A faint chakra fluctuation flickered and vanished in the distant woods, its cold, familiar feel bearing the mark of Root.
Clearly, even at a time like this, the surveillance had never let up.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's emotions seem to have stabilized for now," a masked Root member reported, kneeling on one knee. "After speaking with Uchiha Ling by the Naka River, she decided to go on a picnic at Red Leaf Valley with a few classmates this weekend."
A glint flashed in Danzo's single eye. "That Uchiha boy... him again."
Danzo lightly tapped the armrest of his chair. "Keep watching, but don't alert them. Mito Uzumaki's death, the Nine-Tails' transfer, the Jinchuriki's emotional instability... These are all factors that require tighter control."
He looked at the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, standing to one side. "Hiruzen, you heard him too. The Jinchuriki's condition is still unstable, and getting too close to the Uchiha Clan is no good. Root needs more authority to ensure the Jinchuriki's safety and stability."
Hiruzen Sarutobi smoked his pipe, his brows furrowed. "Surveillance is fine, but don't take any excessive measures. That child, Uchiha Ling... has the Will of Fire, and he's clever enough to know where to draw the line." He paused, then added, "Still, you're right. Now that Mito has passed away, keeping the Nine-Tails stable is indeed a top priority. I'll have Anbu work with Root to strengthen protective surveillance of the Jinchuriki."
Danzo gave a slight nod, a hint of satisfaction passing through his single eye.
Though he hadn't regained all his former authority, this was at least a start. Mito Uzumaki's death had disrupted the balance within the village, giving him an opening.
"Remember, it's protective surveillance," Hiruzen Sarutobi stressed. "Kushina just lost Lady Mito and has taken on such a heavy burden. What she needs is understanding and guidance, not mere control."
"Of course. Everything is for Konoha," Danzo replied impassively, though he already had plans of his own.
At the training ground behind Konoha, the morning mist had yet to clear, and Uchiha Ling was already drenched in sweat.
He stared at the chakra sphere flickering in his palm, his brows furrowed.
Failed again. He shook out his hand, numb from the backlash, and sighed.
He had been trying to develop a new technique for three weeks now. In the System Store, the beginner-level Rasengan skill mastery cost over a thousand Emotion Points, so Uchiha Ling had decided to develop it himself.
As someone who had crossed over, he had practically seen the Rasengan's successful use broken down step by step in the original anime, in the scenes where Jiraiya taught Naruto.
At first, he naively thought he could just follow the steps from the anime. First, he practiced with a water balloon, making the chakra inside spin. It sounded simple. Doing it was a nightmare.
By the end of the first day, he was soaked through, with over twenty burst water balloons scattered at his feet. If he used just a little too much chakra, the balloon exploded all over his face.
"Damn, this is way harder than I thought." Uchiha Ling wiped the water off his face.
"I guess some money just shouldn't be saved! System, exchange for Chakra Control Mastery!"
"Chakra Control Mastery exchanged: 750 Emotion Points."
After exchanging for Chakra Control Mastery, Uchiha Ling could finally make the water inside the balloon spin obediently.
Looking at the water balloon turning steadily in his palm, he smiled for once. "Now that's interesting."
Next came the rubber ball. It was sturdier and could withstand more chakra. But he soon realized that its durability was a drawback too: it made it hard to sense the subtle changes in his chakra.
Once, he got so absorbed in training that the rubber ball suddenly burst with a bang. Fragments grazed his cheek, leaving several bloody scratches.
"Shit." He touched the wound and drew in a sharp breath.
The hardest part was making the chakra spin on its own. No water balloon or rubber ball—just forming a spinning chakra sphere out of thin air in his palm.
"Damn it." He lay on the ground, panting. "How did that kid Naruto manage it in the original story?"
He was frustrated, but he kept training. He began observing spins in nature: eddies in streams, leaves twirling in the wind. He even spent ages watching a spinning top.
His breakthrough came from an unexpected source.
That day, Namikaze Minato was practicing shuriken in the neighboring training ground, and Uchiha Ling watched for a while, with nothing better to do.
Minato's shuriken could change direction midair, their spinning trajectories incredibly tricky.
As he watched, Uchiha Ling suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "So that's it! The spin needs an axis!"
His progress sped up after that. Uchiha Ling stopped making his chakra spin aimlessly and instead established a stable axis of rotation first. The real-time data from the Emotion System let him fine-tune every little stream of chakra.
Another week passed, and at last a stable chakra vortex appeared in his palm for the first time.
It was only the size of a fingernail, but it was indeed spinning steadily.
"I did it!" Uchiha Ling was so excited he nearly jumped.
He opened the system panel, and a new skill had appeared under mastered skills: [Rasengan (Beginner)].
"System, use the Skill Mastery Scroll to level up Rasengan."
"Rasengan successfully leveled up: [Rasengan (Beginner) → Rasengan (Mastery)]"
In an instant, a wealth of knowledge about the Rasengan flooded into Uchiha Ling's mind...
The fingernail-sized chakra sphere, which had been spinning steadily, suddenly began to hum, its brilliant blue light growing stronger.
Uchiha Ling instinctively pressed the sphere against a nearby training post.
There was no explosion or flash, only the harsh sound of chakra grinding against wood. When he pulled his hand back, a perfectly spherical hole remained in the post, its edges smooth as if they had been polished.
Uchiha Ling stared at the hole for a long moment, then let out a long breath.
"The Rasengan! If that hit someone, wouldn't they end up covered in bruises?"
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