Rasengan

Naruto noticed Minato shift slightly when he heard those words, and he continued:

"And the people of Konoha are only afraid of the Nine-Tails' power."

"I can understand that fear."

"So I'll use the Nine-Tails' power to protect Konoha, so that those who once feared me can feel at ease because of my strength, rather than relieved because I'm gone."

This was his own "Hokage Declaration."

Every word was true, but only he knew the deeper meaning behind them.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi's "protection" had been to throw him into an orphanage and ignore him, leaving an infant to survive on expired milk and instant noodles. Naturally, he would "protect" the Third Hokage as well.

During the Chunin Exams, he would stand quietly to the side and watch Orochimaru and his two teachers send the Third Hokage on his way.

And Danzo Shimura, and those two advisors, and all those people who had once laid hands on him.

He would not miss a single one.

It wasn't revenge.

Not a single word Naruto had said to Minato was about revenge.

He simply believed that some people should pay the price for their decisions.

The Third Hokage's greatest mistake had never been making Naruto suffer. It was his indulgence of Root and Danzo Shimura, and the wasted decade-plus during which the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki could have become a true fighting force.

Such strategic foolishness would invite justice from history itself, even if Naruto did nothing.

Minato did not know what Naruto was thinking.

He only knew that his son stood before him, looking at him with the exact same gaze Minato had once worn atop Hokage Rock, telling him word by word:

I want to become Hokage.

I want to protect Konoha.

"Naruto..."

The Fourth Hokage's eyes reddened.

He remembered the night he had sealed the Nine-Tails inside Naruto. He remembered telling the Third Hokage before his death, "Please tell Naruto that his father was a hero who protected Konoha." He remembered the worry that had haunted him for more than a decade.

Would his son—the child abandoned by the entire village—grow up to hate him? Would he hate Konoha?

And now, his son was telling him: I'll use the Nine-Tails' power to make them feel at ease.

"Naruto actually... has such a great love in his heart..."

Minato's voice trembled slightly. Tears slid from the corners of his eyes, refracting faint rainbows in the golden light.

Naruto wore a smile as he quietly put a debt on his conscience's tab.

Sorry, Dad.

I really did make you cry.

But your tears are tears of gratitude, while the entries in my ledger may need a very slight revision in wording.

Well acted.

Naruto gave himself a mental thumbs-up.

Kushina's eyes had reddened as well, but she did not cry again.

A mother's intuition told her that her Naruto was far more complicated than her husband imagined.

But she did not intend to press him, because no matter what Naruto was calculating, she believed the words he had spoken.

Naruto was her child. Whatever Naruto did, she would support him!

Those two things were enough.

"Good."

Minato wiped the corner of his eye with his sleeve and regained his sharp composure. "No more nonsense. Every extra second of chakra we consume means one less thing we can teach you."

"Let's begin right away."

The first technique Minato taught was the signature jutsu he had created—the Rasengan.

"Naruto..."

Minato raised his right hand, palm facing upward. "There are countless advanced jutsu in the shinobi world, but in the end, they all come down to two fundamental abilities: shape transformation and nature transformation."

"Shape transformation is controlling chakra's form, density, and movement."

"Nature transformation is giving chakra elemental properties such as wind, fire, water, lightning, and earth."

"The Rasengan is the pinnacle of shape transformation."

"It requires no nature transformation at all. Through chakra shape control alone, it can create the destructive power of an A-rank jutsu in the palm of your hand."

Naruto nodded.

Of course he knew. In his previous life, when he watched the three stages of Rasengan training, he had practically wanted to memorize every frame.

But he did not interrupt Minato, allowing him to finish the full theory.

Learning a jutsu was not something that could be mastered merely by watching. When it came to actually performing it, the slightest deviation in any detail could lead to complete failure.

"Learning the Rasengan is divided into three steps."

"First: rotation."

Minato raised one finger. "Guide chakra into your palm and make it rotate."

"It doesn't need to be fast, but it must be steady."

"The direction must be clockwise. That is most natural for a right-handed person, and your chakra also flows most stably clockwise."

"Second: irregular rotation."

Minato raised a second finger. "While maintaining the rotation, continuously increase the chakra's density and make its rotational speed irregular."

"At this stage, it's easy to get greedy and push for speed, but once the speed exceeds the limits of your current control, the chakra sphere will explode in your palm."

"Remember that when practicing with your real body."

"An injured palm is no joke."

"Third: maintain and compress."

Minato raised a third finger, his tone growing more serious. "Compress the high-density chakra sphere in irregular rotation into a stable form."

After hearing the theory behind the three steps, Naruto immediately raised his right hand.

He did not ask, "Is this right?" "Is this enough force?" or "What range should I control the speed within?" In the face of Absolute Control, such questions were all pointless.

His awareness was precise enough to see the path every thread of chakra took through his chakra pathways toward his palm, precise enough to tell exactly how much chakra pressure his hand could safely withstand.

His palm faced upward.

Chakra rose, flowing through the pathways in his right arm and gathering in his palm.

First step.

Naruto guided the chakra into a spiral rotation. Strands of chakra gathered in his palm, forming a slow, steady vortex.

Second step.

Naruto controlled the chakra as it began accelerating in irregular rotations. Its density rose smoothly. He could feel a faint vibration beneath his skin, yet there was no sign of disorder.

Third step.

Naruto began compressing the rapidly spinning chakra sphere.

Pressure drew inward from the edges of his palm. The sphere's surface tightened like a drumhead, finally stabilizing into a sphere slightly larger than an adult man's fist.

"Bzzz!"

In an instant, a full blue Rasengan spun at high speed in Naruto's palm, emitting a low, continuous hum.

The tiny currents stirred up by the chakra rotating along the sphere's edge blew through the golden light on the ground. There was not the slightest trace of instability. It was as steady as a carefully polished crystal glass bead.

Minato Namikaze's pupils contracted, and his mouth opened slightly.

"When I developed the Rasengan, it took me a full three years."

"In the first year, I figured out the theory of shape transformation. In the second, I achieved a balance between rotation and power. Only in the third year did I finally manage to maintain it steadily."

Minato paused. He looked at the Rasengan in Naruto's palm, pulsing as naturally as breathing, and fell silent for a long time. Then he showed a proud yet slightly dazed smile.

"Naruto, you broke my record."

"To form it in a single step at this level..."

Minato added the first half of the sentence in a low murmur, but did not speak the rest aloud: This doesn't feel like someone who has just learned it. It feels more like a familiar motion you've performed countless times before.