"The Rasengan is a technique that pushes chakra shape transformation to its absolute limit," Minato explained, raising his right hand and once again forming the swirling sphere of energy in his palm. "Its greatest advantage is that it can be used instantly without any hand seals."
Minato had originally developed the Rasengan to complement his extraordinary speed. For Naruto, whose greatest obstacle in learning ninjutsu was memorizing and executing hand seals, the Rasengan presented an ideal solution. Even the simplest D-rank techniques requiring only two or three seals often proved challenging for Naruto to remember correctly.
The seal-less Rasengan, therefore, was perfectly suited to his son's natural abilities.
"Training for the Rasengan is divided into three stages," Minato continued. "Starting tonight, you'll begin with the first stage."
"Rotation," he said simply. "Try to gather chakra in your palm and make it spin."
"Got it," Naruto nodded eagerly. He extended his right hand, took a deep breath, and focused his concentration.
A soft buzzing sound emerged as tiny spots of azure chakra began to gather in his palm, gradually forming thin, luminous lines. These lines slowly thickened and began to rotate—though their movement was erratic and uncoordinated.
"POP!"
The chakra Naruto had so carefully gathered suddenly shattered, dissipating into the night air.
Disappointment crossed Naruto's face. Minato approached with an encouraging smile, placing a hand on his son's head as he observed the attempt.
"The chakra collapsed because while you can make it rotate, you can't yet control the direction of rotation," Minato explained. "When different parts rotate in different directions, they collide with each other, causing the entire structure to break apart."
"So what should I do?" Naruto asked, his enthusiasm undimmed despite the failure.
In response, Minato produced a small water balloon and tossed it to him.
"We'll increase the difficulty," Minato said. "Compress your chakra inside this water balloon and make it spin clockwise until it bursts."
Naruto caught the balloon, tilting his head curiously. "Why clockwise specifically?"
"Because everyone's chakra naturally flows in a particular direction, which can be determined by observing the pattern of hair growth," Minato explained. "You have a clockwise spiral pattern, just like I do."
He knelt down to Naruto's level. "By matching your chakra's rotation to your natural flow, you'll achieve much greater power."
"Your goal is to use your chakra's rotation to disturb the water inside the balloon until it ruptures. Once you can do that, you'll have completed the first stage."
"That sounds easy enough," Naruto muttered confidently.
Minato smiled knowingly but said nothing.
Two Hours Later
"Arrrgh!" Naruto groaned in frustration, glaring at the water balloon resting in his palm. The balloon's surface had risen and fallen slightly twice before settling back to stillness.
What had seemed so simple in theory proved vastly more difficult in practice. Controlling the precise rotation of chakra demanded far more finesse than Naruto had anticipated.
"You've already managed to create ripples on the balloon's surface," Minato observed, patting his son's shoulder. "That's impressive progress for your first attempt."
He glanced at the darkened sky. "It's getting late. You have your first mission tomorrow morning. You should get some rest."
"I'm not tired yet," Naruto protested, shaking his head stubbornly.
"Go to bed. Now."
Kushina's stern voice cut through the night as she appeared in the doorway, her expression leaving no room for argument.
"Yes, Mom!" Naruto immediately straightened, dropped the water balloon, and bolted into the house as if escaping a pursuing enemy.
Kushina sighed deeply once Naruto was out of earshot. "Those two... they're such a handful."
"Perhaps," Minato chuckled, "but your strictness reminds me of the Kushina I first fell for."
Kushina's eyebrows shot up as she fixed him with a warning glare. Minato wisely swallowed whatever else he had planned to say.
Her expression softened as she turned her attention back to the training. "So this is your plan? Using the Shadow Clone Technique to improve his chakra control before introducing the Rasengan?"
"Even with Naruto's progress, isn't it premature to teach him the Rasengan?" she asked with concern. "The technique may appear simple, but it represents the pinnacle of chakra shape transformation. That's a tremendous challenge for a newly graduated genin."
"It is difficult," Minato acknowledged, "but mastering this technique early will serve him well in the future."
"What do you mean by that?" Kushina asked, puzzled.
"Because..."
Minato raised both hands. In his left palm, he formed a perfect Rasengan, its familiar azure energy swirling in a contained sphere.
Kushina's eyes widened slightly, but her attention was immediately drawn to his right hand.
In his right palm, another sphere of chakra was taking shape—but this one was different. The highly compressed energy lacked the Rasengan's luminous quality, appearing instead as a dense, dark orb. The air around it seemed to warp and distort under tremendous pressure, creating visible ripples in the atmosphere.
"Such incredible chakra density..." Kushina murmured, her pupils contracting in surprise. The chakra ball in Minato's palm contained an immense amount of power. If released, it would cause devastating damage.
"Is this a new jutsu you've developed?" she asked, staring at the ominous sphere.
"You've mastered this technique as well?"
The surprised voice of the Nine-Tails suddenly resonated within Kushina's mind, causing her to press her hand against her abdomen where the seal was located. The Nine-Tails was tightly suppressed within her—what could have caused such a strong reaction from the beast?
"No," Minato replied, shaking his head. "This is the Tailed Beast Ball."
"The Beast Ball?!" Kushina's eyes widened in shock. As a jinchūriki, she was certainly familiar with this terrifying ability unique to the tailed beasts, though she had never witnessed it firsthand. Despite housing the Nine-Tails within her body, the beast had always remained sealed, never manifesting this power externally.
She knew Minato possessed some of the Nine-Tails' chakra, giving him the theoretical capability to form a Tailed Beast Ball. Even so, seeing a human successfully condense this technique was astonishing.
"Since performing the Seal and acquiring a portion of the Nine-Tails' chakra, I've been able to practice and eventually master this technique," Minato explained as he dispelled both spheres from his palms.
"I owe a debt of gratitude to Killer B of Kumogakure," he added with a smile. "Had he not demonstrated the technique for me to observe, I doubt I could have mastered it through theory alone."
"The Rasengan that I developed and the Tailed Beast Ball—though they differ slightly in their formation process—are fundamentally similar in principle."
Minato's expression grew more serious. "Naruto will eventually need to fully master the Nine-Tails' power. For him, mastering the Rasengan first is an essential step in that journey."
"I see," Kushina said, understanding dawning in her eyes. But almost immediately, her expression clouded with concern.
"What's wrong?" Minato asked, noticing the shift.
Kushina met his gaze, her brow furrowed. When she spoke, her voice was low and weighted with worry.
"You must realize that to truly master a tailed beast's power, one needs to reach an understanding—a harmony of minds—with the beast itself."
She pressed her hand more firmly against her seal. "We forcibly split the Nine-Tails' power and sealed half within Naruto."
Her eyes hardened. "How can Naruto possibly establish that connection with the Nine-Tails when the beast was sealed within him against its will?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~