Chidori

Minato himself had no complaints. He formed seals again and again, released the technique, adjusted the angle. His golden hair swayed faintly in the wind, his expression focused, and his progress remarkable.

The changes in Izumi Uchiha after awakening her eyes were even more visible—

Fire Release techniques that had originally required a long sequence of hand seals now took only half as much time.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan placed a considerable burden on her body, so she did not activate it during ordinary training.

Yet the fireballs she condensed were still more solid than before, and their flames had changed from crimson to a bright orange tinged with yellow, their temperature clearly much higher.

She was practicing a new Fire Release combo she had learned from a scroll in the clan compound—

First came the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, several small fireballs shooting toward the water like scattered dandelion seeds.

Then, without pause, she followed up with Majestic Destroyer Flame, a vast wave of fire surging forth.

After swallowing those fireballs, it formed an even larger area of scorching flames.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the stretch of charred earth before Zhili, extending all the way to the water.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan's boost to chakra control truly was astonishing. Zhili's current combat strength had likely already reached the threshold of elite Chunin.

As for why she was not yet a Jonin?

Because Izumi Uchiha was still too young. She had not systematically learned how to use the Three-Tomoe Sharingan to copy Ninjutsu, nor had she mastered the Uchiha Clan's proud genjutsu system!

Once she learned all that, even at her age, Zhili would possess Jonin-level strength.

That was the Three-Tomoe Sharingan—an utterly unreasonable increase in power.

Then he turned his gaze toward Mirai Uzumaki on the far right.

Three Shadow Clones stood before Mirai, repeatedly practicing something in a small circle around him.

The training experience gained by Shadow Clones could be returned to the original body once they were dispelled.

Training with Shadow Clones was undoubtedly like activating a multi-times training buff.

But it came with risks. The more Shadow Clones there were, the more memories, experiences, knowledge, and even pain would return to the original body when they were dispelled. If things went wrong, the brain might even be overloaded and damaged.

Not everyone was like Naruto in the original story, so thick-nerved that he could use hundreds of Shadow Clones to train at once.

Mirai stood in the middle, forming hand seals with both hands. A flicker of lightning gathered in his palm, giving off a crackling buzz.

The ball of lightning was only palm-sized. As he continuously adjusted the method and frequency of his chakra output, the lightning grew brighter and brighter, its shape changing without pause.

Jiraiya frowned slightly as he watched that unfamiliar lightning.

He had seen quite a few Lightning Release Ninjutsu—but the way this lightning was condensed differed from every technique he knew.

It was denser, more concentrated, like lightning compressed under immense pressure rather than dispersed electrical currents.

And that sound, like birds chirping, was especially hard to ignore!

"Mirai." Jiraiya jumped down from the tree and walked over to him. "What kind of technique is that in your hand?"

Mirai raised his head. The lightning in his palm did not dissipate, but it stopped changing. "Uncle Jiraiya, it's a Lightning Release Ninjutsu I'm creating myself. I call it—Chidori!"

"A self-created Ninjutsu?" Jiraiya raised his brows.

Minato and Zhili heard the conversation as well and instinctively looked over.

"You're still so young, and you're already trying to create your own Ninjutsu?" There was a trace of seriousness in Jiraiya's voice.

"It's not unusual for ninja to create their own Ninjutsu, but it's an extremely dangerous thing to do. One mistake could injure your chakra pathways and ruin your entire ninja career!

"It's usually something Jonin and above attempt only after accumulating a great deal of combat experience. You're a Genin who just graduated, so you'd better—"

"I know, Uncle Jiraiya." Mirai nodded.

"But I've spent a long time working out the principles behind this technique. The theory is already sound. All that remains is fine-tuning the chakra."

Jiraiya stared at him for two seconds. "How long have you been working it out?"

"...I guess I've been thinking about it since I entered the Ninja Academy."

Mirai Uzumaki was not lying about that. Hadn't he been working out Chidori in his head ever since he first transmigrated here?

Not just Chidori—he had also been considering how to recreate the Rasengan!

Jiraiya fell silent for a moment. It was not that he doubted Mirai's talent—

From the very beginning, this child had displayed chakra control far beyond that of his peers.

But creating a Ninjutsu was not something talent alone could accomplish overnight.

It involved chakra circulation paths, shape transformation, elemental combination, and even safety considerations for the chakra pathway system. The slightest error in any one area could cause irreversible damage.

What it required was not only talent, but experience!

"Show me first," Jiraiya said, much more serious than before. "If there's a problem with your chakra flow, I can stop and correct it in time to prevent you from hurting yourself."

Mirai nodded and did not refuse.

He first dispelled his Shadow Clones. With three simultaneous pops, the clones turned into white smoke and vanished.

Only then did he take a deep breath, and the chakra within his body began flowing along the route he had adjusted and tested countless times—

Rat, Horse, Monkey, Horse, Rabbit!

The five hand seals were completed in nearly the blink of an eye. Then he lowered his right hand, spreading his fingers slightly, while his left hand gripped his right wrist to assist with control.

"Bzzzt, crackle, crackle—!!"

A dazzling blue-white mass of lightning suddenly erupted in his palm.

The current let out a piercing cry through the air, as though a thousand birds were shrieking at once—hence the name Chidori!

Jiraiya's pupils contracted slightly.

The shape, density, and method of condensation of that lightning all showed that this was not a half-finished technique.

It was a Ninjutsu that had already basically taken shape and could be used in actual combat.

And the efficiency of that chakra conversion, the degree of compression... it was nothing a novice should have been able to grasp so easily.

Could there truly be geniuses in this world who were born knowing everything?

In that instant, Jiraiya thought of many things. He remembered the task the Great Toad Sage had given him—to find the Child of Prophecy.

So, could Mirai Uzumaki, who had already gained the Nine-Tails' recognition and possessed such extraordinary talent, be that Child of Prophecy?

The look in Jiraiya's eyes as he watched Mirai changed ever so slightly.

Minato stood some distance away, his hand-seal movements having completely stopped.

He could feel the chakra fluctuations radiating from that lightning—dense, sharp, and blisteringly fast.

It gave him an instinctive sense that being struck by it would be dangerous.

He watched in silence for a while, then gently clenched his fist.

The world of geniuses... really was completely unreasonable.

He silently sighed to himself, yet the corners of his mouth curved up faintly—

Minato felt a drive to keep chasing forward, determined not to fall behind.