After the commotion, the two sat down to rest on a large rock in the Training Ground.
"Minato, I want a popsicle," Jiraiya said with a playful wink.
Minato nodded with a warm smile and agreed. Then, in an instant, he vanished.
Feeling Minato's presence disappear in an instant, Toru stared in surprise toward where Jiraiya was sitting. Only then did he dare believe that Namikaze Minato had truly vanished into thin air, and that he was nowhere within several hundred meters.
Just then, Jiraiya looked over at Toru, who quickly turned away, not daring to look any longer.
Vanishing into thin air instead of moving at high speed meant that the ninjutsu Namikaze Minato had used involved space.
This world is even more interesting than I imagined.
Toru thought to himself.
Minato had disappeared so quickly that Toru's Six Eyes hadn't even had time to unravel the secret behind it.
To see through this Space-Time Ninjutsu, Minato would probably need to demonstrate it once within Toru's field of vision.
Toru was still reeling from the shock when Minato reappeared in the Training Ground.
Minato held a bottle of water and a twin popsicle. He handed the popsicle to Jiraiya, then sat down and took a long drink.
Jiraiya took the popsicle and snapped it apart. "Which half do you want?"
"Either one..." Minato had thought it didn't matter, but then he suddenly realized something.
"...If either half is the same..." A flash of inspiration struck Minato, and he immediately leaped to his feet and shouted, "I see, Jiraiya-sensei!"
"If the Chakra is molded the same way from either direction..." Minato felt he had found the key to his new technique.
Jiraiya, however, was completely oblivious. "Huh? What is it? You don't want it anymore? Then I'll eat both!"
Absorbed in developing his new technique, Minato left Jiraiya behind and returned to the center of the Training Ground to keep trying.
"Shape it from two directions at once, make it spin, and hold it steady. This time, I'll succeed for sure!" Minato raised his right hand and began gathering Chakra.
Perhaps because he was nervous, it took Minato a long time to gather the Chakra. Only gradually did signs of it appear in his hand.
Two streams of Chakra appeared in his palm and began spinning in opposite directions. A sphere of Chakra quickly took shape.
This time was different from every attempt before. The sphere remained exceptionally stable, and although the two streams of Chakra spun rapidly inside it, they did not affect its outer stability at all.
"I-It's... it's starting to take shape!" The forceful wind whipped up by the Chakra sphere blew Minato's blond hair back. His handsome face lit up with a brilliant smile. "...I'll name it—"
Jiraiya had just finished his popsicle and walked over. He heard Minato loudly announce, "Light Wheel Popsicle-Inspired Spiraling Jiraiya Twin-Style Sphere!!!"
"What a long, awful name... Does he have no knack for naming things?" Jiraiya looked at Minato, who thought he'd come up with something clever, with a completely unimpressed expression.
Minato's shout even reached Toru and Kurenai. They both agreed: "What a terrible name."
The name did have a certain logic to it. It was just really awful.
From afar, Toru watched the azure Chakra sphere in Minato's hand and, while using his Chakra Six Eyes to analyze the technique, remarked, "If I were naming it, I'd call it Azure Spiral."
A little while later, Minato put away the Light Wheel Popsicle-Inspired Spiraling Jiraiya Twin-Style Sphere, and Toru finished analyzing the technique with its long, awful name.
Jiraiya said to Minato, "Anyway, let's put the new technique on hold for now. I have some other mission requests to take care of, so I'll be gone for a bit. Use the time to get some rest, all right?"
Minato still seemed immersed in the success of his new technique. "Yes..." he replied absently.
Jiraiya then left the Training Ground.
Minato leaned against a rock by the trees and continued studying and refining his new technique. Getting him to rest didn't seem possible for now.
Meanwhile, Toru was in high spirits after copying such an impressive technique, and happily continued teaching Yuhi Kurenai how to use the Illusion Clone Technique.
Kurenai thought Toru was making fun of the terrible name Minato had just come up with. I didn't know Toru could be so childish.
Time passed. Toru and Kurenai had nearly finished their training for the day, and Namikaze Minato had grown familiar with his new technique. All three were getting ready to leave the Training Ground.
Just then, a figure suddenly emerged from the trees. It was Uzumaki Kushina.
As it turned out, Toru had been the first to notice Kushina hiding in the woods. Minato only looked up in surprise when she poked her head out. "Huh?! Why are you here, Kushina... Is everything all right?"
Kushina raised her voice a little, sounding uneasy as she explained, "Ah! No! The... the Lord Third gave me special permission... He said it was all right for me to leave the barrier...!"
"I see. No wonder the usual supervisor isn't here." Minato readily believed Kushina's explanation.
Toru, who had been about to leave, stared as if he'd seen a ghost. He actually believed that?! Are Konoha's jōnin really that stupid?
Toru's Six Eyes couldn't detect any Anbu guarding the place, and the seal inside Kushina seemed to have weakened considerably. It was obvious she had sneaked out on her own.
We shouldn't stay here any longer. Toru grew wary and pulled Yuhi Kurenai along toward the exit.
With her hand in his, Kurenai blushed in embarrassment.
"More importantly... I was wrong just now! I shouldn't have snapped at you..." Kushina said sincerely, bowing to apologize.
Minato was taken aback, then lowered his gaze. "No... I'm the one who should apologize... I couldn't keep my promise to you..."
"..." Minato fell silent for a moment after speaking, then decided to share what was in his heart. "Actually... I went against my promise to you because I wanted to finish that ninjutsu just now... This technique was created to protect you."
"Huh?" It was the first time Kushina had heard Minato explain why he'd developed a new technique.
"...We're in the middle of a war, and you might be sent to the battlefield someday. So I specially developed this technique to fight Tailed Beasts... and enemy Jinchūriki. It can also respond to your own Chakra, Kushina, and I wanted to teach it to you..."
Minato spoke from the heart, then looked at Kushina with a gentle expression.
"Because I don't want to lose you."
Minato's words struck Kushina like a gentle yet powerful cannonball, bursting into a flower of love in her heart.
But just as Kushina's heart began to flutter, the Tailed Beast inside her suddenly took action, snatching control of her body in an instant.
Kushina's pupils turned into the fierce, vertical slits of a fox.
In Kushina's inner world, the Nine-Tails, still bound by the seal, had already broken through most of it. It tried to manipulate Kushina with its words. "I should have told you not to trust anyone. This guy is using you!"
But Kushina was only worried about Minato's safety, and shouted his name.
Noticing Kushina hunched over with her hands clutching her head in pain, Minato asked with concern, "What's wrong, Kushina?!"
Kushina let out a loud roar, and an astonishing burst of violent Chakra erupted from her entire body.
"This is... Tailed Beast Transformation!!" Minato was horrified. A moment later, Kushina struck him at close range and sent him flying.
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