Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan

After teaching Kushina for a while, Eiji said he had taught her everything he could. The rest was up to her own efforts, which left her a little annoyed.

Ugh, my future "good partner" is such a blockhead!

Eiji had something else to do. He wanted to see how powerful a Rasengan he could make with his current chakra reserves.

He flashed to a spot deeper in the forest, still visible to Kushina and Minato.

Then he extended an arm and began gathering chakra. With the precise control of his Six Eyes, no amount of chakra would make the Rasengan run wild. He watched the sphere in his hand grow larger and larger until it became a massive ball of energy a meter across!

Uh...

That seemed to be his limit for now. He could fire only about ten Rasengans that size before his chakra was nearly exhausted.

It also showed how different chakra and Cursed Energy were. An attack of the same scale using "Blue" would take him almost no effort, and he could keep up a nonstop barrage. He couldn't do that with Rasengan.

The Six Eyes could control and compress Cursed Energy consumption, allowing him to use Jujutsu at almost no cost. Cursed Energy came from negative emotions and was difficult to measure; it was an abstract concept. Ninjutsu, however, consumed chakra.

Chakra was a form of energy. No matter how much he compressed it, he could only reduce consumption as far as possible, not bring it close to zero.

Even so, compressing his chakra usage let him cast several extra Rasengans. That was better than nothing.

If activating the Satoru Gojo template hadn't given him a substantial boost in chakra, he wouldn't even have managed this much.

Looking at the increasingly dangerous Rasengan in his hand, Eiji couldn't resist testing the power of this Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan.

Minato and Kushina, still practicing in the distance, saw it too. The balloon in Minato's hand burst with a pop, soaking him.

Was he even human!?

Minato swallowed. He couldn't imagine how much damage that thing would do if it struck!

Kushina was dumbstruck too. Was the gap between them really that huge!? Could Tsunade withstand a hit from that?

Eiji figured that now he had formed it, drawing it back wasn't realistic. He might as well fire it and see what happened.

He leaped high, swung the Rasengan like Naruto, and slammed it into a huge boulder a full ten meters tall!

The brilliant blue sphere of chakra shredded the boulder in an instant, then smashed straight into the ground!

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!

It felt like an earthquake. Minato and Kushina nearly lost their footing.

The violent gust sent Kushina's red hair flying wildly. Minato raised an arm across his face to shield himself from the sand and stones hurtling toward him.

Wood chips, broken rock, and soil flew into the sky before raining down in every direction!

A vast cloud of dust billowed up, and Eiji vanished from sight!

Only after the immense, raging chakra had dissipated did Minato and Kushina dare approach the blast site. Eiji emerged from the dust, rolling his wrist, his expression perfectly calm.

Seeing that Eiji didn't have a speck of dust on him, Minato thought he was incredible. Maintaining his image even after that! Minato would have to do the same the next time he showed off.

Then Minato looked at the damage.

The Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan had carved out a huge hemispherical crater ten meters across.

The chakra had been so powerful that the shock wave alone had blasted a deep hole in the earth.

Trees all around leaned at odd angles, and rubble lay scattered everywhere. One word summed up the sight: terrifying!

Minato was sure that anyone hit by it would be blown to pieces, no matter how strong they were.

"Eiji, what's that move called?"

"Hmm... Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan."

That's way too plain! Minato felt the name didn't do such destructive power justice. If he were naming it...

It would have to be Ultra-Big Ball Ultimate Peerless Whirling Rasengan Zero!

A flurry of footsteps sounded in the distance. Eiji shrugged. Now they were in trouble.

"Ah, the Anbu Ninja must have heard the commotion. We're in trouble."

"Huh? What?"

Minato was still trying to make sense of that when four or five masked ninja surrounded the three of them.

"We're Anbu Ninja. What caused that huge explosion just now? Have ninja from an enemy nation infiltrated the village?"

Looking at the devastation, the Cat Mask Ninja leading them never imagined these three children had caused it. He assumed enemy ninja had developed some terrifying bomb.

"No enemy ninja. I was experimenting with a new ninjutsu and accidentally blew up part of the forest."

"What!?"

The Anbu Ninja looked at the crater, then at Eiji, then at one another.

"What ninjutsu?"

"One I developed. It's called Rasengan."

This kid could wipe the floor with me. How was that possible?

The Cat Mask Ninja had intended to take Eiji to the Hokage's office to make a report. But when he noticed Kushina Uzumaki beside him, he realized the matter might involve Mito Uzumaki and hesitated.

After all, going to the Hokage's office might mean handing over the ninjutsu. Lady Mito might be displeased if she learned of it, and he couldn't afford to offend her.

"All right. This area may soon become unsafe, so you'd better head home. I'll report this to Lord Third Hokage."

Eiji and the others had no choice but to end their training early.

Minato didn't mind. He had gained plenty from this session.

He could practice Rasengan at home. All he needed was balloons and water, so he could learn an incredible technique at almost no cost.

Kushina was satisfied too. She had grown closer to Eiji and witnessed him become stronger.

Earlier, in the Hokage's office.

"Danzo, you bastard! Is there anyone more shameless than you? You stole the culprit who attacked a fellow village ninja and then smashed his head! You make me sick!"

Tsunade pointed at Danzo's nose and berated him. The news from the Yamanaka Clan had nearly made her explode with anger.

Last night, while they were gathering information from Shimura Shio's mind, a group of masked people had abducted him.

By the time the pursuers caught up, the abductors had dumped Shio's corpse—but his head was gone!

Tsunade didn't have to think twice to know who was responsible!

What infuriated her even more was that Shimura Danzō had thrown her accusation back in her face, saying she couldn't make claims without evidence. She had lost her temper and cursed him out.

Even Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, standing nearby, couldn't stomach it. What Danzo had done was filthy. If he wanted to destroy the evidence, couldn't he at least have been less blatant about it?