Ren feigned a look of enlightened admiration. "To develop an original ninjutsu… Jonin Minato, you truly are incredible! As expected of one of Konoha's finest!"
That said, while he was deeply curious about the Rasengan's current stage of development, he wouldn't pry. It was a private endeavor.
Sure, as a child, his questions might be dismissed as innocent curiosity. But Ren operated on different principles; he understood the boundaries between casual acquaintance and confidant.
Minato chuckled modestly, shaking his head. "It's nothing so grand. If we're talking incredible, you're not so ordinary yourself. I took a look at those practice workbooks. Some of the problems… even I couldn't solve them."
The "workbook incident," fueled by the sensational rumor that "even the Hokage was stumped," had rippled beyond the academy. Several jōnin, including Minato, had taken notice out of professional curiosity. He'd obtained a copy and attempted the problems, only to find himself wearing the same mask of pained concentration as the students.
Kushina had teased him relentlessly for days about being outsmarted by an academy kid. He'd also heard of Ren's burgeoning reputation as a prodigy, one said to surpass even his own academy record.
And now, according to sensei, he might have even replicated Tsunade-sama's technique? He couldn't help but feel a twinge of being overshadowed.
Unaware of this internal monologue, Ren blinked in surprise. "Ah, does Jonin Minato also need to do practice problems? I thought those were just for students."
Minato smiled. "When the problems are famous for baffling the Hokage himself, it's natural to be curious."
Jiraiya, having just returned to the village, was out of the loop. "Workbooks? What workbooks?"
Minato provided a brief explanation.
"Even the old man was stumped? Now I'm curious…" Jiraiya's interest was piqued, mixed with a hint of professional pique. The Sandaime had often dismissed his "literary research" as frivolous, yet here he was, spending village funds to purchase a textbook created by some brat? He felt oddly… defeated.
Ren looked at Jiraiya. "If Jiraiya-sama is interested, I can get you a copy another day."
"You're a sharp one," Jiraiya laughed heartily, then waved a hand. "But no, no. I'm past my studying days. If the old man couldn't crack them, I certainly wouldn't stand a chance."
He knew his academic limits and wasn't about to volunteer for that particular brand of torture.
He paused, his gaze turning more assessing as he steered the conversation to his real curiosity. "So, Ren-kun, Minato here says you're quite the genius. How many ninjutsu have you mastered so far?"
That morning's punch had left a distinct impression. Based on his extensive, painful experience as Tsunade's training dummy, the technique felt hauntingly familiar. Yet Minato insisted Ren wasn't her student. So where had he learned it?
Ren's eyes gleamed, catching the subtext. He shook his head. "I only began learning chakra nature transformation yesterday. I haven't formally learned any ninjutsu yet…"
He let the statement hang for a beat. "…However, I did manage to develop a chakra application technique on my own, inspired by Lady Tsunade's Chakra-enhanced Fist."
Since Jiraiya's interest was piqued, Ren saw no harm in showcasing his capabilities. Jiraiya's strength and standing in Konoha were top-tier; aside from his one glaring… hobby, he was a solid connection. The morning's punch had been a calculated impression, but running into him again so soon was an unexpected opportunity.
'Developed it… himself?!' Jiraiya's eyes widened imperceptibly, genuine astonishment surfacing. Wait, how old is this kid? Reverse-engineering a technique like Tsunade's Chakra-enhanced Fist was a feat comparable to creating a new ninjutsu from scratch. Could a first-year academy student truly pull that off? Was he that heaven-defying?
Jiraiya exhaled slowly, his tone turning serious. "Could you demonstrate it? Tsunade and I are… acquainted. I'm somewhat familiar with her technique. Perhaps I could offer some pointers."
He carefully avoided mentioning the morning's altercation. The punch had been too sudden to analyze properly; he'd only registered the resemblance. Now, hearing it was a self-developed derivative, his intrigue was genuine.
Ren's eyes lit up. "Of course."
He, too, was curious. His version of Chakra-enhanced Fist incorporated principles from Bakudō #1: Sai, focusing impact and penetration. How did it compare to Tsunade's raw, explosive original?
He walked up to a tree trunk roughly the thickness of a man's thigh. Taking a focused breath, he drew his arm back. Chakra surged, concentrated, and detonated at the precise moment of impact.
CRACK-THUD!
His fist didn't just strike the tree; it punched through it. The solid trunk erupted in a spray of splinters, the sheer penetrating force cleaving a fist-sized hole clean through before the damaged tree groaned and collapsed sideways.
Jiraiya: "..."
So he was holding back this morning? The thought was unsettling. Had that punch landed with this level of focused power on his unprepared self, he'd have been launched into next week.
Jiraiya's voice held a note of stunned disbelief. "You're certain you developed this yourself?"
On closer sensory analysis, the technique was… different. Tsunade's Chakra-enhanced Fist was a blunt instrument of overwhelming explosive force. Ren's version traded some raw destructive power for terrifying concentration and penetration. The power wasn't spread out; it was focused into a single, devastating point. For a child to not only replicate but modify such an advanced technique…
Minato Namikaze was equally astonished, murmuring, "Such exquisite chakra control… at his age? A true genius, indeed…"
He was witnessing a level of precision some career jōnin struggled to achieve. Is the Uzumaki lineage this potent? Wait, Kushina has excellent control, but not to this monstrous degree…
Before Ren could respond, Kurenai Yuhi piped up, placing her hands on her hips with sibling pride. "Of course Ren developed it himself! And it only took him two months!"
"Two months?!"
Minato and Jiraiya exchanged a glance, seeing a mirror of their own profound shock in each other's eyes.
Two months?
Forget developing it independently; even under a master's direct tutelage, mastering such a high-difficulty technique in that timeframe would be considered exceptional. To create a functional variant from scratch? It bordered on the inconceivable.