Chapter 95: Flying Thunder God, and a Surprise
Genichi also realized why Orochimaru was so obsessed with learning various ninjutsu, secret techniques, and forbidden jutsu, and with studying the human body and the power of the Tailed Beasts. It was because one needed sufficient knowledge, sufficient accumulation, and sufficient understanding to be able to innovate.
Genichi now re-examined Orochimaru and discovered that the Living Corpse Reincarnation (Fushi Tensei) and the Eight-Branched Serpent (Yamata no Orochi) were the crystallization of all the knowledge he had gathered.
And now, himself.
Without the Spirit Transformation Technique (Reika no Jutsu), the soul-binding jutsu, and the foundation of numerous genjutsu, he would not have had the unexpected joy of creating the Binding God Technique (Bakushin no Jutsu).
Without the Water Dragon Bullet Technique, the Water Gun Technique, and other water jutsu, he would not have developed the Great Water Dragon Cannon (Suiryū Daitetsuhō).
Without the knowledge from his previous life, he would not have the combination ninjutsu, the Water Sand Severing Wave (Suisa Dampa).
Genichi could even be certain now that if he got his hands on the Reanimation Jutsu (Edo Tensei), he would definitely be able to learn it, because he had already laid the foundation.
"Sufficient accumulation is needed for a sufficient burst of creativity!"
"Sufficient understanding is needed to be able to innovate."
Genichi felt that he had to learn from Orochimaru. Just because a jutsu wasn't used often didn't mean it was useless. Every single ninjutsu could become a part of one's accumulated knowledge.
"Tsunade must take power!" Genichi secretly decided. Although Hiruzen thought highly of him, if he wanted to learn the jutsu in the Scroll of Seals, he still had to trade merit or jutsu of the same rank. If Tsunade were in power, it would be much easier. Although he could get them for free with his cheat system, "free" and "free" were two different things.
Finally.
The Flying Thunder God (Hiraishin)!
This jutsu was actually the first S-rank technique his future self had mastered. Only after that did he obtain the Spirit Transformation Technique and the soul-binding jutsu, then develop the Binding God Technique, and finally think of learning the Reaper Death Seal (Shiki Fūjin).
But the Flying Thunder God was worthy of being an S-rank space-time ninjutsu that even Hiruzen, "The Professor" of ninjutsu, had not mastered. In the future, Genichi had spent a full four years to master it. And he couldn't compare to Minato. It wasn't because his neural reaction speed wasn't fast enough. With the enhancement of his Art of Pyo, Genichi's reaction speed was no weaker than Minato's. It was a limitation of his own innate talent.
Just like its creator, Senju Tobirama, whose application of the Flying Thunder God was also inferior to Minato's.
Both Minato and Tobirama could bypass the limitation of the Flying Thunder God Kunai. That is, they could casually leave a mark on another person's body. But Genichi could not yet do this. He had to spend time in advance to create the Flying Thunder God markers, the jutsu formulas. Even for a move like the Lightning Release: Conduction (Raiton: Dōrai), he had to rely on a complex Flying Thunder God formula marker to cast it.
But, he had finally mastered it. He was not a half-baked user like Shiranui Genma and his team.
"Am I invincible now..." Genichi felt his self-confidence swelling a bit. With the Flying Thunder God in hand, even if he couldn't use it as smoothly as Minato, as long as he wasn't looking for death, escaping would not be a problem.
However, Genichi thought about it carefully. The Flying Thunder God technique did not actually increase the upper limit of his combat power by much. No, it should be said that it did not increase the intensity of his offense by much. Mastering this jutsu didn't mean he had been elevated to the "Super Kage" level.
The Flying Thunder God was very strong. Mastering it could be said to have basically put one at the Kage level. Even without a jutsu like the Rasengan, one could still be dominant with just a kunai. And mastering this jutsu also gave one much greater imaginative space in battle.
But the Flying Thunder God was indeed extremely difficult. Proficiency in Sealing Techniques (Fūinjutsu), sensory ninjutsu, super-strong neural reaction speed, a massive amount of chakra, and the Summoning Jutsu (Kuchiyose no Jutsu). These were all foundations for learning this technique. Without these foundations, don't even think about it.
This was, to date, the most difficult jutsu Genichi had ever learned. Bar none.
"This overdraft was also my most fruitful one."
"As expected, a long period of time is the most crucial factor." Genichi was all smiles after finishing his inventory. "But a large accumulation of knowledge is also very important."
So, in the days to come, he still had to work hard, and then work even harder. And although the future held countless uncertainties, a plan was still very necessary.
"Next, genjutsu is still a direction I need to continue to study in depth." Genichi touched his right eye. He activated his Sharingan and could clearly feel that its ocular power had improved again. But there was no sign of the Mangekyō awakening.
"And the Flying Thunder God... perhaps I should seek a breakthrough in the Kuji-kiri."
Genichi thought to himself. In this overdraft of the future, his Art of Pyo, Art of Kai, Art of Zai, and Art of Zen had all improved further. Especially the Art of Pyo and the Art of Zai, which he had studied the longest and used the most. For example, the speed increase from the Art of Pyo could now reach two-thirds, almost double.
And next, Genichi planned to spend more time on the Art of Kai, Art of Jin, and Art of Retsu. The Art of Kai was to know and control the hearts of others, and could resolve all troubles. The Art of Jin was to see through and have insight into the hearts of others. Both were related to genjutsu and the mind/consciousness. And the Art of Retsu had the power to forge ahead and ignore all obstacles. This was something Genichi had not dabbled in before, but he felt it might be useful for mastering the Flying Thunder God.
Besides this, the direction for his Water Release had already been set. Swordsmanship... with the enhancement of Wind Release, it was enough for now. Wind Release... he could create the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken (Fūton: Rasenshuriken), he just didn't have to throw it.
In addition to these, he had also mastered Earth Release nature transformation, but... Genichi thought for a moment and decided not to spend too much time on Earth Release for now.
"Of the five conventional nature transformations, I've already mastered Water, Wind, and Earth. Should I also master Lightning?" Genichi thought about it and felt it was better to leave it for later. For him now, raising the ceiling of his combat power was more important than expanding the diversity of his abilities. He would only consider mastering Lightning and Fire Release if he couldn't make any further progress for a long time, or if he needed to accumulate knowledge in all areas.
"Then, I'll add another important goal... Ice Release!" This was something Genichi had wanted to obtain for a long time. Of course, the most important thing was that among the nature transformations, besides Yin Release, he was most proficient in Water and Wind. And he also had the most research on Ice Release cells. However, Genichi didn't have much confidence that he could successfully develop a kekkei genkai.
The inventory of his gains was complete. The future plan was also roughly set.
Genichi stretched, then walked out of the study, called for Ina, and rode Torao out to sea. He planned to leave this place in a few days and go and see other places. Especially those ancient ruins with legends, and even the settlements left behind by certain ninja clans. He could go and see them all. Maybe he could find some good things through "archaeology."
Three days later, Genichi and Ina left the coastal town and headed west. He planned to first travel around the various parts of the Land of Fire, then go to the Land of Rivers, then from there to the Land of Wind, then north to the Land of Birds, and then west. It would be best if he could go to the Land of Snow and try to develop his Ice Release there.
Time flew by to June. Genichi and Ina had already left the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rivers.
And in Konoha, Minato handed application forms to Kakashi's team of three.
"Chunin Exam application forms!" Obito exclaimed. "Minato-sensei, we can become chunin!"
Minato said, "You can if you pass the exam."
"You won't have any missions for a while. You should prepare well."
Obito was extremely excited and full of confidence. "Don't worry, Minato-sensei! I will definitely become a chunin!"
Kakashi said coldly, "You'd better not be late for the exam."
Obito had learned his lesson. He ignored Kakashi's sarcastic remark and asked Minato, "Sensei, that guy Kakashi is already a chunin. What about the team battle?"
Minato smiled. "Don't worry, Kakashi will participate with you. It's just that his results won't be recorded." Kakashi had known this for a long time. When he and Genichi had participated in the Chunin Exams, their teammates had done the same.
...
In the Land of Fire, inside a dilapidated temple, Genichi and Ina held torches, looking at the murals and the already broken and blurry inscriptions.
Pulling down the climbing vines and carefully examining the wall, Genichi roughly figured out that what was carved on the stone wall was a part of the Vajraśekhara Sūtra. It was quite obscure and abstract. Genichi was also confused by it.
"Lord Genichi, over here!" Ina suddenly shouted.
Genichi immediately turned and came to a side hall. Half of it had already collapsed. On a wall from which Ina had pulled away the vines, the inscriptions were faintly visible.
"Huh?" Genichi's eyes lit up. It was an explanation of the "clasped hands" (Gassho) gesture.
"The three realms are not separate, they are made by a single mind."
"The ten dharma realms return to a single mind."
"Control the mind in one place, and there is nothing that cannot be done."
There wasn't much that was clearly legible, but Genichi's eyes lit up, and his heart was filled with joy.
Clasping one's hands, or Gassho, was not uncommon in the casting of ninjutsu. But when he was studying at the Academy, there had been no special explanation for this gesture. As for why, Genichi felt it should be because this gesture had long been integrated into daily life. Besides ninjutsu casting, ordinary people in the shinobi world also used it very often. So before, Genichi had not thought too deeply about it.
But now, looking at this, he immediately had many insights.
Ina asked from the side, "Lord Genichi, is clasping the hands that profound?"
Genichi withdrew his gaze and smiled. "I think so."
"When we use this gesture to cast a ninjutsu, most of the time it's for concentrating our minds and eliminating distracting thoughts."
"It also has the effect of gathering chakra, so it's often the last gesture in a hand seal sequence."
Ina nodded, then clasped her hands together. Huh, it seems so!
Genichi smiled and went to the other side hall to have a look. This one was even more dilapidated; not a single wall remained.
After circling around and finding nothing, Genichi led Ina out of the mountain to have lunch. But just as they arrived at a restaurant in the small town below and had not yet eaten their fill, two masked ninja appeared in the shop.
"Kinoshita Genichi, by order of Lord Hokage, please return to the village immediately!"
Genichi was surprised. He was no stranger to these two Anbu, or rather, their chakra was not unfamiliar. Two of them had been with Shinnosuke's squad last time.
Watching the two of them leave, Genichi patted the still-dazed Ina. "Eat up. We'll set out in a bit."
Ina came back to her senses and quickly nodded. "Yes!"
Plans can't keep up with changes. He had only been away for a little over a year, and he had to go back to Konoha. And for them to send people all the way here to find him, it seemed the matter was not small. Genichi was also puzzled.
As for how the Anbu were able to find him here, he was not at all surprised. This was the Land of Fire, and before, Genichi had appeared openly in various prosperous towns. One could not underestimate the intelligence system of Konoha's ninja and their ability to find people.
After eating and drinking their fill, the two of them set out for Konoha.
Ina was a little silent, a mix of anticipation and apprehension in her heart.
(End of Chapter)
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