the mark of Root.

Clearly, even at a time like this, the surveillance had never been relaxed.

"The Nine-Tails jinchuriki's emotions seem temporarily stable," a masked Root member said, kneeling on one knee. "After she spoke with Uchiha Ling by the Naka River, she decided to go for a picnic in Red Leaf Valley with several classmates this weekend."

A sharp glint flashed in Danzo's single eye. "The boy from the Uchiha clan... it's him again."

Danzo's fingers tapped lightly against the armrest of his chair. "Continue the surveillance, but do not alert the enemy. With Mito Uzumaki deceased, the Nine-Tails being transferred, and the jinchuriki's emotions unstable... these are all factors that require tightened control."

He looked toward the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was standing to the side. "Hiruzen, you heard it too. The jinchuriki's state is not yet stable, and getting too close to someone from the Uchiha clan is not a good thing. My Root needs more authority to ensure the safety and stability of the jinchuriki."

Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, his brows locked in a frown. "Surveillance is fine, but do not take any radical actions. That child, Uchiha Ling... he possesses the Will of Fire, and he is very intelligent; he knows his boundaries." He paused, then added, "However, you are right. After Mito's passing, the stability of the Nine-Tails is indeed the top priority. I will have the Anbu cooperate with your Root to strengthen the protective surveillance of the jinchuriki."

Danzo nodded slightly, a flicker of imperceptible satisfaction crossing his single eye.

Although he had failed to fully restore his previous authority, this was at least a start. The death of Mito Uzumaki had broken the internal balance of the village, giving him an opportunity to exploit.

"Remember, it is protective surveillance," Hiruzen emphasized. "Kushina is a child who has just lost Lady Mito and is bearing such a heavy burden; what she needs is understanding and guidance, not mere control."

"Of course, everything for Konoha," Danzo replied expressionlessly, though he already had his own calculations in mind.

At the Konoha back mountain training ground, the morning mist had not yet dissipated, but Uchiha Ling was already drenched in sweat.

He stared at the flickering chakra sphere in his palm, his brows furrowed.

Failed again. He shook his hand, which was numb from the chakra backlash, and sighed.

This was his third week attempting to develop a new jutsu. In the System Store, the entry-level proficiency for Rasengan cost over 1,000 emotion points, so Uchiha Ling had decided to try developing it himself.

As a transmigrator, having watched the original anime where Jiraiya taught Naruto, the process of how to successfully perform the Rasengan had been broken down almost step by step.

At the very beginning, he had naively thought that following the steps from the anime would suffice. He started by practicing with water balloons, trying to make the chakra rotate inside. It sounded simple, but it was grueling to execute.

By the end of the first day, he was soaked, with over twenty burst water balloons piled at his feet. If his chakra control was even slightly too forceful, the balloon would explode right in his face.

"Damn it, this is much harder than I imagined." Uchiha Ling wiped the water from his face.

"It seems that some money shouldn't be saved! System, redeem Chakra Control Mastery!"

"Redeemed Chakra Control Mastery: 750 emotion points."

After redeeming Chakra Control Mastery, Uchiha Ling was finally able to make the water inside the balloon rotate obediently.

Watching the water balloon spinning steadily in his palm, he smiled for the first time in a while. "This is interesting."

Next came the rubber ball. This thing was sturdier and could withstand more chakra. But he soon discovered that a rubber ball being too durable wasn't necessarily good, as it was difficult to perceive the subtle changes in chakra.

Once, while practicing too intensely, the rubber ball suddenly burst with a "bang," and the fragments grazed his cheek, leaving several bloody scratches.

"Damn." He touched the wound and drew a sharp breath.

The hardest part was making the chakra rotate on its own. Without a water balloon or a rubber ball, he had to create a rotating chakra sphere out of thin air in his palm.

"What the hell." He slumped to the ground, gasping for air. "How did that kid Naruto do it in the original story?"

Frustrated as he was, he still had to practice. He began observing rotation in the natural world: the whirlpools in streams, leaves spinning in the wind, and he even spent half a day watching a spinning top.

The most breakthrough inspiration came by accident.

That day, Namikaze Minato was practicing shuriken in the adjacent training ground, and he had watched for a while out of boredom.

Minato's shuriken could curve in mid-air, and the trajectory of its rotation was particularly tricky.

As he watched, a flash of insight suddenly struck Uchiha Ling: So that's it, rotation needs an axis!

Progress became much faster after that. Uchiha Ling no longer blindly let his chakra spin wildly; instead, he first established a stable axis of rotation. The real-time data provided by the Emotion System allowed him to fine-tune every thread of chakra flow.

Another week passed, and for the first time, a stable chakra vortex appeared in his palm.

Although it was only the size of a fingernail, it was indeed rotating steadily.

"It's done!" Uchiha Ling was so excited he almost jumped up.

Opening the system panel, a new item had appeared under mastered skills: [Rasengan (Entry)].

"System, use the Skill Mastery Scroll to upgrade Rasengan."

"Successfully upgraded Rasengan: [Rasengan (Entry) → Rasengan (Proficient)]"

In an instant, a massive amount of knowledge regarding the Rasengan flooded into Uchiha Ling's mind...

The fingernail-sized chakra sphere that had been rotating steadily suddenly emitted a hum, and a brilliant blue light flared.

Uchiha Ling subconsciously pressed the sphere toward a nearby training post.

There was no explosion, no flash, only the harsh sound of chakra grinding against wood. When he pulled his hand back, a perfect spherical indentation remained on the post, its edges as smooth as if they had been polished.

Uchiha Ling stared at the indentation for a long while, then let out a long breath.

"Rasengan! If this hit someone, wouldn't it leave them covered in bruises?"