Clack…
Clack…
Jiraiya's wooden sandals tapped against the ground as he approached Naruto, who was in a daze. A plastic bag dangled from his hand.
"Here, Naruto."
He tore open the popsicle packaging, broke the popsicle into two with a gentle snap, and held out half to Naruto.
Taking the popsicle, Naruto looked at Jiraiya and spoke after a long moment, "Thank you… Jiraiya-sensei."
When he took a bite of the popsicle, to be honest, the taste wasn't that great, and it couldn't be compared with the stuff in the system.
But perhaps because of his teacher's care, Naruto felt extremely happy as he ate the popsicle.
For the first time, the white-haired old man in front of him didn't seem quite so annoying.
'Hmm…'
'Maybe I'll stop calling him white-haired old man from now on.'
When Jiraiya saw Naruto's reaction, he ruffled his hair.
"Haha, you brat."
This time, Naruto didn't dodge, letting Jiraiya's hand mess up his hair.
"Naruto, do you want to learn an awesome Ninjutsu?"
"It's something even better than the Summoning Technique."
This was the first time in days Jiraiya had seen the kid so quiet, and he couldn't help but think of Naruto's deceased father.
The golden hair and the figure using the Rasengan kept flashing in his mind.
So Jiraiya decided to teach him the Rasengan, the Ninjutsu created by his father.
"Sure…"
"Meet me at the training ground tomorrow."
Jiraiya stood up and threw the wrapper aside, then turned and smiled at Naruto.
Naruto was stunned for three seconds, then his eyes widened.
"OLD MAN!!"
"PICK THAT TRASH UP!!"
Jiraiya: "…"
'Damn it!'
'This kid is indeed different from Minato!'
Jiraiya's eyes twitched, and he bent down helplessly. He picked up the garbage on the ground, and threw it into the trash can obediently.
"See you tomorrow then."
Jiraiya turned around, waved his hand, and left without looking back.
He was afraid that staying any longer would destroy the atmosphere that the master and disciple had worked so hard to create.
"See you tomorrow…"
Naruto muttered, then noticed that many of the snacks Jiraiya had just bought were still placed next to him.
He stared at the bag of snacks in a daze.
"...Weird."
"This is the first time anyone has bought me stuff like this."
Naruto sat there for another two minutes before checking the time, it was already midnight.
He picked up the bag of snacks beside him, opened a portal and returned home.
…
The next day.
Naruto arrived at the training ground early in the morning.
As soon as he arrived, he found Jiraiya was already sitting on the ground, holding a crystal ball while laughing obscenely.
There are many water balloons next to him.
Even though this pervert had been peeping early in the morning, Naruto still felt more favorable towards Jiraiya for not being late.
'Well…'
'At least it's better than a certain white-haired slacker.'
Jiraiya was shocked when he saw the purple portal. He raised his finger and pointed at Naruto, stammering, "You…"
"Is that a Space-Time Ninjutsu!?"
"Huh?"
"Didn't old man Sandaime tell you?"
Jiraiya's face froze. He became angry whenever he thought of that old man.
He had only seen Hiruzen twice since returning to the village.
And both times, he and Naruto were called over to be lectured.
Since Hiruzen had been practically avoiding him, how can Jiraiya find out the specific situation of Naruto?
It was the first time that Jiraiya saw Naruto use this ability, and he immediately became interested. He put away the crystal ball, then stood up and said, "Use it again and let me see."
"Oh."
Naruto raised his hand and threw out two portals, dove into one, and reappeared a short distance away.
After demonstrating it a few more times, Jiraiya finally signaled for him to stop.
"It's not as good as Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique…"
Jiraiya stroked his chin thoughtfully.
After observing for a while, he had a rough grasp of how Naruto's technique worked.
'Generally speaking, this Space-Time Ninjutsu is good.'
'But the portals took time to form, and it's nowhere near as instantaneous as the Flying Thunder God Technique.'
In combat, it might work for the first few ambushes.
'But once the enemy figured it out, they'd turn the tables and use it against Naruto.'
Jiraiya thought about it for a while and decided that when he had time, he would go find Hiruzen and ask for the Flying Thunder God Technique to give to Naruto.
'Maybe Naruto could become an even stronger Shinobi than his father.'
'Or maybe...'
'Naruto is the Child of Prophecy that I have been looking for.'
"Jiraiya-sensei?"
"Aren't we going to learn a new Ninjutsu?"
Seeing Jiraiya lost in thought, Naruto raised his hand and waved it in front of him.
"Hm..."
"Watch closely."
Jiraiya came back to his senses, extended his palm, and in the blink of an eye, a blue sphere formed in his hand.
Then, with a shout, he slammed the sphere into a nearby tree trunk.
Crack…
With a loud noise, wood chips flew and a massive crater with spiral grooves carved into the tree.
"This Ninjutsu was created by your father."
"An A-Rank, non-hand seal Ninjutsu, Rasengan."
Naruto's eyes sparkled. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
After all, there is more than one way to use the Rasengan. And as long as he added some Chakra Transformation, he can play with it in many different ways.
Just look at Boruto, the fact that even those Otsutsuki started using balls is enough to show how powerful this Ninjutsu is.
"Amazing!"
Although Jiraiya showed no strange expression when he heard his student's praise, he was grinning like an idiot in his heart.
"Cough…"
"Listen up. Here's how it works..."
After Jiraiya finished explaining the essentials of the Rasengan, he tossed a balloon filled with water to Naruto.
"Try bursting this with your Chakra..."
Before he could finish his words, he saw Naruto squeezed the water balloon, and the bursting water sprayed all over Jiraiya.
"Brat! What the hell are you doing!?"
"I said use your Chakra!"
"I didn't ask you to use your raw strength!!"
"I... I couldn't help it."
Naruto scratched his head, a hint of embarrassment flashing in his eyes.
It wasn't that he couldn't control his strength.
It was just…
Whenever he held something round, his instincts took over, and he couldn't help but squeeze it.
And that one squeeze was enough to pop the balloon instantly.
Jiraiya took a deep breath and threw another water ballon to Naruto.
However, after several attempts, the result was still the same.
"You brat...."
"Use Chakra! CHAKRA!!"
Jiraiya is really being driven crazy by Naruto.
This time, he'd even thrown a rubber ball on purpose, but the way Naruto squeezed it was no different from a water balloon, and it burst as well after he squeezed it.
"One more time!"
"I'll control myself this time..."
Naruto hadn't expected the first step of learning the Rasengan to be thwarted by his own instincts.
"Sigh..."
"Just keep practicing, I'll leave for a while."
Jiraiya rubbed his temples, feeling that his blood pressure would rise if he stayed any longer.
In order not to become a walking pharmacy like a certain someone, Jiraiya plans to leave first.
However, before leaving, he spent a full two minutes explaining things, for fear that Naruto might do something weird again.
When Naruto saw Jiraiya leaving, he formed hand seal and created a hundred clones.
"Alright, boys!"
"Time to grind!"
"Yeah…"
At the command of the main body, the many shadow clones began to train the Rasengan.
Two hours later...
With the help of his clones, Naruto finally completed the training with water balloon, leather balloon and rubber balloon.
At this moment, he was finally going to start creating the real deal.
Naruto felt that he didn't need the assistance of a clone like in the original work. With his Chakra Control, creating a Rasengan with one hand should be easy.
"Alright, here goes!"
Naruto patted his cheeks, psyching himself up, then extended his palm and began gathering Chakra.
Bzzztt…
Under his precise control, a blue sphere quickly took shape in his hand.
Just when Naruto was about to celebrate, he suddenly realized that his sphere was a little different...
Unlike Jiraiya's Rasengan, there is no spiraling motion in his Rasengan, only pure, dense mass of Chakra.
And the condensed sphere is still expanding.
"Brat! Stop it now!!"
Kurama, who was reading a book, was so scared when he saw Naruto's behavior outside that his fur stood on end.
'What the hell was this kid messing with now?!'
"Wha…"
Naruto was about to ask when he suddenly felt an overwhelming force erupted.
There was also a deafening sound in his ears...
Boom…
A huge blue sphere of light rose above the training ground, and after the explosion, a mushroom cloud appeared over Konoha...