Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye.
At Mount Myoboku, under a massive waterfall, a black-haired youth clad only in shorts sat cross-legged on a rock at the center of the waterfall, letting the torrent of water crash down on him. Beneath his sun-kissed skin, there seemed to be a latent, surging power, ready to explode at a moment's notice.
After an unknown period, the youth opened his eyes. In that instant, it was as if the waterfall had been severed, unable to approach him any further. It wasn't an illusion—the waterfall truly seemed cut off, unable to get close to the boy.
The boy yawned and then vanished from the polished stone that had been worn smooth by the waterfall. A moment later, he reappeared on the shore, picking up his clothes to get dressed. Beside his clothes lay a seemingly ordinary kunai.
At this moment, the previously interrupted waterfall resumed its flow, even more tumultuous than before.
But none of this concerned Natsuro. Ignoring his surroundings, he dried himself off, changed into clean clothes, and once again vanished from the shore.
When he reappeared, he was inside the training grounds at Mount Myoboku, standing on a field littered with marks—these were the results of three years of painstaking effort, created by carving Flying Thunder God seals with his own chakra.
Looking at the array of seals, he couldn't help but smile wryly. He hadn't realized he'd inscribed so many. Some seals were extremely complex, while others were only slightly more intricate than the Fourth Hokage's "Sword of Love" seal.
This field represented all of his progress over the past three years, yet the marks had become so intertwined that it was impossible to distinguish individual seals anymore.
Interestingly, an unexpected phenomenon had occurred: no matter where he was, he could now connect to this field. As long as his chakra was sufficient, he could use the Flying Thunder God to teleport here, and it consumed much less chakra than it would with a single kunai.
This was something that ordinary Flying Thunder God kunai couldn't achieve. Once a Flying Thunder God kunai was out of his sensory range, he could no longer use the technique to locate it.
So, at some point, this training ground Natsuro used to practice Flying Thunder God had undergone changes that even he didn't fully understand.
For now, though, it seemed to be a good thing. He looked at the seals again, trying to figure out why, but it was beyond his current understanding. He realized he needed to further refine his sealing techniques. His goal was to make every Flying Thunder God kunai as effective as this field, which provided a clear advantage.
Currently, his sealing technique still lagged slightly behind. As a result, the seals on his Flying Thunder God kunai were more complex and took longer to inscribe compared to the Fourth Hokage's.
"Natsuro, you're getting more and more skilled with the Flying Thunder God technique." Said Sage Fukasaku, the Sage, observing the suddenly appeared boy. The sight brought memories of a previous summoner—another outstanding individual.
"Yes, but I still can't use it freely yet. My chakra isn't sufficient." Natsuro replied as he tucked away his seemingly ordinary Flying Thunder God kunai. Thanks to the support of the Third Hokage, he could have made special kunai, but he chose not to. He believed that hiding the Flying Thunder God seal within ordinary kunai could lead to unexpected advantages.
In other words, it could be useful for catching people off guard.
Fukasaku chuckled, "You'll have enough soon. Over the past few days, your chakra has been growing at an incredible rate, which means your body has officially entered a period of rapid development."
Natsuro smiled as he felt his chakra levels, which had finally reached this point. Even now, his chakra was already at the level of a Tokubetsu Jonin (Special Jonin).
Although he didn't like the term "Tokubetsu Jonin," preferring "Elite Chunin" instead, he understood that others believed even a particularly weak Jonin was still a Jonin. Thus, the rank of Tokubetsu Jonin existed instead of Elite Chunin.
Learning the Flying Thunder God technique wasn't easy. He had been able to inscribe the seals for a year, even though they were the most complex kind. Once he understood the process, his progress in simplifying the seals was rapid. However, this was just the first step in learning the technique. The second step, which involved actually using the Flying Thunder God technique, had given him headaches for a long time. Even with his talent in spatial manipulation, it wasn't straightforward.
Eventually, he discovered a trick that helped him learn faster. This trick wasn't directly related to the Flying Thunder God technique itself but rather to the Reverse Summoning Technique. Summoning jutsu, after all, were space-time techniques used by ninjas to summon creatures. The Reverse Summoning Technique, which was also a space-time technique, allowed him to study the spatial fluctuations involved in the process.
At first, he didn't find anything particularly noteworthy until a flash of inspiration hit him. While in the meditative Void State, he was reverse-summoned once, and at that moment, he could clearly sense the spatial fluctuations.
From that point on, he used his perception of those fluctuations to perform the Flying Thunder God technique for the first time, though doing so drained his chakra completely.
In the days that followed, Natsuro entered the Void State before each Reverse Summoning, gradually becoming more familiar with the spatial fluctuations.
This method produced significant results. Now, he could use the Flying Thunder God technique proficiently, and more importantly, as his understanding of spatial fluctuations deepened, the chakra cost for the technique decreased.
He speculated that this was why the Fourth Hokage could use the Flying Thunder God technique so many times. The Fourth Hokage's chakra reserves were already substantial, and his mastery of the technique was so advanced that it made him the "Yellow Flash" who shook the ninja world.
Now, he had also mastered the Flying Thunder God technique, and while his mastery wasn't yet as deep as the Fourth Hokage's, with continued practice, he was confident he would reach that level.
As for the issue of reaction speed required for the Flying Thunder God...
He had initially worried about this, feeling that his reaction speed might not be sufficient. But when he actually began using the technique, he discovered something surprising.
For others, using the Flying Thunder God technique might require quick reflexes, but for Natsuro, it seemed he didn't need to rely on that.
In fact, it felt like he was cheating!
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