Genta almost shouted, "You can just do that?"
Shizuru sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "No, Genta. You cannot just do that. There is no guarantee this process will work at all. It will take trial and error, effort, chakra, and countless variations. Even if it works, it will only happen after many failures, or most likely, it will not work at all."
I looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Thank you for the vote of confidence."
She narrowed her eyes at me, a faint smirk hiding at the corner of her lips. "Despite all that, I am still willing to help you, so try being a little grateful."
I sighed and crossed my arms. "Alright, fair enough. But a little hope would not hurt."
Shizuru leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand. "Fine. Tell me then, what is the concept and purpose?"
"I want to create a large-scale area control jutsu," I said immediately. "Something that turns the entire battlefield into an extension of my will."
Genta looked confused. "Why bother? You could just use normal jutsu and still be effective."
"Good question," I said with a nod. "Regular jutsu are limited in range. When I fought that missing-nin, she used a technique that was both powerful and flexible. It made approaching her almost impossible without getting hurt or killed. I want something like that, but better. Something that lets me control the fight itself."
Genta raised his brows. "So your jutsu will do the same thing?"
"In purpose, yes," I said. "But mine will give me more control. I will be able to strike across a wide area or focus on one target within that area. It will be both chaotic and precise, the way ninjutsu was meant to be."
Genta started laughing until Shizuru gave him a sharp look. He coughed awkwardly and sat upright, pretending to listen seriously.
She turned her attention back to me. "How are you going to apply that targeting style?"
I smiled. "Charge separation. I will shape a positive charge mass in the sky using my lightning chakra and seed the ground with negatively charged chakra particles. The lightning will arc between them, and I will control where it connects."
Shizuru grew quiet and thoughtful. "That is actually clever. It is your chakra, so you should be able to control it fluidly. And since you learned to seed the environment from Sena, spreading those particles should be easy for you."
"Exactly," I said. "She taught me how to spread a thin mist of chakra through my breath and skin. Once it settles, I can keep it stable for a while."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "How large of an area are you planning to control?"
"The larger the better," I said. "This technique will not be useful in small spaces. It needs room to branch and grow."
Shizuru frowned. "Do you know how much chakra that will require? You do not have that kind of reserve yet, not even with your rapid growth."
I exhaled slowly. "I know. I just want to test whether it is possible first. Once I confirm it, I can refine my control to reduce the chakra cost while my reserves increase. I will work from both ends."
She gave a small approving nod. "Good. It is nice to know you are not planning to collapse from chakra exhaustion again." Her eyes shifted toward Genta. "Unlike some people."
Genta whistled innocently and stood. "Looks like my father is calling me."
"I did not hear anything," I said, frowning.
He was already gone before I finished the sentence, leaving crumbs behind and a chair still spinning.
I looked back at Shizuru. "What was that about?"
She pretended not to hear the question and changed the subject. "To create a jutsu like this, we will have to go through a few steps. We already have the concept and purpose. Your chakra nature is Lightning Release, since you refuse to learn anything else."
"It is too hard," I muttered.
She ignored me completely. "Next, we will experiment with chakra control, output density, and flow to get the right shape. Designing the proper hand seals will be the hardest step. It will take many attempts and a lot of time to refine."
I nodded, focusing on every word.
"Based on what you described," she continued, "this lightning application could cause a kinetic reaction. Using the environment will help and hurt."
"How so?" I asked.
"The environment helps with conductivity, which will make your chakra spread more efficiently," she said. "But weather and natural conditions can easily interfere. Rain can scatter the charge. Strong wind can carry away your chakra particles. A lightning storm could completely disrupt the field."
"That makes sense," I said.
She went quiet again, lost in thought. I knew she was recalling information from her research. She had used her clan's privileges to read through fragments of the Second Hokage's notes, detailed writings on chakra flow models and jutsu formation. Eventually, a faint smile crossed her face.
"We will start small," she said. "A miniature version of the jutsu. We will document everything, every trial, every seal, every result. We need to track progress carefully if we want to succeed."
A grin spread across my face. "Perfect. I cannot wait to test it on insects."
I laughed under my breath, but Shizuru ignored me completely. She was already sketching notes and diagrams in her notebook, her focus absolute.
Then she looked up. "You trained with Sena on seeding the environment, right?"
"Yeah," I said with a nod.
"Good. That will make this easier. Let us start right away."
I grinned, feeling the excitement build in my chest. "Finally. Let us do this."
Shizuru's lips curved in a faint smirk. "Just try not to blow up the training ground."
"No promises," I said.
After a full day of preparations, Shizuru decided that we should start the experiment in my flicker training ground. It was far enough from the main paths that no one would wander in by accident, and more importantly, no one would see if things went wrong. The last thing I needed was a crowd watching me accidentally blow myself up along with half the field.
"This place will do," Shizuru said, scanning the area with her usual analytical stare. "Plenty of open space, minimal interference, and most importantly, no witnesses."
I chuckled. "Good joke. It was a joke, right?"
She ignored me completely as she began setting metal rods in a wide circle, each one topped with a small conductive disc meant to react to lightning chakra. When she finished, the field looked like a cross between a laboratory experiment and a crime scene.
"Alright," she said, stepping back and glancing at her notes. "The seeding field is stable. These rods will record any polarity shifts when your chakra divides."
I crouched in the center, rolling my shoulders to loosen up. Lightning chakra pulsed faintly under my skin. "So I just channel the chakra into the field, keep it balanced, and then start separating it into charges?"
"That's the plan," she said, and started walking away.
"Wait," I called. "Where are you going?"
She pointed to a large rock at least twenty meters away. "Over there."
"You're just going to stand all the way back there while I'm testing something that could explode?" I asked.
She turned, gave me a thumbs up, and smiled. "Of course. I trust you won't explode anything. I believe in you."
Then she ran behind the rock before I could respond.
I stared after her in silence. "That's the most suspicious display of faith I've ever seen."
Her voice called faintly from behind the rock. "Think of it as motivation not to fail!"
"Right," I muttered. "Because nothing sharpens concentration like fear of spontaneous combustion."
Still, I focused. First came the seeding. I pressed my hands to the ground and released slow pulses of pure chakra, letting them sink into the soil and drift into the air. When the faint shimmer told me the seeds had taken, I rose and began to walk in a spiral, widening my path until it closed into a full circle. Each step settled the nodes into place. I made another pass around the ring and fed the network with steady chakra, layer after layer, until the concentration reached the level we needed and the field locked into shape.
Only then did I form the ox hand seal. I shifted the network from pure chakra to lightning nature and felt the hum deepen into a sharp, controlled buzz as the field charged and stabilized around the rods.
"Alright," I said quietly. "Field's stable. Time for the fun part."
I split my chakra between both hands, forcing one stream to pulse fast and sharp while the other slowed, heavier and deeper. The contrast was like trying to whistle two different tunes at once. Sparks jumped across my fingers as the energy fought to stay in sync.
The left side of the field brightened suddenly, arcs flaring between rods. Shizuru's voice came faintly from her hiding spot. "That's an imbalance. Match your rhythm, not the volume!"
"Easy for you to say," I shouted, "you're not the one conducting open-air lightning!"
I forced myself to breathe slower, syncing each inhale with the slow current and each exhale with the fast one. The difference between them grew clearer. One side of the field brightened, the other dimmed.
It was working.
The air began to hum like a contained storm. A faint shimmer appeared above the ground, subtle but visible. Static brushed against my hair and arms, making my skin prickle. For the first time, I could actually feel two layers forming within the same field.
Then came the sound. A sharp crack split the air as both charges met and neutralized each other. A blinding flash followed, sending dust and grass flying.
"Still alive!" I shouted automatically.
From behind her rock, Shizuru called, "That was progress! The polarity lasted almost a second before collapse."
"Progress?" I said, brushing soot from my sleeve. "You call an airburst progress?"
"Measured progress," she corrected. "You didn't lose any limbs."
I sighed. "Your bar for success is concerning."
She peeked out briefly, still scribbling something in her notebook. "It's called realistic optimism."
After I reset the rods, I tried again. This time, I tried a different approach. I imagined one current rising like vapor and the other sinking like heavy mist. The field reacted more smoothly, and the rods began to glow in alternating shades of blue, light and dark flickering in rhythm.
Shizuru's voice softened slightly. "Maintain that pattern. Let the difference balance itself."
The hum deepened, steady and strong. For several seconds, I held both charges apart. The air was filled with energy, almost alive. The shimmer between the layers became a faint web of light.
"Stable," I whispered, half in disbelief.
Shizuru peeked up from her hiding place. "Good. Now don't ruin it."
I managed a strained grin. "You're full of encouragement today."
A second later, the balance faltered. The field cracked again with a loud pop, this time less violent. A puff of smoke rose where I sat, hair sticking up in every direction.
Shizuru finally walked back toward me, notebook still in hand. "You maintained separation for three seconds. That's a clear improvement."
I rubbed my forehead. "Yeah, though I'm not sure my nerves agree."
She looked at the rods, noting the readings before speaking again. "You need to work on keeping the polarity stable without overfeeding one side. Once you can do that, we'll start testing the discharge pattern."
The ozone hung thick in the air, the faint scent of burnt grass mixing with static. Despite the exhaustion, I felt a grin pull at my lips. For a few seconds, the field had obeyed me completely. Two distinct layers of lightning chakra, stable and responsive.
It wasn't perfect, not even close, but it was proof that the concept worked.
I turned my head toward Shizuru as she reviewed her notes again. "So," I said, voice tired but amused, "still believe in me?"
She glanced up, a faint hint of envy in her expression. "I already knew you had a knack for Lightning Release, but the progress we made today is incredible. Most people would need weeks to reach this level, and you managed it in just a few days. I am honestly impressed."
I grinned. "Good. Then stay closer next time so you can observe better."
She gave me a calm nod. "I believe in you," she said with perfect composure, then quietly walked several meters away.
I stared after her. "Yeah, I can really feel the trust," I muttered.