Training in the Flying Thunder God Technique

Naruto understood Jiraiya's intentions at a glance.

"All right, kid. Find somewhere and practice on your own."

Jiraiya yawned and leaned against the campfire, settling down to sleep.

Naruto glanced at Jiraiya and said nothing more. In an instant, he entered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

Then he controlled his hair and tried to practice.

But no matter what his hair touched, it crumbled to pieces in an instant.

A night passed.

The area around them had been utterly wrecked by Naruto.

Jiraiya yawned and opened his eyes.

He looked around in confusion.

Yesterday, this had been a lush forest. Today, it was a barren wasteland.

"Kid, what did you do?"

Jiraiya's mouth twitched.

Naruto took several deep breaths with effort.

"Stop talking. Let's go."

Even the muscles in his face twitched as he spoke. He'd tried that method countless times last night, but hadn't succeeded even once.

Naruto had gained all his power with ease, so to speak. He'd never put in any hard work.

Even his training had focused on cultivating his temperament.

So Naruto's first attempt at training had been a complete defeat.

"You really are a short-tempered kid."

Jiraiya was speechless.

He said nothing more, and the two of them hurried on.

After three days, they arrived in the Land of Hot Water.

The place was bustling with people coming and going: ninja, merchant caravans, and samurai.

Everyone who came here was on vacation.

"What now? Should we split up and look?"

Naruto glanced around from the middle of the street, feeling a little helpless. He'd tried using Mind's Eye of the Kagura to search, but there were too many people here, and Naruto had never met Tsunade. On top of that, she had the Yin Seal. For the moment, Naruto really couldn't find her.

"No rush. Let's find somewhere to get some proper rest first."

Jiraiya's lazy streak kicked in, and he found an inn to stay at.

Naruto was a little speechless, but since Jiraiya wasn't in a hurry, there was no need for him to rush either.

So he joined Jiraiya in trying out the local hot springs.

Fortunately, it was just the two of them. Naruto was still a child, and the place was shrouded in mist, lending it a certain charm.

Clear water washed away a thousand sorrows, leaving body and mind at ease.

Relaxing made Naruto feel drowsy.

After who knew how long, Naruto slowly woke up. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Jiraiya was gone.

He instinctively sensed the area.

His face instantly darkened.

"I really was a fool to trust you."

His mouth twitched as he looked behind him.

Through the mist, he spotted a lecherous, white-haired middle-aged man wearing a bath towel. He was crouched there, peeping at the people opposite them, grinning lecherously from time to time.

It had seemed pretty funny in the anime, and since they were all cartoon characters, it hadn't bothered Naruto when he watched it.

But in real life, Naruto found it hard to accept. Killing people didn't bother him much, but seeing Jiraiya act so lecherously made him really want to hit someone.

Forget it, they're all from other villages anyway.

Naruto consoled himself.

"Heh heh, so big, so fair and smooth."

Jiraiya snickered.

A vein bulged on Naruto's forehead.

At last, he couldn't take it anymore.

His body vanished in an instant, reappearing behind Jiraiya.

"Perverted old man, that's enough!"

Naruto kicked him right in the butt.

The kick was so fast that even though Jiraiya reacted, he had no time to do anything about it.

Crash!

The wall collapsed, and Jiraiya flew into the artificial hill across from them.

After a brief silence, a scream rang out, piercing the sky.

"Ah! There's a pervert!"

By then, Naruto had already disappeared.

With no women in your heart, your sword will strike like a god.

Naruto didn't really count as a lecher. At least, he wasn't like Jiraiya.

After returning to his room and changing, Naruto left the inn and headed out into the street.

He didn't use clones to search. Instead, he looked around one place at a time.

It was a chance to sightsee as well as observe.

But after Naruto had searched every casino and still hadn't found Tsunade, he grew a little puzzled.

"Could the intel be wrong?"

Tsunade was, of course, here.

It was just that Naruto was unlucky today.

Tsunade had lost all her money yesterday. Today, she wasn't gambling and was staying at the inn.

At this very moment, she was drinking at the inn.

Naruto had searched every casino and still hadn't found her.

He had no choice but to head back first.

When he returned to the inn, Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen.

Naruto was speechless. That guy was probably either drinking or chasing women.

Forget it. I'll train instead.

Naruto had obtained Minato's memories, but hadn't properly trained yet.

The Flying Thunder God Technique was quite convenient.

The first step in learning the Flying Thunder God Technique was to memorize the formula and carve it out.

In other words, the Flying Thunder God mark.

According to Minato's memories, this depended entirely on instinct.

And everyone's Flying Thunder God Formula was different; it represented the most important thing in their heart.

It felt a little contrary to reason.

For example, the Second Hokage's was the symbol of the Senju Clan, while Minato's was his ideal: the Sword of Shinobi Love.

With Minato's memories and experience, all Naruto had to do now was go straight to the second step: carving the Flying Thunder God mark.

Naruto closed his eyes and tried to carve the Flying Thunder God mark into the ground.

But after half a day, he still hadn't managed to produce a thing.

Naruto scratched his head hard.

Am I really that bad at training?

Naruto refused to believe it.

[Triple Inversion: Activate]

Without a second thought, Naruto entered the Inversion State.

Then he continued trying to grasp the idea.

After who knew how long.

I'm still missing something. Faith and willpower? In this world's terms, my own ninja way.

Whether it was because he'd gotten smarter or not, Naruto instantly realized what step he was missing.

But faith was an awfully vague thing.

Naruto racked his brain for ages, but still couldn't figure out how to imbue it into the formula.

"I refuse to believe I can't do this."

Naruto's eyes flashed. He was ready to go to extremes.

He raised his right hand.

Twin Palms.

A small bubble appeared.

Naruto pressed it straight into his own mind.

His gaze instantly hardened.

He briefly altered his own memories.

Now, Naruto had only one thought in his mind: get stronger.

He slapped his right hand down.

A black pattern appeared on the ground in an instant.

"I did it."

It was a bit of a shortcut, but he'd still managed to grasp the basics.

He looked down.

A black spiral pattern was clearly stamped onto the ground.

If he focused, he could sense a faint connection between himself and the pattern on the ground.

He tried several more times, and each time he managed to leave a pattern behind.

Then came the third step: teleportation.

Flying Thunder God activated.

Naruto's body vanished in an instant.

Then he appeared in midair, headfirst, and started to fall.

Just as his head was about to hit the ground, he suddenly stopped.

"Looks like I do have some talent."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. The first two steps hadn't posed much danger.

Only this step was truly threatening. After all, space wasn't something you could mess around with.

Still, thanks to Fire Style, Naruto found the Flying Thunder God Technique quite easy to learn.

But if he wanted to use it in battle like Minato, he'd probably be better off throwing punches himself. After all, he didn't have Minato's combat talent or reflexes.