Flying Raijin Technique

After Duanmu returned the Scroll of Sealing to Hiruzen Sarutobi, the village's crisis was finally resolved.

When Hiruzen Sarutobi took the scroll, his aged fingers rubbed over the cover for a moment, and his deep gaze swept across Duanmu with a trace of scrutiny that was hard to detect. "You've worked hard, Duanmu."

There was no joy or anger in his voice. "You did well. Bringing the scroll back at the critical moment prevented an even greater disaster."

Duanmu bowed slightly, his face carrying just the right amount of respect and a lingering hint of fear. "Lord Hokage, you give me too much credit. Protecting the village is every ninja's duty.

"The situation was urgent at the time, and I only managed it by luck. The main credit still goes to Teacher Iruka and Naruto for stopping Mizuki in time."

He deliberately shifted the credit toward Iruka and Naruto, while also cleverly explaining why he had been holding the scroll—"managed it by luck." It both fit the circumstances of his "coincidental" appearance and avoided inviting too much investigation.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him a long look. The pipe turned between his fingers, smoke curling around him, and after a moment he slowly nodded. "Mm. Iruka and Naruto were both very brave. Naruto especially..." At the mention of Naruto, the Third Hokage's eyes softened slightly. "He was able to turn back from the wrong path and protect his comrades with his own strength. That deserves praise."

Then his tone shifted and became serious. "As for Mizuki, I'll have someone investigate it thoroughly. As for you, Duanmu, you've rendered a great service this time. The village won't treat you unfairly. What reward do you want?"

Duanmu's heart stirred. He knew this was an opportunity, but he also understood that saying too much would only lead to mistakes. After a brief pause for thought, he raised his head, his gaze clear and firm. "Lord Hokage, I don't need any special reward. Being able to contribute to the village is already enough for me. If possible, I only hope to have more chances to take part in missions in the future, improve my strength, and better protect Konoha."

These words expressed loyalty while also putting forward a reasonable request, neither servile nor arrogant. Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in satisfaction. He had always appreciated young people like this—steady, not complacent, and clear about their goals. "Good. You have ambition. I'll remember your request. You must be tired after everything tonight. Go back and rest for now. Someone will notify you about what comes next."

"Yes. Thank you, Lord Hokage." Duanmu bowed again, then turned and left the Hokage Office. After walking out of the office building, the cool night wind blew against his face, and only then did Duanmu let out a slight breath of relief.

He could feel that sharp gaze watching him from behind the entire time, until he disappeared at the end of the street.

The Third Hokage... as expected, he's not simple. Duanmu thought to himself. Back in the office, he had almost thought the fact that he had copied a forbidden technique had been discovered, but Hiruzen Sarutobi's reaction had been very calm. That only made him even more wary.

Looks like I'll have to be even more careful from now on. He touched the thin piece of special paper in his pocket, the one that recorded the basic principles of the Flying Raijin Technique, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

This risk had been worth it.

At that moment, inside the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked in the direction Duanmu had left and remained silent for a long time. Beside him, an Anbu member asked in a low voice, "Lord Hokage, should we monitor Duanmu?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "No need. Talent should be given opportunities. But he also needs a warning." He picked up a document from the desk—the preliminary list for genin team assignments.

"Assign Duanmu... to Team 7."

The Anbu member froze. Team 7? Wasn't that...

"Lord Hokage, in that case, Team 7 will have four students..."

"Just do it." Hiruzen Sarutobi cut him off, his tone allowing no argument. "Let him be with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, under Kakashi's leadership. Perhaps that will be good for all of them."

The embers in the pipe flickered on and off, illuminating the Third Hokage's inscrutable face.

By now, Duanmu had already returned home and begun studying the various forbidden techniques he had obtained from the Scroll of Sealing.

He carefully unfolded the papers he had copied, spread them flat across the desk, and, under the dim yellow lamplight, scrutinized them word by word and line by line.

The coordinate formula for the Flying Raijin Technique was extremely complex, involving spatial perception, precise chakra control, and advanced applications of the Body Flicker Technique. The slightest decimal-point deviation could cause the spatial transfer to fail—or even rip his own body apart in space.

"Coordinate positioning... chakra marks..." he muttered to himself, his brows tightly furrowed. "What exactly is the principle behind this kind of space-time ninjutsu? It can't be something like a wormhole..."

Duanmu wanted to combine the Flying Raijin with the knowledge he had learned in his previous life, but he simply could not find any theoretical model that could connect with it.

In his previous life, he had been an ordinary person. His understanding of physics had been limited to high school textbooks and a few popular science books. Things like relativity and quantum mechanics might as well have been heavenly scriptures to him, let alone using them to explain a supernatural phenomenon like ninjutsu.

"Looks like I can only understand and learn it entirely according to the rules of the ninjutsu system." Duanmu sighed, temporarily giving up on the idea of cross-disciplinary fusion and instead devoted all his energy to analyzing the technique itself.

He took out brush and ink, repeatedly deriving the Flying Raijin's coordinate formula on scrap paper, trying to find its patterns and key points. Every time he made a calculation error, he crossed it out without hesitation and started again, his gaze focused and stubborn, as if the entire world had been reduced to the formulas and symbols before him.

Outside the window, the sky gradually turned pale with the first light of dawn. The first rays of morning sunlight spilled into the room through the window, illuminating his bloodshot eyes and the calculation papers scattered across the desk.

He knew that mastering the Flying Raijin Technique was absolutely not something that could be done overnight. It would require an enormous amount of time and effort to understand and practice it. In particular, the chakra control that had to be precise to the extreme and the carving of spatial marks would be a tremendous test of a ninja's talent and willpower.

Just then, his mother knocked on his door. "Duanmu, it's time to go to school. Today is the day you meet your team instructor."

Duanmu suddenly snapped back to himself and only then realized that the sky outside was already fully bright.

He quickly folded the copied forbidden-technique papers with great care, hid them in a secret compartment beneath the bed board, then gathered up all the calculation papers on the desk, lit them on fire, and tossed them into the iron basin in the corner.

Only after watching the papers turn to ash did he let out a breath of relief. He rubbed his somewhat sore eyes, got up, and went to wash.

"Got it, Mom." As he answered, he splashed cold water onto his cheeks, trying to drive away the exhaustion of staying awake all night.

After hastily eating a few bites of breakfast, Duanmu slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and left the house.

Duanmu blended into the crowd, head lowered, but his mind was still constantly replaying the formula for the Flying Raijin Technique.

He needed to find a way to practice this space-time ninjutsu as soon as possible, but both coordinate positioning and carving chakra marks required extremely high talent and a great deal of practice, not to mention that he also needed specially made kunai as a medium.

"Looks like I'll have to find a way to get a kunai with a Flying Raijin mark on it. And I'll have to strengthen my training in precise chakra control too."

Soon, he arrived at the Ninja Academy.

Quite a few graduates had already gathered on the training field. They stood in small groups of two or three, excitedly discussing the upcoming team assignments and their jonin instructors.

Duanmu found a relatively quiet corner and stood there. His gaze swept over the crowd, and he soon spotted several familiar figures.