The swirling chakra sphere faded from Hoshishita Shu's palm as the upper half of the massive tree collapsed with a thunderous crash.
A smile spread across his face.
"Finally succeeded."
An A-rank ninjutsu.
That level of technique was only a step below S-rank—among the most difficult ninjutsu to master.
Even B-rank techniques were generally considered jōnin-level difficulty.
Yet Shu had completed the Rasengan in an astonishingly short time.
Several factors made it possible:
His awakened past-life awareness.
The immense chakra provided by Hashirama's cells.
The solid foundation of an elite chūnin.
And most importantly—
His full knowledge of the Rasengan's training process.
All of it combined to allow him to master this A-rank, hand-seal-less ninjutsu with incredible efficiency.
"But this is only the beginning."
"The next step is improving proficiency… and adding nature transformation."
Shu packed his things and headed back toward the inn while continuing to think about future development.
The potential of Rasengan was enormous.
Not just the legendary Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, an S-rank technique.
It could evolve into many variations:
Wind Release Rasengan.
Explosion Release Rasengan.
Lightning Release Rasengan.
Even the Rasengan itself could scale with chakra volume:
Great Ball Rasengan.
Ultra-Large Rasengan.
But Shu soon shifted his thinking.
How could he integrate Rasengan into his existing combat system?
Ignoring Wood Release for the moment—
His current combat style was already well developed.
Mid-range combat: Wind Release techniques.
Close combat: Kenjutsu.
That system was stable.
So he needed a new fighting pattern using Rasengan when he wasn't wielding a sword.
If his speed wasn't overwhelming, landing a Rasengan directly would be difficult.
Shadow clones would be required for assistance.
In fact—
Naruto's fighting method could basically be copied.
Then Shu thought further.
"The Rasengan really shines when combined with the Flying Thunder God Technique."
He couldn't help imagining the combination.
Teleportation.
Instant Rasengan strikes.
That style was simply too cool.
And if he eventually developed a prototype Rasenshuriken, Flying Thunder God would remove its biggest drawback.
The technique normally injured the user as well.
But with Flying Thunder God—
He could teleport away instantly before the backlash hit him.
Leaving only the enemy to suffer the damage.
Of course…
If his Wood Release reached the level of Hashirama Senju, none of that would be necessary.
One Wood Release technique could suppress the entire shinobi world.
But then Shu scratched his head.
"Flying Thunder God…"
"I honestly have no confidence I could learn that."
Even if he mastered it, using it in combat required extremely fast neural reaction speed.
Otherwise it was basically suicide.
Thinking further, Shu realized something.
Even if he learned Flying Thunder God—
He would still need another ability to support it.
The answer appeared instantly in his mind.
The Sharingan.
At least three tomoe.
He sighed under the moonlight.
"So to use Rasengan properly… I need Flying Thunder God."
"And to use Flying Thunder God properly… I need to steal someone's eyeballs?"
He tilted his head toward the sky in frustration.
"If that damn status panel actually worked reliably, I wouldn't need to work this hard…"
The panel would refresh again in two days.
He wondered what kind of status it would bring next.
After returning to the inn, Shu quickly cleaned up and went to sleep.
Return to Root
The next morning, Shu woke early and began his return journey to Konoha.
By 10 AM, he had already arrived at Root Headquarters and reported to Shimura Danzo.
After listening to the report, Danzo did not ask why Shu had returned a day late.
Instead, he asked a different question.
"If we were to deal with the Sky Ninja Village…"
"What would you do?"
Shu answered immediately.
"The best and most direct solution is war."
"With Konoha's strength, we could wipe out the Sky Ninja Village in a single campaign."
"You must have already considered this, Danzo-sama."
"But the Third Hokage does not agree."
Danzo nodded.
"That's correct."
"The current political situation does not allow a large-scale attack."
"But Hiruzen has agreed that Root may handle the matter."
"Unfortunately, Root's current strength is not enough to eliminate the Sky Ninja Village."
"Their repeated provocations cannot go unanswered."
"Otherwise other villages will begin to underestimate Konoha."
"And even our allies may lose confidence."
Behind his mask, killing intent flashed in Shu's eyes.
"Then we should launch large-scale assassination operations."
"Intercept their mission squads."
"Assassinate their personnel."
"Create an atmosphere of terror within the Sky Ninja Village."
"Prevent them from completing mercenary missions."
"That will weaken their economic foundation and reduce their manpower."
"When the time is right—"
"You can lead us to destroy the village completely."
"And reestablish Konoha's authority across the shinobi world."
Danzo's eyes gleamed faintly.
Shu's proposal perfectly matched his own thinking.
Hiruzen's diplomatic reprimands were far too soft.
The Sky Ninja Village would only pretend to yield.
Only blood and thunder would make them fear Konoha.
Still, Danzo merely nodded.
Then he gave a new instruction.
"This afternoon, come with me to the Ninja Academy."
Shu paused slightly.
Then he understood.
Hiruzen had clearly seen Root's efficiency.
He had actually agreed to allow Danzo to recruit from the Academy.
At this time, the relationship between Hiruzen and Danzo had not yet deteriorated into open hostility.
The Academy Visit
At 2 PM, during class hours—
Danzo arrived at the Konoha Ninja Academy, accompanied by Shu and Shimura Daichi.
Inside an office, stacks of student records had already been prepared.
However—
These were the remaining files.
Hiruzen had already filtered out the most talented students.
He had no intention of letting the Academy's best prospects fall into Root.
Among those protected candidates were:
Potential Nine-Tails jinchūriki hosts.
And future clan leaders from families such as Ino–Shika–Chō.
So what remained were the leftovers.
But Danzo didn't care.
Even among the leftovers—
There would still be promising seeds.
With the right training, they could be shaped into useful tools.
After all—
Danzo did not need individuals.
He needed weapons that could complete missions.
"Begin."
He gave the order.
Shu and Daichi started reviewing the files.
They needed to select thirty candidates, which Danzo would later narrow down to ten recruits for Root training.
Daichi carefully examined every record, scoring each student seriously.
Shu, however, browsed rapidly to gain an overall understanding.
Then—
His hand suddenly stopped.
"Hmm?"
The name on the document caught his attention immediately.
Yakushi Nono.
Age: 10 years old.
Among all the files he had reviewed—
This was the first familiar name.
Without hesitation, Shu placed the file aside.
He had no intention of skipping her deliberately.
Not even for a moment.
After all—
One day Root would belong to him.
Why would he let such a valuable talent slip away?
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