After hearing Rorin's words, Jiraiya was slightly taken aback, then smiled faintly.
He was also a bit curious—what kind of ninjutsu his sudden idea might create.
Naruto rubbed his chin, still not quite understanding what Rorin and Jiraiya meant by the "third stage."
"Mm, although developing new ninjutsu is important, we can't neglect senjutsu either. Greasy old man, I'll be counting on you next," Rorin said with a smile as he set down the iron ball in his hand and looked up at Jiraiya.
"Huh? Oh, alright." Jiraiya paused for a moment before responding, turning his head slightly as he thought to himself: this isn't quite how I imagined things would go at the start.
Soon, the three of them and one toad resumed their sparring. After two hours of fighting Jiraiya, Rorin raised his hand to stop the match.
"Let's call it a day, greasy old man," Rorin said softly.
Jiraiya, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, slowly lifted his head.
"O-okay." After speaking, he collapsed onto the ground.
The reason Rorin stopped the fight was that he suddenly remembered a persistent weakness of his—resistance to genjutsu.
So-called genjutsu is essentially a technique where the enemy manipulates the chakra inside one's body. If one can disrupt the flow of their own chakra, genjutsu cannot take hold.
Previously, Rorin hadn't found a particularly effective way to train against genjutsu, but after learning the Rasengan this time, he finally had a direction.
Just like the Rasengan's principle, breaking genjutsu also involves disrupting the internal flow of chakra.
On top of that, he still had to continue training with the explosive iron ball. He had quite a lot of tasks ahead of him.
Once he thought of it, he immediately acted. Rorin began trying to control his chakra more precisely, using the same rotational method from the first stage of the Rasengan.
After resting for a while, Jiraiya slowly sat up. Watching Rorin and glancing at Naruto, he smiled faintly—the scene felt very familiar.
In the days that followed, although Rorin had many challenges to tackle, everything was arranged in an orderly manner.
In the morning, he focused on developing senjutsu. Since he had already mastered most of it, he shortened the time previously spent on that training.
After a midday break, he spent half the afternoon practicing how to break genjutsu, and the other half training with the iron ball.
Rorin's structured approach was approved by Jiraiya, Naruto, and Fukasaku. The two humans and one toad found themselves in increasingly good spirits.
One afternoon, while training to break down the iron ball, Rorin looked down at the shattered fragments in his hand and frowned slightly.
Although he could break the iron ball, he could only split it apart—he couldn't fully grind it into fine iron powder.
This was the second major difficulty Rorin had encountered since he began training. The first had been mastering the Flying Thunder God.
"It really is difficult… the level of chakra control required is just too high," Rorin muttered.
Wait. I've been thinking only in terms of chakra control. What if I tried controlling senjutsu chakra instead? Although it would be even harder to manage, its precision down to the particle level should be far superior.
And it would also count as another form of senjutsu development—why not?
On another note, for disrupting the chakra inside his body, adding natural energy and increasing its proportion could also throw off the internal balance.
For Rorin, natural energy could be freely absorbed and released, so there was no risk of absorbing too much and turning into something inhuman.
At that moment, Rorin finally understood. Senjutsu had become the key to both of his training challenges.
Having grasped the crucial point, Rorin began a new method of training—shifting from pure chakra control to senjutsu chakra.
He walked over to the bundle Jiraiya had originally brought, took out the water balloon and rubber ball again. Since he was now using senjutsu chakra as the energy source, his previous training would have to be completely redone.
Jiraiya, who had been resting nearby, watched Rorin in confusion. Walking over, he asked,
"Bone kid, didn't you already complete the first two stages?"
Hearing this, Rorin turned to Jiraiya and explained his thoughts.
"Oh, I see!" Jiraiya nodded after understanding.
Time always passed quickly during training. And just as Rorin and Naruto were cultivating in Mount Myoboku...
...
At the Uchiha clan compound, Uchiha Itachi carefully removed the bandages from Uchiha Sasuke's eyes.
During this time, Itachi and Sasuke had returned together to the Uchiha clan's territory.
After transplanting Itachi's eyes, Sasuke slowly opened his own—revealing the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, a six-pointed star layered with a triangular shuriken pattern.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Sasuke spoke slowly, "So this is the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Itachi smiled faintly and nodded. "Yes, that's right."
Sasuke got out of bed, placing his feet on the ground. Turning to Itachi, he said,
"Brother, next we'll head to the Hidden Leaf Village together."
Itachi nodded slightly, but still said, "Sasuke, we currently have no information on Shimura Danzo's whereabouts. If we head to the Hidden Leaf Village rashly, it might create unnecessary complications."
Sasuke, however, looked at Itachi with confidence.
"Brother, you're being too cautious. With our current strength, the Hidden Leaf Village poses no threat to us at all."
"I mean we shouldn't escalate things to the level of war. After all, our target is only Shimura Danzo. We shouldn't disturb the peace just to satisfy our personal desires," Itachi said, shaking his head as he patiently advised him.
Then Itachi glanced out the window and smiled faintly, thinking to himself: Is the Hidden Leaf Village truly no threat? Not necessarily.
Sasuke clicked his tongue. He had no intention of harming innocent people—he simply wanted to deal with Shimura Danzo as soon as possible.
"Brother, what should we do next?" Sasuke asked.
"There will be an opportunity, and it should come soon. We just need to wait," Itachi said calmly, closing his eyes.
Sasuke frowned slightly but said nothing more.
"You've only just obtained this new power. Master it completely before anything else," Itachi added, poking Sasuke's forehead with his finger.
Sasuke remained silent and nodded faintly.
...
Elsewhere, in the Village Hidden in the Rain, Uchiha Obito slowly walked into a room.