Early the next morning, as soon as Tsunade left home, Nawaki impatiently hurried over to Minato's side.
"Minato—"
Nawaki looked at Minato expectantly, looking quite pitiful.
"I know, I know..."
Minato couldn't help but smile, leading Nawaki into the courtyard.
Then he pressed his hands together, and a wooden stake as thick as a washbasin sprouted from the ground in front of him.
Then Minato extended his right hand toward Nawaki: "Watch closely!"
As he spoke, a chaotic surge of Chakra suddenly gathered in his palm, spinning at high speed until it condensed into a high-density Chakra sphere!
The high-density Chakra kicked up a wild current of air, ruffling both of their hair.
"Such strong Chakra!"
Nawaki's eyes sparkled: "What's the name of this move?"
"Rasengan!"
As Minato spoke, he turned and slammed the Rasengan into the wooden stake.
Bang!
The moment the Rasengan touched the wooden stake, it blasted a large, spherical hole through it.
"So powerful..."
Nawaki stared blankly at the hole in the wooden stake, momentarily lost in thought.
Then, he became uncontrollably excited again: "Let's start cultivating right away!"
"Wait a moment."
Minato gently raised his hand, signaling Nawaki to calm down: "Before that, I need to test your Chakra control level."
"Tell me! What should I do?" Nawaki asked, eager to try.
"Like this..."
Minato clapped his hands together, and the broken wooden stake suddenly shot up over ten meters, its top sprouting countless branches and transforming into a straight, tall tree.
Then Minato stepped onto the tree trunk, walking up to the very top step by step as if he were on level ground.
"Distribute Chakra evenly on the soles of your feet to balance with your own body weight, and you'll be able to stick to walls and walk freely."
"Alright! Watch me!"
Nawaki took a few steps back and charged excitedly toward the tree trunk.
Thump, thump, thump—he took three steps in a row.
Before he could celebrate, his foot suddenly slipped, and the back of his head went crashing toward the ground.
Whoosh—
Minato had already anticipated Nawaki's mistake.
He instantly appeared beneath Nawaki and caught him steadily.
"Dammit, I messed up!"
Nawaki looked frustrated, especially being caught by Minato in a princess carry, which made him feel even more embarrassed.
"Take it slow, no need to rush."
Minato smiled and comforted him: "I have a method that should help you master Tree Climbing quickly."
"What is it?"
Nawaki asked impatiently.
Minato pressed his hand against the tree trunk, and a branch as thick as a bowl's rim extended out at a height of two and a half meters above their heads.
"You should be able to reach this height easily."
As Minato spoke, he leaped up and grabbed the branch, resting his feet against the trunk.
"You can hold onto the branch and continuously adjust the Chakra output from your feet. Adapting like this a few more times should be more effective than blindly charging up."
Seeing this, Nawaki laughed: "Minato, you look like a koala like that!"
Crack!
Minato snapped the branch off, looking regretful: "Since you don't like this method..."
"No, no, no, Master Minato, I love this way of cultivating the most!"
Nawaki panicked instantly and, as Minato jumped down from the tree, he grabbed onto Minato's leg.
Minato smiled, gave the tree trunk a light pat, and grew another branch.
Nawaki leaped up, hugged the branch, and pressed his feet against the trunk.
Seeing this, the corner of Minato's mouth curled up as he formed Hand Seals: "Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
Shing, shing, shing... Sharp Earth Release spikes suddenly grew all around the tree trunk!
"Eh?"
Hugging the tree trunk and seeing this, Nawaki's face turned pale: "Minato, you..."
"It's said that many powerful Ninjas Breakthrough their limits during life-and-death moments."
Minato said seriously: "I think that makes a lot of sense. Nawaki, you're a man who wants to become the Hokage. If you don't push yourself, how will you know your true potential?"
"That's it then. I'm going grocery shopping. Good luck~"
With that, Minato vanished from the spot with a Body Flicker.
Seeing Minato leave, Nawaki immediately panicked.
"Wait a minute!"
"Minato, come back! I won't make fun of you anymore! It was my fault!"
"Hey! Help! Somebody help—"
Hearing Nawaki's cries for help, Minato's smile was very bright.
Of course, he wouldn't joke with Nawaki's life; those earth spears were just clay-like props meant for psychological pressure. In reality, they would crumble upon touch and collapse within two minutes.
In the courtyard, Nawaki hugged the branch tremblingly, looking down at the forest of sharp earth spears and involuntarily swallowing hard.
He didn't know if it was psychological, but he felt the arms hugging the branch growing increasingly sore, and his palms were drenched in sweat.
"Minato, I was wrong, please let me down."
Nawaki cried out pitifully to a Clone not far away.
The Wood Clone glanced at him: "You've got the wrong person. I'm just an ordinary Clone."
Nawaki gave a forced laugh: "Then, Big Brother Clone..."
"Who are you calling 'Clone'? Don't I deserve a name? You're so annoying!"
The Clone huffed and turned away, while several other Clones burst into laughter.
"Aaaaah, Minato Namikaze, you bastard!!!"
As he was shouting, a gust of wind blew, and the earth spears below collapsed silently like melting ice cream.
"Eh? Fake?"
Noticing this, Nawaki finally realized he had been played, and his face instantly flushed bright red.
"Dammit, that black-bellied guy!"
"The naturally evil Minato Namikaze!"
"Dammit, aaaaaah!"
Two hours later, Minato returned from grocery shopping.
Just as he entered the house, Nawaki suddenly dropped from above and punched him on the forehead.
"Got you! Ha! That's the price for teasing this great lord!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Minato in front of him suddenly exploded with a puff, turning into a wooden stake.
"Substitution?"
A flash of surprise crossed Nawaki's eyes, and suddenly an ice pop was held across his neck.
"Alright, KO!"
Minato appeared behind Nawaki at some unknown time, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"As expected, the gap in strength isn't that easy to close..."
Nawaki took the ice pop; his tone didn't sound very surprised. Instead, he put on a triumphant look.
"Tree Climbing... I've already learned it!"
"Great job!"
Minato carried the groceries into the living room and pointed to the small pond in the courtyard: "Next is Water Surface Walking. It's the same technique, but you have to constantly adjust your Chakra output according to the water's flow. Go on~"
Minato wasn't surprised that Nawaki could learn Tree Climbing so quickly.
In terms of Chakra control, Tsunade was likely among the strongest in the Hokage world.
As Tsunade's brother, even if Nawaki's talent wasn't as outstanding as his sister's, it shouldn't be too bad.
"Again?"
Nawaki was getting a bit impatient: "Can't I just learn it directly?"
"No."
Minato shook his head and explained: "Chakra has two directions of cultivation: Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation. The Rasengan is the pinnacle of Shape Transformation, which will also indirectly enhance your Chakra control."
"So theoretically, if you have the corresponding attributes and can learn the Rasengan, you can learn any Ninjutsu!"
"Is that so?"
Nawaki found it a bit hard to believe. If what Minato said was true, then the value of this Ninjutsu was far beyond what a normal A-rank Ninjutsu could compare to!
"Then... Minato, how long did it take you to learn it?"
"If it was just pure cultivation, it took about three months."
"Three months..." Nawaki's tone was complex.
At this moment, he finally had a clear understanding of Minato's talent... According to Minato's words, if he could master the Rasengan in three months, he could learn any Ninjutsu within three months!
Minato didn't know what Nawaki was thinking. If he did, he might have explained—usually, he could learn most Ninjutsu just by looking at them once.
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