Ninjutsu-based Body Flicker involved instantaneous movement through material substitution using various types of ninjutsu.
Techniques like Gaara's Sand Body Flicker and Zabuza's Mist Body Flicker were not only flashy but also had a casting windup, which was far too fatal a flaw.
Most importantly, Nobuhiko felt that their use of the Body Flicker Technique in the anime was downright pathetic. They actually had to form hand seals!
Nobuhiko figured that if he used this kind of Body Flicker Technique in the Fourth Shinobi World War-bullshit, he was getting ahead of himself. If he really intended to research this kind of Body Flicker Technique, he probably would not even live to see the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Other types of Body Flicker Techniques all had rather demanding requirements, such as dōjutsu, Space-Time Ninjutsu, and tailed beast chakra, so Nobuhiko set those aside for now.
At that thought, Nobuhiko felt utterly drained. In the vast Shinobi World, there was not a single Body Flicker Technique he wanted to research in depth.
No, there was still one person.
Shisui Uchiha.
The man renowned throughout the Shinobi World for his Body Flicker Technique.
Nobuhiko suddenly realized that Shisui's Body Flicker Technique did not fall into any of the common categories in the Shinobi World either.
All right, Nobuhiko understood now. To use the Body Flicker Technique well, he still had to develop one with his own distinct characteristics.
Nobuhiko considered his requirements for a Body Flicker Technique.
First, it had to be fast.
Among all martial arts, speed alone could not be overcome!
It might not have been apparent early in the original story, when most fights were exchanges of ninjutsu and only a handful were taijutsu clashes.
But things were different later on. Aside from techniques like the Tailed Beast Bomb, whose enormous area of effect made them difficult to evade, very few other ninjutsu could still land a direct hit.
Ultimately, it was because they were not fast enough.
So the most important thing about Nobuhiko's ideal Body Flicker Technique was that it had to be fast. Not only did its movement speed have to be fast, but its casting speed did too. It had to require no seals and be usable at any moment.
Hiss, my head hurts!
Nobuhiko decided to start with theory and move on to practice once the theory held up.
He first thought of chakra natures.
The chakra natures related to speed were wind and lightning, and he did not have lightning release chakra.
So at this stage, using wind release chakra to increase his speed was a good choice for Nobuhiko.
How should he use wind release chakra to increase his speed?
As Nobuhiko pondered, he thought of the Light-Weight Rock Technique, a ninjutsu that reduced an object's weight to achieve flight and acceleration.
Could wind release chakra produce a similar effect?
It did not seem so. At most, it could only make his body a little lighter.
Nobuhiko thought through the Wind Release Ninjutsu that had appeared in Naruto. There really did not seem to be any that could increase speed.
They were basically all offensive, such as Wind Release: Vacuum Wave, Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere, Wind Release: Pressure Damage, Wind Release: Wind Cutter, and the Wind Release: Breakthrough and Wind Release: Gale Palm he had already learned.
Wait, a new idea seemed to flash through Nobuhiko's mind.
Nobuhiko thought it over a little longer.
That was it-Gale Palm.
A technique that transformed chakra to generate wind, then used a clap of the hands to compress that wind and turn it into a raging gale.
It could then be released from the palms, easily blasting a person away.
If releasing it from the palms could blast an enemy away, what about releasing it from the soles of his feet?
Nobuhiko now wanted to turn Gale Palm into Gale Kick and test the results.
He would start with theory again.
The most essential part of Gale Palm was using a clap of the hands to compress the wind and turn it into a raging gale.
Even Nobuhiko himself had to clap his hands to compress it when using Gale Palm.
What if he did not clap?
Could he release a raging gale directly through chakra control?
It should be possible.
With his chakra control, he could first use Gale Palm a few times and carefully sense the changes in his chakra as he compressed it with a clap.
Once he became familiar with them, he could try to produce those same changes in his chakra without clapping.
Finally, he would find a way to apply the chakra flow paths and gathering patterns used when releasing Gale Palm to his feet.
The theory seemed to hold up, but there was still one prerequisite: Gale Palm's hand seals had to be simplified until none were needed.
This made Nobuhiko, who had originally planned to leave Gale Palm alone, take it seriously again. He could only revise his training plan for the next two months.
The plan for his Shadow Clone to keep practicing Water Dragon Bullet remained unchanged. After all, Water Dragon Bullet would be his only big move until he learned his next B-rank offensive ninjutsu, so he had to master it as soon as possible.
He would combine the tasks from the first and second stages, prioritize simplifying Gale Palm's hand seals, and then put his theory of turning Gale Palm into Gale Kick into practice.
Then, through Gale Kick, he would develop a Body Flicker Technique of his own.
As for simplifying the hand seals of other ninjutsu, he could only leave that to chance.
Five days later, Nobuhiko finally simplified Gale Palm to the point where he could release it without seals.
Then he began putting the transformation of Gale Palm into Gale Kick into practice.
This modification took Nobuhiko an entire month.
For the first time, Nobuhiko discovered just how difficult developing ninjutsu was.
What he had done barely counted as developing a C-rank ninjutsu that required no seals, yet it had taken this long.
No wonder the Fourth Hokage had spent three years rolling that ball. After all, that ball was an A-rank ninjutsu that required no seals.
At that thought, Nobuhiko admired the Second Hokage even more!
So many forbidden techniques in the Scroll of Seals, along with so many common and rare Water Release Ninjutsu in the Shinobi World, had all been developed by that old man alone.
What a waste it had been to make him Hokage!
Nobuhiko suddenly sighed inwardly.
Since he had already developed it, Nobuhiko prepared to test its effects.
Although he could now release it without seals, he still chose to clap his hands together.
For no other reason than to look badass!
"Wind Release: Gale Kick."
With a bang, Nobuhiko felt like a little cow on an airplane-utterly badass and headed skyward.
Just as Nobuhiko wanted to experience what it felt like to look down from above, he discovered that he had already fallen back to the ground.
Huh, I didn't even fly higher than the wall!
Nobuhiko inwardly cast a little scorn on his Gale Kick.
Then he suddenly realized that this Gale Kick was not quite what he had imagined.
Nobuhiko had thought that developing Gale Kick would let him develop his own Body Flicker Technique, only to discover that this was still far from enough.
There were still too many details he had not considered at the time.
Just like in this test: Nobuhiko had thought he could use Gale Kick to achieve high-speed movement directly, but instead he had flown upward.
It seemed that developing Gale Kick could only be the first step. The second step should be controlling the direction in which the wind was released after his chakra generated it.
As for whether there would be a third step, Nobuhiko was not sure yet.
Then Nobuhiko began another round of research and development.
Another ten days passed before Nobuhiko finally managed to control the direction of the released wind through his far-above-average chakra control.
Then Nobuhiko clapped his hands together.
"Wind Release: Gale Kick."
This time, he finally did not fly into the sky, but as for the results... they were hard to describe.
Nobuhiko felt like one of the triple jump athletes he had seen in his previous life.
First, he used the gale released by Gale Kick to take a high-speed stride forward. Once the wind had finished discharging, his feet landed in turn and released another gale.
It was only thanks to the courtyard of the old Senju residence being large enough that Nobuhiko got to fully experience what a triple jump felt like.