Minato suddenly shot his eyes open, his pupils transformed into eerily glowing blood-red vertical irises.
At that moment, every cell in his body seemed to rejoice as the exhaustion from chakra consumption instantly vanished.
A surge of energy rushed through his entire body, filling him with strength.
"More! This still isn't enough!"
Even though his chakra had returned to peak condition, Minato inwardly urged for more.
Because even his near-full reserves at their prime hadn't been sufficient to break through to the next level of Rasengan.
No voice answered him again, but a subtle stinging sensation spread across his skin.
Thick, blood-red chakra overflowed from within his body, surfaced outwardly, and formed a crimson chakra membrane across his skin.
Feeling his chakra fully replenished, Minato sensed immense power surging through his entire being.
"This is as much as your body can take right now — anything more would tear you apart," a voice echoed from inside him.
Nodding, Minato perceived through his Sensor ability that the amount of chakra he could control now exceeded his maximum reserves by nearly twice.
This much chakra? Time to give it a shot!
Buzzing sound.
Immediately afterward, he raised his right hand and effortlessly shaped a Rasengan.
Without hesitation, Minato raised his left hand again, channeling chakra to his palm while searching for balance between the two chakra natures.
Yet this time, success came in less than half the previous duration.
Clearly, he had nearly achieved it earlier — having already experienced that feeling naturally made subsequent attempts much faster than the first.
Whoosh!
The Wind Release nature transformation began manifesting on the Rasengan's surface. As it did, the blood-red chakra membrane covering Minato's body visibly began fading away.
When the Rasengan returned to the form it had achieved earlier, the red chakra membrane was gone.
His pupils also returned to their normal human appearance.
However, the infusion process wasn't finished yet, as Minato continued injecting additional chakra into the Rasengan.
Buzzzz.
That previously ear-splitting resonance noise gradually became increasingly pronounced.
Gradually, around the Rasengan, wind blades began taking shape.
"Have I succeeded!?" Excitement surged in Minato's heart. When his chakra reserves had dropped to less than a quarter of the original amount, the Rasengan had indeed formed wind blade structures resembling Shuriken shapes around it.
Though each individual wind blade only measured about ten centimeters long.
Still, Minato could already sense an extremely dangerous power emanating from his advanced Rasengan technique.
Just as Minato attempted to stabilize this new form, the wind blades surrounding the Rasengan abruptly began shaking violently.
"Imbalance detected!"
Minato's expression turned startled. If that unstable Rasengan exploded in his hands, he might not be critically injured — but he'd definitely pay the price.
The more dire the situation, the calmer one must remain. Minato's mindset had long been tempered into an unshakable resolve during the Great Ninja World War.
Thus, he stabilized the Rasengan in his hand as best he could, then hurled it forward with force.
The Rasengan flew outward like a shuriken.
[Instant Flash!]
Instinctively, Minato activated the Shifting Body Technique and propelled himself backward just as the Rasengan, now lacking his precise control, exploded merely thirty centimeters from being thrown.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Minato poured all the remaining chakra he had into casting an Earth Release: Mud Wall twice as thick as usual right in front of him.
*BOOM!*
Yet the force of the Rasengan explosion still traveled several meters before crashing into that mud wall.
In a flash, the entire mud wall exploded into shards, as if sliced by thousands of invisible blades.
Fortunately, after destroying the wall, the energy dissipated completely and did not harm Minato.
"That was close..."
Slumping weakly onto the ground, Minato stared ahead at the scene within a few meters' radius—everything, including plants growing on the ground, seemed to have been sliced repeatedly.
Even he couldn't help but feel a wave of relief—and fear. It turned out developing the Rasengan came with considerable risk. If it hadn't been for his ability to stabilize it briefly, he would've faced serious trouble.
"It seems creating this jutsu also carries great danger..." Minato muttered with a bitter smile.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just as he silently recovered from the shock, several figures swiftly approached from beyond the forest.
Here had erupted such a massive commotion that the guards couldn't possibly miss it.
"Minato, are you alright?" asked a Konoha chunin with concern, his expression gentle—especially since Minato actually ranked higher than him.
More importantly, this man had been part of the previous Reinforcement Squad; without help from Minato and others, he wouldn't even be alive today.
"No problem. I was practicing a ninjutsu and failed," Minato said with another faint smile while staggering to his feet.
At those words, the chunin's eyes lit up slightly with admiration. In this war-torn era, Minato already possessed strength rivaling jonin, yet he continued training hard even during rare rest periods.
It became clear then that genius wasn't just about talent—it also required relentless effort behind the scenes.
"Sorry to bother you seniors like this," Minato apologized slightly.
Another chunin gave a soft smile. "Not at all. Do you need us to accompany you back?"
Despite having been promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin, Minato still treated even lower-ranking shinobi with courtesy—a trait that naturally made people fond of him.
Actually, Minato had behaved this way even back when he was the Hokage.
Respecting comrades and trusting them—that was precisely why he earned the title of Yellow Flash.
"Oh." The chunin responded simply.
Minato smiled again and slowly walked away from the place with staggered steps.
Meanwhile, he thought to himself,
"I should definitely choose safer locations and better timing next time when testing the Rasengan..."
...
The next day, at noon.
After a full night's rest, Minato's chakra and physical strength had fully recovered, and right now, he was on guard duty.
He kept his Chakra Perception active while thinking about various Ninjutsu techniques.
Suddenly, waves of chakra appeared within his Chakra Perception range, instantly drawing his focus outward.
Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!
Between the dense trees, figures darted through rapidly, and the number of chakra signatures Minato detected quickly grew.
Within just a few seconds, the count exceeded that of the Konoha forces already on site.
"Have they arrived already?" Minato smiled, recognizing many slightly familiar chakra signatures.
Clearly, reinforcements from the village had arrived.
A few seconds later, several very familiar chakra signatures made Minato gasp.
"Did they come too?"
...
...(to be continued)
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