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The next day.
Today, Natsuro unusually refrained from using Shadow Clones to learn. Instead, he carefully infused his chakra into the special kunai of the Fourth Hokage, focusing on the Flying Thunder God Seal, also known as the 'Sword of Ninja Love' inscribed with those four characters.
This kunai was undoubtedly custom-made, and the Flying Thunder God Seal was deliberately left for others to learn or else it wouldn't have been so easy to infuse chakra into it. If not even the Fourth Hokage's great disciple, despite not being very clever, wouldn't have overlooked the Seal on himself.
This kunai was clearly not meant for combat. Natsuro still needed it to learn the Flying Thunder God technique. Even though the Flying Thunder God Seal generally doesn't disappear, didn't mean that the object bearing the Seal couldn't be damaged from the infused chakra getting out of control.
It was said that most people weren't qualified to learn the technique, among them a proportion who weren't even qualifed to test whether they had the talent to learn it.
Thus, even as he infused chakra into the kunai, he was extremely cautious. In fact, infusing chakra was more complex than he had imagined. At this rate, it would take at least two to three days to complete the infusion.
This was already after he had greatly improved his chakra control through his accidental partial understanding of the Void State during Sage Mode training. If it weren't for this enhanced control, he wouldn't be making such smooth progress. However, he had initial qualification was there so it just required more time.
A while later, Natsuro paused, gauging that with a bit more effort, he would likely complete the first step by tomorrow.
Now, he needed to go out and train. Learning could take a two-day break; while the Flying Thunder God technique was indeed worthwhile, physical training couldn't stop.
After all, even the Flying Thunder God technique requires chakra to use, and as a space-time ninjutsu, its consumption won't be too low.
However, compared to other chakra-intensive techniques, the Flying Thunder God technique's consumption should be relatively manageable. The Fourth Hokage likely had a considerable amount of chakra, but it's certainly less than those exceptional ninjas. So the fact that, the Fourth could use the technique with ease, let him know that the consumption is not excessively high.
Still, just because it isn't excessively high for the Fourth Hokage doesn't mean that would be the same for Natsuro. Their chakra amounts are incomparable, and Natsuro still needs to grow.
Moreover, the mastery of the Flying Thunder God technique likely affects chakra consumption. The Fourth Hokage's mastery far surpassed that of the Second Hokage, so his goal is to achieve proficiency in the technique. From any perspective, he needed to continue training without interruption.
Sometimes, he thought about pushing his limits like Rock Lee, trying to break through his own boundaries. After all, with the emergence of those exceptional ninjas in the Naruto world approaching, even if it might harm his foundation, the side effects of such damage wouldn't be apparent immediately.
But at the end, he was just entertaining these thoughts. Over time, he realized that although his physical training talent was quite good, it was not on par with Lee's. Without the aid of Lightning Release massage, he would have fallen far behind Lee in this aspect.
Breaking through limits also depends on talent. For Lee, it might not have such severe side effects, but every time Natsuro pushed his limits, it tooks days of recovery before he could try again. Lee, on the other hand, seemed to handle it effortlessly, even appearing lively the next day.
Yet, despite this, the physical strain of Lee's training was significant. Although the effects weren't apparent now, as he aged, all the injuries from his youth would catch up with him.
That level of damage might even be beyond the scope of medical ninjutsu, perhaps only solvable by the Yang Release in Sage Mode.
But that was still far off. He'd only pushed his limits whenever he was in perfect state, avoiding continuous extreme training before complete recovery. So that even as he aged, he wouldn't face such severe consequences.
Natsuro walked towards the familiar training grounds.
On the third day, he looked at the custom kunai in his hand and finally completed the first step. Now, this kunai truly belonged to him. Even if he gave it to someone else, the kunai would probably not be able to be used to test for the Flying Thunder God's talent.
The process was even more challenging than he had anticipated. Although he was still short on the second day, he managed to complete it on the third day.
The complexity of the Flying Thunder God Seal made him sigh. Even just infusing chakra was so troublesome; how difficult would it be to costruct his own seal when the time came?
The more he came into contact with it, the more he felt the difficulty of learning the Flying Thunder God technique. It was no surpise to him that only the Second and Fourth Hokage managed to master it. Regardless, he was confident that his name would eventually be added to that list.
Having initially established a connection with the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Seal, he felt a special sensation, likely due to his keen sensory ability which made him even more confident in learning the technique.
Sure enough, when he closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensation, the connection became more clear.
At that moment, he had a thought. He sat cross-legged on his bed, placing the kunai on his lap, and closed his eyes, gradually entering the Void State.
In this state, his sensory ability was greatly enhanced. What effect would this have on the kunai with which he had established a connection?
Soon, Natsuro opened his eyes, and there was a look of surprise on his face. The results were even better than anticipated.
In the Void State, he felt he could directly perceive the precise location of the Flying Thunder God technique. This was a significant advancement, meaning if Natsuro had already mastered the technique, he could use it directly in the Void State.
Unfortunately, he neither knew how to use the Flying Thunder God technique yet nor had sufficient chakra. Moreover, currently, he couldn't use ninjutsu in the Void State.
Nevertheless, he smiled, confident in passing the Third Hokage's test.
As for the summoning technique on the scroll...
To him, it was the simplest step. He had already memorized the specific seals and chakra flow, so using it would be easy.
In the following days, he would focus on strengthening the connection. Fortunately, subsequent infusions required less chakra and the efficiency of the process would improve, reducing time he would spend on it.
"It was a pity that the increased chakra, which could have been used for practicing those C-rank techniques, would now be postponed. But it seems I'll have to send that aside for now."
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