The New Year holiday had just passed, and the Konoha Ninja Academy was welcoming a new term.
The academic year in this world was divided into three terms: April to July, September to December, and January to March.
At this moment, it was exactly the January back-to-school season, a time when winter gives way to spring.
At the opening ceremony, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, attended as usual and delivered an important speech.
This elderly man, who had governed Konoha for many years, always had something to say to the children at the start of every term.
He would not only speak about inherited concepts like the Will of Fire, but also frequently share amusing anecdotes and insights from his training, along with some accessible yet practical views on ninjutsu, ensuring his speeches were never dull.
During his speech, he would occasionally select a few students at random to answer their questions, and this year was no exception.
"...When it comes to the practice of ninjutsu, we often focus too much on the sheer power of a jutsu..."
The Third Hokage used plain and slightly humorous language to articulate fundamental yet profound principles.
After concluding a segment on his insights into ninjutsu, he paused. His kind gaze slowly swept over the neatly lined-up students below the stage, preparing to call on a few children with raised hands, just as he always did.
At that moment, a student calmly raising his hand from the formation of Class 3-2 instantly caught his attention.
Higashino Shinichi.
The Third Hokage's eyes narrowed slightly, almost imperceptibly, before he revealed an even more amiable and affable smile. He gently raised his hand toward that direction and gestured, saying,
"You there, the student from Class 3-2, please stand up. Do you have a question, or perhaps a thought you would like to share?"
Shinichi stood up, first bowing respectfully toward the podium. Then, with a perfectly measured look of confusion and a trace of uncertainty on his face, he spoke, "It's like this, Lord Third. For the past two years, I have been trying to develop a new ninjutsu. In the end... well, I suppose it could be considered a success, but you could also call it a failure, because I found that this jutsu seems to have a major flaw that I cannot solve on my own."
"Oh? Developing a new ninjutsu?" The Third Hokage's smile widened with an encouraging air. "It seems this student is a genius with the courage to explore."
He offered this praise in a gentle tone, though deep down, he did not pay it too much mind.
In his view, this so-called new jutsu was likely just a superficial modification or combination of existing techniques. Reaching the level of a C-rank would already be quite rare, and touching the threshold of a B-rank would be exceptionally scarce.
"Student, what is your name?" the Third Hokage asked warmly, as if hearing it for the very first time.
"Higashino Shinichi."
"Then, Shinichi," the Third Hokage said with a nod, "Why don't you explain it in detail, or better yet, demonstrate your new jutsu directly? Let me see exactly where the problem lies; perhaps I can offer you some advice."
Hearing this, Shinichi wore a hesitant expression. He looked uncertainly at the crowded rows of students around him, seemingly holding his tongue.
The Third Hokage understood and chuckled, "It seems this new jutsu of yours packs quite a punch and causes quite a stir, making it inconvenient to demonstrate down there. Tell you what, Shinichi, come up to the stage."
"Yes, sir!"
Shinichi acknowledged the command and stepped out of his class's formation, making his way through the crowd toward the stage. Meanwhile, irrepressible murmurs of discussion broke out among the audience.
"Shinichi? He actually developed a new ninjutsu himself?"
"That's Shinichi for you... He always seemed to know so much."
"So it's him! That madman! Every morning when I get to school, I see him having his shadow clones pummel himself!"
"Is he the Shinichi who defeated Kakashi back then?"
"That was just a fluke. Kakashi has long since been promoted to chunin. He's definitely way stronger than him now. The two of them haven't been on the same level for a long time!"
"What kind of ninjutsu did he develop? Didn't you guide him?" the homeroom teacher of Class 1 asked curiously.
"I don't know. The kid never mentioned it to me either," Mr. Matsumoto shook his head.
Whispers mixed with amazement, curiosity, and doubt rippled through the ranks, all eyes focused on the back of the boy steadily making his way to the stage.
"Shinichi, go ahead and perform your jutsu. Don't worry, I am right here," the Third Hokage said with an encouraging smile and gentle eyes.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, the two advisors accompanying him, also cast curious glances his way.
"Yes, sir!"
Shinichi took a deep breath, his expression becoming intensely focused. He slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers spreading out naturally.
At first, it was merely an invisible current of air slightly gathering toward his palm, as if he were simply concentrating chakra.
"Hm?"
Seeing this, the Third Hokage initially just let out a soft murmur of surprise, but in the very next instant, his customary amiable smile vanished abruptly.
Not just him; beside him, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane's expressions also changed almost simultaneously.
The invisible gathering of chakra hovering over Shinichi's palm rapidly became visible to the naked eye!
It transformed into rapidly flowing, highly compressed streams of blue chakra, beginning to rotate at an astonishing speed!
Buzz!
A low, trembling hum faintly rang out, as if the very air was being torn apart and condensed back together.
In the blink of an eye, a pale blue sphere of light—roughly the size of a fist and composed entirely of highly condensed, frantically spinning chakra—was already hovering above his palm!
Inside the sphere of light, distinct threads of chakra howled and surged like a storm, whipping up bursts of visible, turbulent air currents that fluttered Shinichi's sleeves and the hair on his forehead.
The Rasengan!
The "new jutsu" Shinichi claimed to have developed was astonishingly this very technique—the high-level, A-rank, seal-less ninjutsu that would be created in the future by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, inspired by the Tailed Beast Bomb!
At this point in time, Minato Namikaze was perhaps still conceptualizing it, or had perhaps just begun to work on it, but this jutsu was absolutely not yet complete, let alone introduced to the world.
The principles and the practice process of the Rasengan had been clearly demonstrated in the original work.
Phase One—The Gathering Phase: Focusing chakra into the palm of the hand.
Phase Two—The Water Balloon Phase: Releasing chakra to make the water inside a balloon move erratically until the balloon bursts.
Phase Three—The Rubber Ball Phase: Maintaining the released chakra and materializing it until it can burst a rubber ball.
The Final Phase: Combining everything from the previous steps—gathering high-density chakra in the hand, continuously releasing it, maintaining it, and finally solidifying it to form a high-density sphere of chakra.
However, after completing the third rubber ball phase, Shinichi was unable to successfully enter the final phase. He figured there must be some hidden trick to the Rasengan that was never shown in the anime.
As a result, he added a fourth phase—the iron ball training. After successfully managing to fracture an iron ball, he also succeeded in utilizing a stable Rasengan.
It was only because Shinichi—supported by various traits centered around the [Genius] trait—possessed the talent and brilliance of a true, absolute genius; otherwise, even with the corresponding concepts and methods, it would be extremely difficult to develop the Rasengan independently.
And Shinichi's goal was precisely to take advantage of this point in time before Minato Namikaze had developed it. By creating this A-rank ninjutsu, the Rasengan, and displaying it at a public occasion like the opening ceremony—in the presence of all the academy's students, teachers, and Konoha's higher-ups—he would generate a sensational effect.
Thereby directly generating a comprehensive trait related to ninjutsu aptitude!
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Will do bonus chap for every 50 power stones we reach!