Senju Chen's heart gave a sudden thump.
Right, the Rasengan!
How had he nearly forgotten it? This was an A-rank instant-cast ninjutsu that required no hand seals, and the anime and manga from his previous life had described its training method in exhaustive detail. He could learn it entirely on his own.
"So, Little Chen." Minato Namikaze withdrew his hand and looked back at Senju Chen, a trace of a senior's expectation and encouragement joining his gentleness. "If you have someone you want to protect with your life, determination alone isn't enough. Become stronger. Make yourself strong enough to break the rules, strong enough that... you never have to make any choices again."
Senju Chen stared at him blankly, as though deeply moved by those words. He nodded hard, his eyes shining with "admiration" and "longing."
"I understand, Big Brother Minato! I'll definitely become stronger!"
Hehehe...
Deep down, Senju Chen wore a foxlike smile.
Big Brother Minato, when the day comes that you finally manage to make your ball after years of painstaking research, only to discover that your little brother can casually make one too after a single look at your ninjutsu...
I wonder what a spectacular expression that face of yours, always wearing such a gentle smile, will have then?
That's really... something to look forward to.
After saying goodbye to the fiery, enthusiastic Kushina and the gentle, waterlike Minato, Senju Chen walked home alone.
The moonlight stretched his shadow long.
Minato's words played over and over in his mind, along with the three stages of Rasengan training he knew from the original story.
The first stage was rotation. Burst a water-filled balloon in his hand using chakra. The key was to make the chakra spin chaotically in multiple directions inside the balloon, generating tremendous tearing force.
The second stage was power. Burst a solid rubber ball. This required greater explosive chakra power and concentration.
The third stage was maintenance. Combine rotation and power, maintaining stable, high-speed chakra rotation within a sphere or container to form a perfect sphere.
Finally, dispense with the external container-the water balloon or rubber ball-and rely entirely on his own ability to condense, maintain, and release a high-density chakra ball in his palm.
For Senju Chen, who possessed the First's bloodline and the Uzumaki bloodline, with chakra reserves far beyond an ordinary person's, this seemed... far from an unattainable challenge.
Besides, he was a man with the [God-Level Stealing System].
Minato had already laid the "idea" and "theory" before him. All he needed to do was use his "cheat" and knowledge beyond the era to take a genius's shortcut.
Back at the Senju residence, he slipped quietly into the storeroom without disturbing anyone.
He soon found his target-a bag of colorful balloons Big Sister Shizune had bought for summer.
Returning to his room, he shut the door and windows, took a pale blue balloon from the bag, and went to the sink to carefully fill it with water.
The balloon was heavy, taut with water, and gleamed translucently under the light.
Senju Chen sat cross-legged on the floor, placed the water balloon in his left palm, took a deep breath, and slowly closed his eyes.
He began mobilizing the chakra in his body, trying to channel it into his palm according to the feeling he remembered from Naruto's training.
One strand, then two...
Blue chakra flowed like a stream into his hand, enveloping the water balloon.
He began trying to make the chakra rotate.
Clockwise? No, the water balloon only trembled slightly.
Counterclockwise? That wasn't right either. The chakra flow was very unstable.
"Chaotic rotation in multiple directions..."
Recalling that vague description from the original story, Senju Chen sank his awareness into the world in his palm.
He divided his chakra into several streams, trying to make them press toward the center from different directions at once, spinning and colliding!
This was an extremely delicate operation, demanding an absurd degree of chakra control.
One minute, two minutes...
Fine beads of sweat gradually appeared on Senju Chen's forehead.
The water balloon in his hand began trembling violently, as though a raging beast were imprisoned inside. Its surface continuously warped under the pressure of the invisible chakra turbulence within.
That's the feeling!
Senju Chen's eyes snapped open, a sharp gleam flashing through them!
"Come on... spin!"
With a low shout, he abruptly increased the chakra output from his palm!
Pop!!!
A crisp report rang out.
The water balloon burst, cold water splashing everywhere and dousing his face.
Senju Chen wiped the water off his face and looked at his empty palm.
The first attempt had failed!
Although this attempt had failed, the method was correct. After all, Minato had spent three whole years just developing this ninjutsu.
And he believed that, with practice, the day he successfully made a Rasengan would not be far off.
Big Brother Minato, I'll help myself to your A-rank ninjutsu... ahead of time!
In the days that followed, Senju Chen's life became regular yet divided.
At the Ninja Academy during the day, he was the exceptionally talented, courteous "young master" of the Senju Clan. Whenever a teacher asked a question, he always gave the most textbook and pleasing answer; he accepted the snacks and lunches the girls offered with just the right amount of shyness, prompting little cries of satisfaction.
At the training ground after school, he switched to another role.
"Chen, your punches have gotten faster again! This is the pursuit of youth!" Might Guy sweated buckets, every movement brimming with explosive power, but his blazing eyes remained fixed on Senju Chen, full of admiration and fighting spirit.
On the other side, Kakashi was much quieter. He simply swung his wooden sword like mad, its cutting wind fierce, far beyond his peers. Every time he sparred with Senju Chen, he gave it everything he had, as though determined to see through this incomprehensible "genius" before him. Yet every time, his opponent effortlessly countered him in an even more inconceivable way.
This made the despair and unwillingness in Kakashi's heart accumulate ever deeper, and drove him to train even more frantically.
Senju Chen enjoyed this state of affairs. With just the right encouragement, he maintained Might Guy's never-extinguished fighting spirit; with his unfathomable "talent," he constantly provoked Kakashi's tightly strung nerves.
Like a highly skilled actor, he played different roles on different stages.
A good little brother before his sister, an outstanding student at school, a genius in his companions' eyes.
Only late at night, when all was quiet and he shed every disguise, did he truly become himself again.
Inside his bedroom, Senju Chen held a water-filled balloon in his left palm. His eyes were tightly shut, his entire awareness immersed in that tiny world in his hand.
At his command, the chakra within his body surged violently into his palm like a tamed beast. It was no longer the chaotic turbulence of the first stage, but was forcibly compressed and condensed, unleashing the most terrifying power toward a single point!
This was a hundred times harder than making the water inside the balloon rotate.
The water balloon tested the skill of "rotation," while bursting it required finding the feeling of sustained chakra output rather than a momentary explosion.
Beads of sweat the size of beans slid down Senju Chen's temples and dripped onto the tatami. Practicing this A-rank ninjutsu still placed an enormous burden on his five-year-old body. Yet the light in his eyes grew ever brighter.
His Rasengan training even led him to temporarily set aside his Wood Release practice.
Because he knew very well that Wood Release's strength lay more in large-scale battlefields and powerful vitality. Right now, however, this immensely powerful A-rank offensive ninjutsu that needed no hand seals and could be launched instantly was his trump card for staying alive and his weapon for assassination!
"Just a little more... concentrate it a little more..."
He could feel the structure inside the water balloon being madly torn apart by his densely rotating chakra...