After arriving at the temporary training ground, Qi Luna slowly rolled his neck. His joints gave a faint series of cracks, like an overture to the training session about to begin.
He loosened his wrists and flexed his fingers, then dropped into a lunge to stretch his legs. Every movement was fluid and natural.
Once his warm-up was over, Qi Luna took a deep breath. His gaze instantly became focused and resolute.
Drawing on his extensive experience watching all kinds of anime in his previous life, and combining it with the unique abilities granted by chakra and the Uzumaki Bloodline in this life, Qi Luna had come up with a concept for a distinctive Nintaijutsu style long ago. His physical abilities hadn't been sufficient to put it into practice, so he'd never been able to make it a reality. Now, after training with Uzumaki Mito, he could finally give it a try!
Those special techniques would normally require training in all kinds of extreme environments to master, but the advent of chakra meant that was no longer essential. Even so, it still took plenty of real combat experience to develop techniques that could truly kill!
And that was one of the reasons Qi Luna had gone to such lengths to come to the Amegakure battlefield.
A moment later, having finished recalling the past and collected his thoughts, Qi Luna began training in earnest in the New Uzumaki Style Nintaijutsu.
"New Uzumaki Style: First Form: Violent Step!" (You can compare it to the Body Flicker Technique from the Six Powers.)
A vast amount of chakra gathered beneath Qi Luna's feet. As it burst forth, he vanished from where he stood, then abruptly appeared in front of a massive tree.
"New Uzumaki Style: Second Form: Sword Flash!" (You can compare it to the Finger Pistol.)
Qi Luna curled the ring finger and pinky of his right hand, pressing his thumb against their knuckles. He extended his index and middle fingers together, forming a sword-hand covered in chakra. It pierced the tree trunk with ease, like a hot knife through butter!
"It's not over yet. New Uzumaki Style: Second Form: Sheath Breaker!" (It's a bit like the Li family's Qi technique. Basically, you use a chakra burst in tandem with Sword Flash to widen a wound on the enemy or extend your attack's reach. Similar to Wind Release: Vacuum Wave?)
As he spoke, Qi Luna turned his sword-hand, and his chakra exploded in an instant, blasting a huge hole through the middle of the thick tree trunk!
Looking at his handiwork, Qi Luna smiled with satisfaction. He withdrew his right hand, then shot backward. With nothing to push off from in midair, he still managed to leap repeatedly, changing direction each time!
"New Uzumaki Style: First Form: Sky Chaser!" (Kind of like the Moonwalk.)
Having perfectly recreated the two Nintaijutsu techniques, Qi Luna nodded in satisfaction. But when he thought about some of the techniques he planned to learn next, he couldn't help sighing.
"I've only mastered the shape transformation of Water Release so far. I won't be able to learn at least four of the next six techniques any time soon... Wait, the eighth technique is out of reach too. I just don't have enough strength. Looks like I'll have to ask Big Sis Tsunade to teach me Super Strength when I get back..."
"Sometimes, I really envy the talent of the 'Copy Ninja' and the 'Five-Spirit King'... Too bad I only have chakra natures for Water, Wind, Lightning, Yin, and Yang..."
After his musing, a few thoughts came to Qi Luna's mind.
Forget it. Once this war's over, I can bring little Nagato back to Konoha! How can my Uzumaki Clan's bloodline be left outside the village? And there's Karin in the Land of Grass too... No, it's too early for Karin to be born. I mean her mother!
As for the idea that you shouldn't keep all your eggs in one basket, or whether Old Man Madara and The Great Filial Son would start trouble because I brought Nagato to Konoha...
Qi Luna began to think it over:
Madara had awakened the Rinnegan and deciphered the altered stone tablet, learning of the existence of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. That was when he came up with the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Since he was already old and could barely move, he transplanted his Rinnegan into Nagato, who possessed the Uzumaki Clan's Sage Body, so it could be preserved in him. He then sent White Zetsu, disguised as a Konoha Ninja, to kill Nagato's parents and make Nagato awaken the Rinnegan...
Only later, on the eve of the Third Shinobi World War, did he use Yin-Yang Release to create Black Zetsu, whom he believed to be the embodiment of his own will, when it was actually Kaguya's...
Thinking of this, Qi Luna couldn't help snorting.
"Hmph. Those two, even together, aren't a match for Auntie Mito in their current state! Until they replace the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, Konoha is absolutely safe!"
"And after they replace the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki? If I let Old Man Madara and The Great Filial Son get their hands on the Nine-Tails, then I'm—this!"
As he spoke, Qi Luna clenched his right hand into a fist and raised his thumb, then turned it a hundred and eighty degrees and pointed it downward.
After practicing the New Uzumaki Style Nintaijutsu and thinking through the future of the Ninja World and how to deal with it, Qi Luna tidied the temporary training ground a little. As usual, he opened his Mind's Eye of the Kagura to sense the area around him.
He'd confirmed there was no one nearby and was about to turn and leave when a surge of hostility appeared within his range of perception!
That's... No good! It's White Zetsu! Damn it! Good thing I was speaking Sichuan dialect just now, not Japanese, and I kept my voice down. The information shouldn't have leaked...
Qi Luna secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling glad he'd been cautious and had the Nine-Tails Chakra Grandma Mito gave him to rely on. Otherwise, he would've been in serious trouble!
He sensed the hostility from White Zetsu linger for only a moment before quickly disappearing. Unwilling to investigate and alert the enemy, he didn't dwell on why White Zetsu had appeared at the Amegakure battlefield. Then a thought jolted him: could it be...
That was right. If Qi Luna remembered correctly, Madara had secretly transplanted his Rinnegan into Nagato during the Second Shinobi World War!
The White Zetsu he'd just sensed had most likely mistaken him for Nagato, then realized he'd identified the wrong person!
Which meant...
Madara's Rinnegan was on that White Zetsu right now!
He couldn't be completely sure, but Qi Luna was still seventy percent certain White Zetsu had come to transplant the Rinnegan into Nagato!
There was another twenty percent chance White Zetsu planned to disguise himself as a Konoha Ninja and awaken the Rinnegan already in Nagato's eye sockets!
As for the final ten percent, White Zetsu might simply have been sent to gather information. But Madara had already sent plenty of White Zetsu to spy on the Ninja World's villages, so sending one more to gather intelligence in the Land of Rain wouldn't accomplish much. That made it highly unlikely!
What should I do? There's a seventy percent chance. Should I take a gamble? And what happens if I win?
I don't have the Uzumaki Clan's Sage Body. Could I control a Rinnegan that wasn't mine? Even if I only used one to lessen the strain, how would I deal with Madara if he came after the eye before he'd completely lost the ability to move?
Even if I ran back to Konoha and sought Grandma Mito's protection, how could I explain that the ghost of the Uchiha was about to return and take revenge on the village?
The questions came one after another, leaving Qi Luna doubting everything.
After thinking it over again and again, he ultimately chose not to act. Instead, he slowly headed back toward the camp.
What am I even thinking? Why make things so complicated? I've already decided to bring Nagato back to Konoha... So whether I leave the Rinnegan for him or borrow it for myself, isn't that up to me?
Besides, if I actually put the eye in and ended up looking just like Nagato in the future, all skin and bones, wouldn't that be a nightmare?
No! No! No!
Qi Luna quickly shook his head. The more he thought about it, the more at ease he felt, and the lighter his footsteps became.
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