"Fire Release! Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
On the training ground, as Minato leaped back, a series of small fireballs were expelled, rushing towards Tatsuma who was approaching him.
Bang Bang Bang~
Tatsuma didn't counter with Ninjutsu nor did he attempt to dodge. With his hands wrapped in Chakra, he directly met the fireballs, and at the moment of collision, the Chakra on his palms exploded, shattering the fireballs.
Combining techniques of Enhanced Strength and Vacuum Palm, these low-power Ninjutsu were rendered ineffective, allowing Tatsuma to quickly close the distance between him and Minato.
At such a short distance, Minato couldn't even form hand seals in time. His hands brushed past the outer side of his thighs, and two shurikens were thrown out by him.
Facing the shurikens, Tatsuma slightly slowed down, then proceeded to deflect them. After all, Minato's skill in Ninja Tool Throwing was also extremely high, and there was a real possibility of being injured by his endlessly changing trajectories of ninja tools if one wasn't careful.
Minato, who had widened the distance once again, quickly landed. Unable to adjust his posture in the air or exert a second burst of power, his speed advantage was completely nullified.
Seeing Minato trying to slip away again, Tatsuma's face darkened. He now detested Minato's astonishing speed talent. With one hand, he threw ninja tools to block Minato's path, forcing him to constantly change speed and slow down.
With the other hand, he began forming hand seals, a jutsu he rarely used in real combat.
"Ninja Art! Bringer of Darkness Jutsu!"
In an instant, Minato felt his field of vision closing in as if two curtains were slowly drawing together, leaving nothing but pitch-black darkness in front of him. He quickly overflowed his Chakra, sensing the Chakra fluctuations around him.
However, he dared not use Genjutsu Release to dispel it, as it would disrupt his own Chakra. Tatsuma was too familiar with him; any disruption to his Chakra would give him the opportunity to defeat him.
Though in darkness, Minato's Chakra Sensing still allowed him to maintain distance from Tatsuma. Suddenly, Minato sensed Chakra ahead of him, evidence of Ninjutsu.
"This Chakra is Earth-Style Wall!"
Minato quickly assessed the situation and swiftly veered to the right, attempting to evade the obstruction of the Earth-Style Wall.
Thunk~
Suddenly, Minato felt everything spinning, and the darkness in front of him gradually disappeared. Minato faintly saw, beside the Earth-Style Wall, a towering tree.
There was still a not-so-shallow dent on the trunk, evidently caused by Minato's Iron Head Technique.
Chakra Sensing could detect Chakra and discern enemy numbers and movements, but it couldn't sense naturally occurring objects. Perhaps there were more sophisticated sensory jutsu that could achieve this, but clearly Minato didn't possess them.
"Minato, is this the fifth time you've fallen for this?"
Ting~
Tatsuma, with a kunai held against Minato's neck, smiled. Minato, upon hearing this, gave a resigned smile.
Indeed, he had fallen for it five times, the same trick every time.
No matter if he went left or right, he would collide. Even on the third attempt, when he chose to jump to avoid, little did he know that above the Earth-Style Wall was the canopy of a large tree, and he ended up crashing into the protruding branches.
Minato, with his vision restored, rubbed his head and asked, "How did you predict the direction of my change?"
Tatsuma, who had retrieved the kunai, shrugged and said, "At the moment when your line of sight was blocked, your brain memorizes the surrounding terrain. You instinctively dodge in the direction without obstacles according to your memory. But here in the forest, it's impossible for any direction to be consistently clear. Look."
Tatsuma pointed behind him, several dozen meters away, where there was open ground to the right. Minato could have dodged there at any time. The large tree in front of them was the first obstacle.
Realizing this, Minato sighed helplessly and said, "I see. It seems my memory of the terrain isn't quick enough. I overlooked the location of obstacles and didn't calculate properly."
Tatsuma stretched his legs and asked, "Have you received any summons from the village?"
Shifting the topic, Tatsuma continued, and Minato followed suit, shaking his head. "No, what about you?"
"Neither have I."
Tatsuma shrugged in resignation. Since they returned last time, more than four months had passed, and neither he nor Minato had received any new missions. To be honest, they were starving.
With minimal savings, they couldn't convert their merits, the number of completed missions into money. There were no new commission tasks available either. Even though they were eating at Uzumaki Mito's house, they were running out of money.
Fortunately, Minato's current apartment was exempt from water, electricity, and rent due to the wartime situation. Otherwise, he would probably have had to move to the Senju clan's area.
But even with free food and lodging, they still had expenses. For instance, Minato occasionally brought breakfast to the Senju clan's area, and Tatsuma sometimes treated Minato, Nawaki, Kushina, and others to desserts.
Moreover, they needed to buy clothes. Although as Chunin they could receive uniforms for free, they couldn't wear uniforms every day. Plus, the village didn't supply underwear; they had to pay for that themselves.
In fact, these past few days, Kushina had already started treating them because Tatsuma and Minato were completely broke.
Tatsuma scratched his head, letting out another sigh. His hair had grown, and it was time to go find Tony-sensei. But Tony-sensei also needed to earn a living to support himself.
He had thought that after becoming a ninja, he wouldn't worry about money like his previous life. But now, with their savings completely depleted and the joy of activating two additional amplifications fading away, he couldn't help but worry.
Even though Tatsuma intentionally restrained himself slightly from grinding and instead focused on consolidating his existing power, he still reached ten thousand points through daily matches in "Ninjutsu" and "Seals".
Naturally, Tatsuma activated the additional amplifications once his talents reached the standard.
"Ninjutsu: 3695/10007 [Additional Amplification (Pending Activation)]
Available Directions for Additional Amplification:
[Sea Overturning]: Upon activation, enhances the destructive power of area of effect of Ninjutsu. The amplification gradually increases with the progress of this talent realization. It allows the host to input more Chakra when casting ranged Ninjutsu, and the effect depends on the Chakra consumption during the casting.
[Stone Piercing]: Upon activation, amplifies the damage power of single target Ninjutsu. The amplification gradually increases with the progress of this talent realization. It enables the host to expedite the development and application of single target Ninjutsu, and the effect depends on the host's Skilled mastery of Ninjutsu during casting."
"Seals: 4005/10004 [Additional Amplification (Pending Activation)]
Available Directions for Additional Amplification:
[Hand Mastery]: Upon activation, enhances the speed and rhythm of seal formation. The amplification gradually increases with the progress of this talent realization, allowing faster seal formation and significantly reducing the impact of external interference on seal effectiveness.
[Return to Origins]: Upon activation, simplifies the hand seals. The amplification gradually increases with the progress of this talent realization, allowing the host to find hand seals that are more suited to oneself to replace the original seals, achieving multiple seals into one or even No Seal casting."
For the additional amplification direction of "Ninjutsu," Tatsuma chose "Sea Overturning." After all, "Sea Overturning" can match with "Expand," allowing his proficiency in ranged Ninjutsu to experience a breakthrough.
It's like the common joke among Naruto fans in my previous life about "Uchiha Madara turning B-rank Fire Release into S-rank." Although the level of Ninjutsu represents the difficulty of learning, it also shows Uchiha Madara's extraordinary talent.
Similarly, there's Senju Tobirama's Mastery of water release etc. Ranged Ninjutsu doesn't just increase with more Chakra input.
Even if you give others the same amount of Chakra as Uchiha Madara, they can't perform the same Great Fire Annihilation as him because Uchiha Madara's mastery of the entire technique is unmatched.
Of course, most people spend their entire lives, spending the same or even more time than Uchiha Madara, but still can't reach his level. Therefore, it can be considered as a hidden talent.
And with Tatsuma, who already had no shortage of Chakra, naturally choosing "Sea Overturning," he also wanted to experience the feeling of "turning Water Release into Sea Release"
Previously, Tatsuma might have been hesitant to squander Chakra due to the slow Chakra refining speed. However, the additional amplification effect of the "Wisdom" value compensated for this.
As for "Seals," there was no need to hesitate. It was undoubtedly "Return to Origins."
In the ninja world, there's no future for honest people. Those truly powerful enemies are much faster than Mifune who claims to be able to neutralize Ninjutsu. Simply sticking to seal formations will only harm oneself.
The effect of "Sea Overturning" is very noticeable. Tatsuma could almost feel the change as soon as it was activated. Now, when he unleashes a Big Flame Bullet, the effect rivals even that of Jiraiya the Toad Sage.
It's just that Chakra consumption is a bit faster, like pumping water with a water pump.
The effect of "Return to Origins" isn't as immediately apparent. Although occasionally, during the seal formation process, flashes of inspiration would occur. That spontaneous feeling would make Tatsuma involuntarily change his own hand seals.
But for now, it's just one change at a time, making himself more comfortable. To achieve the effect of multiple seals into one or even No Seal, he still needs to gradually explore during training.
At this point, except for "Illusions," Tatsuma's other talents have all reached the minimum requirement for Jonin. Moreover, with the effects of each amplification and their coordination, his strength is much greater than the base numerical values suggest.
It's like strength—Tatsuma's conventional strength might only be considered above average among Chunin, but when it comes to explosive power, he meets the requirements of Jonin. And with the Enhanced Strength technique, he becomes even more formidable.
Even if he trains diligently like a hermit, Tatsuma believes he only needs two years to meet the strength requirements for the Jonin title in the eyes of others—excluding the assessment of Genjutsu, of course.
However, being a Jonin isn't like being a Chunin or Genin; there isn't a perfect assessment process. It mainly relies on three factors: senior Jonin recommendations, past performance evaluations, and the number of missions completed.
At most, they might assess leadership abilities or team-leading skills, but there's no need to participate in specific tests.
Tatsuma speculated that perhaps when Kakashi became a Jonin at the age of twelve, not all of his skills met the requirements of a Jonin, but his performance and effectiveness were already comparable to that of a Jonin.
After all, Kakashi should also have hidden talents, similar to Minato's speed or Senju Tobirama's Ninjutsu prowess. Kakashi's hidden talents might be evenly matched.
Because he could go toe-to-toe with opposing Jonin, he naturally would be considered a Jonin, right?
As Minato and Tatsuma sat on the grass taking a brief rest, suddenly, a piercing cry of a hawk echoed across the sky. The two exchanged glances and instantly stood up.
Although it was a Jonin Hawk delivering the message, they both had a premonition.
Something big was about to happen!
----
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