Looking at the six juniors, their faces full of anticipation, the young Fourth asked, "Do you know the Summoning Technique?"
"We do!" ×6
After all, they were all chūnin. Even the youngest, Uzuki Yūgao, had a solid grasp of the fundamentals—she wasn't the kind of academic underachiever who could only score zero on written exams.
"Very good. Still, I'll give you a brief explanation. The Summoning Technique is mainly divided into two types: the blood-contract summoning that calls forth living beings, and the non-blood-contract summoning that calls forth inanimate objects."
"Blood-contract summoning is primarily used for a ninja's combat partners—summoned ninja beasts. You must use your own blood to form a summoning contract, and in battle, you also use a bit of your blood as a medium to call the ninja beast forth."
"Summoning objects is much simpler. As long as the summoning formula is set on the item in advance, you only need to form hand seals to summon it over. For example, like this."
To make sure they remembered, Minato slowly formed several seals and summoned a medium-sized scroll.
Genma bit down on his senbon and, like a well-behaved student, raised his hand to ask, "I know this much, but, Hokage-sama, what does the Summoning Technique have to do with Flying Thunder God?"
"Of course it does." Minato smiled as he took out a specially made three-pronged kunai and casually threw it, striking a large tree not far away.
Afterward, he formed seals again and summoned the kunai back to his hand. "You see, right now I'm summoning the kunai, which has a summoning formula engraved on it, back to myself."
"But what if the situation were reversed? If I used the kunai to summon myself, wouldn't I be able to break through the limitations of space and appear where the kunai is located?"
"That is the principle of the Flying Thunder God Technique: communicating with a pre-arranged marker, activating the formula on it, and summoning oneself there. You can think of it as another form of reverse summoning."
After briefly explaining the principle of the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato took out another specially made kunai and threw it into the distance. Then Flying Thunder God activated, and his figure flickered several times between the two kunai.
This was not the Body Flicker Technique—it was true instantaneous movement. The human body broke through the limitations of space and suddenly appeared in another place.
Whether they had witnessed the Fourth's battles on the battlefield or only heard others speak of them, seeing it with their own eyes still felt incomparably miraculous.
Even Makoto was no exception.
After all, in any kind of transcendent world, instantaneous movement and spatial abilities belong to the highest tier in terms of sheer style.
It was simply cool beyond compare.
And now, this opportunity to learn it was placed right before him. That was also one of the reasons he was willing to join the Shadow Guard.
There were some ninjutsu you would never obtain unless you became part of the Hokage's line.
Maybe once his strength reached a certain level, he could demand them outright and the village wouldn't refuse—but who knew how long that would take? How could that be faster than simply joining them right now?
Namiashi Raidō didn't quite understand, but he also felt like he got it. "Is it really that simple? Reverse summoning? Hokage-sama, does that mean you just form the Summoning Technique seals in reverse?"
Minato realized he had run into a clever little rascal—almost a match for his own teacher—so he had to warn him: "Raidō, you absolutely must not do that. It's extremely dangerous. If you use reverse summoning rashly, no one knows where you'll be sent, but chances are you'll be dead for sure."
Back then, Jiraiya had charged in like that too. He was just lucky—or rather, it was fate—that he ended up sending himself straight to Mount Myōboku, and from then on he'd boarded the toad clan's ship.
Tatami Iwashi piled on, teasing his teammate: "If it were that simple, there wouldn't be so few people who can use Flying Thunder God."
Minato nodded. "Right. Flying Thunder God is only similar to reverse summoning, but the principle isn't the same—and the difficulty is many times higher. After all, this is an S-rank ninjutsu in terms of learning difficulty."
"Besides the complexity of the formula itself, you also have to learn fūinjutsu, sensory ninjutsu, and spatial coordination ability. In short, for you, this will be a long-term learning process—and it may not produce results. You need to be mentally prepared!"
At this moment, Genma was boiling with enthusiasm, wishing he could start right away. "Hokage-sama, we're confident. Can we start learning now?"
"Of course. I prepared long ago."
Minato opened the medium-sized scroll he had summoned earlier and handed it to Makoto. "First, you need to start with the most basic fūinjutsu. I don't know how well you've mastered it, but Makoto is definitely the one among you with the best foundation in fūinjutsu."
"Now you can begin. If you run into questions you don't understand, ask Makoto. If he can't solve it, then come ask me."
Makoto: "Leave it to me, Minato-senpai."
With Makoto—the class ace—around, he didn't need to personally teach a lot of the early material. That saved quite a bit of time, which was perfect for practicing the Rasengan Shuriken he had already gotten started on.
...
Minato's talent for ninjutsu was actually very high. In just a few days, as time had just entered February, he successfully performed the Rasenshuriken.
On the training ground, Makoto looked at the already formed ninjutsu and said, "As expected of Minato-senpai. You succeeded so quickly."
"Makoto, I still have to thank you. If it weren't for you, I might have needed several more years to perfect this ninjutsu."
"So, Minato-senpai, how do you feel about this ninjutsu now?"
Minato slowly dispelled the ninjutsu. "Just like you said, it indeed has two fatal problems."
"Have you thought of solutions?"
"As for the damage the ninjutsu causes to the user, I think that as long as control is further strengthened—constraining the ninjutsu so that it operates in perfect self-consistency and preventing Wind-attribute chakra from leaking—this issue can be avoided."
"At the same time, only by reaching that step can it be thrown. Otherwise, in its current unstable initial form, it would dissipate the moment it leaves the hand and would have no tactical value."
"As for how to make the thrown ninjutsu travel both far and fast, I also have an idea—but that will require some special verification on my part."
"That's great!"
At this moment, Minato suddenly asked, "Makoto, do you have your own summoned beast?"
"No, Minato-senpai. Why do you ask?"
"Because this concerns the subsequent use of the ninjutsu. If you don't have a summoned beast, then for you, this ninjutsu may have no practical combat value."
"So, Makoto, would you be interested in signing a summoning contract with the Mount Myōboku clan and becoming Konohagakure's third contractor, after me and Jiraiya-sensei?"
Makoto knowingly asked, "You mean the toads that Jiraiya-sama summons?"
"Yes. They come from the Mount Myōboku toad clan. Like Jiraiya-sensei, I am a summoning contractor of Mount Myōboku, and Mount Myōboku is one of the three great summoning sage regions of the ninja world."
Minato did not mention Sage Mode. It wasn't that he was stingy; rather, if Makoto was not a contractor and had not received permission from Mount Myōboku, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to speak of such matters to an outsider.
Senjutsu was the secret transmission of the three great sage regions. It did not belong to Konohagakure—nor even to the ninja as a whole—and he had no authority to handle it privately.
Unlike the Flying Thunder God Technique, which was a secret transmission of Konohagakure. As the current Hokage, he had the authority to pass it on to whomever he wished.
Makoto thought for a moment and said, "I'll pass for now. I'll try to solve it myself first. I just need to continue developing it along the lines of the 'Wind Finger Gun.'"
The three great summoning sage regions of the ninja world still carried tremendous prestige among ninja. As long as one knew of their existence, there was no ninja in this world who wouldn't want to sign a contract with them.
Because they could rapidly enhance a ninja's immediate combat power.
Yet unexpectedly, Makoto refused.
For some reason, although Minato was surprised, he also faintly felt a sense of "just as expected." At that moment, he recalled the strange aura that had emanated from Makoto when he confronted the Raikage on the northern front.
He had been to Mount Myōboku and had met the Great Sage.
What puzzled him was that, back then, from Makoto he had felt an aura similar to the Great Sage's—yet completely different at the same time.
It was a feeling, not perception—a kind of vague sixth sense.
He had not told his teacher, Jiraiya, about this feeling, nor had he gone to Mount Myōboku to inquire. Unlike Jiraiya, although Minato was sunny, he was not naïve. His stance had always been on humanity's side.
Precisely because of that, he had little fondness for the giant snakes of Ryūchi Cave that devoured people at the slightest provocation.
It wasn't that he suspected anything about Mount Myōboku. Rather, he clearly distinguished the boundary between the summoning sage regions and the ninja world.
If his feeling was correct, then Makoto possessed limitless possibilities. Therefore, he felt it necessary to protect him—for the sake of that one-in-ten-thousand possibility.
That was Namikaze Minato.
Seeing that Makoto had no interest in signing with Mount Myōboku, Minato immediately changed the subject and suddenly became animated. "Makoto, judging from my assessment of this technique, its learning difficulty is definitely S-rank or above. We've developed a top-tier Wind Release ninjutsu."
"And then?"
"And then? Of course we give it a cool name! I've already thought of one—Wind Release: Spiraling Gale Sword Arrow Super Wheel Dance Roar, Type One. What do you think?"
Not great at all!
Makoto tried asking, "How about you go back and consult Kushina-senpai's opinion first?"
"…That works!"
Minato felt conflicted. Wasn't that name cool enough? He absolutely loved it. But thinking of his wife's temper, he decided it was better to ask at home first.
Seeing the teasing smile on Makoto's face, the Fourth Hokage immediately felt displeased. "How is your Flying Thunder God progressing?"
Makoto glanced at the five people not far away, grinding away at the scroll with all their might. "Well, it's still a long way off."
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