The Rasengan was an A-rank, seal-less ninjutsu created by Minato Namikaze. According to Minato's own later descriptions, the base Rasengan was actually an incomplete technique; by adding chakra nature transformation, it could be pushed even further.
His son—the Child of Prophecy and the Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki—had eventually proven this. The variety of "Rasengan orbs" Naruto produced was far more extensive than the menu at the village's Three-Color Dango shop.
More importantly, the training process for that jutsu was the gold standard for what Minato was now suggesting: breaking a complex technique down into manageable phases. To learn the Rasengan, one would progress through three stages—bursting a water balloon, a rubber ball, and finally a balloon—to lower the learning curve of such an intricate technique.
As Tatsuma sat down with his rice, neither boy made a move to eat. Tatsuma said excitedly, "Actually, these two hair jutsu can be broken down into five distinct stages.
"Stage one is simply injecting chakra into the hair strands. This is a pure test of control. We can lower the barrier for this by adding the Tree Climbing and Water Walking exercises I told you about."
Minato nodded, his own excitement growing. "Stage two would be cell activation. We use chakra to stimulate the scalp and follicles, allowing the hair to grow at an accelerated rate. This is similar to what Goppu-sensei mentioned about using chakra to activate muscle fibers to increase elasticity, defense, or explosive power."
Tatsuma picked up the thread seamlessly. "Stage three is Shape Transformation. We force the chakra and the hair to take on specific properties—making them as hard as senbon needles or as flexible as rope. I don't have a specific training method for this yet, but mastering the fine control in stage one should make learning Shape Transformation much easier later on."
"And stage four," Minato added, "would be the integration—combining the first three stages with the specific hand seals to actually release the jutsu. Stage five is tactical application and combat drills."
As they spoke, the Needle Jizo and Wild Lion's Mane techniques—which had seemed dauntingly complex—suddenly became clear. Tatsuma looked at his friend in awe. "As expected of you, Minato. To think you could come up with a modular learning method like this."
"No, the credit goes to you," Minato insisted. "If you hadn't told me that chakra control could be trained through tree climbing and water walking, I never would have connected the dots."
Despite the "commercial mutual flattery" session, Tatsuma didn't receive a system reward—likely because it wasn't a formal competition. Still, he was incredibly happy.
Suppressing his excitement, Tatsuma said, "We have over a month of vacation left. That's plenty of time to put Tree Climbing and Water Walking on the schedule and see if our theory actually holds water."
"Going out right after dinner?"
"You bet."
Only then did they realize their dinner was getting cold. They picked up their bowls and began to eat with renewed vigor.
Over the next month, in addition to their regular drills, the two added Tree Climbing and Water Walking to their regimen. Naturally, the accompanying "duels" remained a staple of their training.
Tatsuma loved training. Visual progress provided him with an inexhaustible supply of motivation. The Tree Climbing and Water Walking exercises allowed him to "realize" one or two points of Ninjutsu and Energy potential every single day.
His regular drills also bore fruit. His Speed, having already hit the 1,000-point "Chunin baseline," was now converting at a rate of two to three points per day.
Winning their daily bouts also consistently raised his attribute caps. Tatsuma felt the future was looking bright; the attribute "floors" made his current self stronger, while the attribute "caps" ensured his future growth was limitless.
By the end of the month-long break, Tatsuma had a second attribute hit the Chunin baseline: Physique. Meanwhile, his realized Ninjutsu and Energy stats had both successfully broken the 100-point mark, officially entering the Genin tier.
The only outlier was Genjutsu. Even though Tatsuma would often seek out older shinobi at the training ground and offer himself as a "target" for their practice, his growth remained frustratingly slow.
Jiraiya only returned to the village once during the break. He caught a glimpse of the two boys walking on water with practiced ease, nodded in approval, and vanished again on another mission before they even had a chance to explain their modular learning theory.
Tatsuma also experienced his first New Year in the shinobi world. He spent it with Minato. In fact, the two didn't even realize it was New Year's until they received Nengajo (New Year's cards) and Otoshidama (gift money) sent personally by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
On the first day of the new semester, Tatsuma finished packing his gear. Before heading out, he checked his status panel one last time.
Sakamoto Tatsuma Status Panel
Core Attributes(Realized Value / Potential Cap → Tier)
STR (Strength): 161 / 543 — GeninSPD (Speed): 256 / 1132 — Chunin (Cap)PHY (Physique): 237 / 1024 — Chunin (Cap)INT (Intelligence): 255 / 363 — GeninNIN (Ninjutsu): 107 / 312 — GeninGEN (Genjutsu): 39 / 209 — AcademyENG (Energy): 151 / 406 — GeninSEA (Seals): 221 / 427 — Genin
Special Talents
Space-Time: 30%Ninjutsu Development: 20%Ninja Tool Projection (Minato Limited): 40%Perception: 10%
Aside from his abysmal Genjutsu, Tatsuma felt he was more than ready to graduate and become a Genin. However, he had no intention of graduating early. At the very least, he had to wait until Minato was ready.
He still had plenty of "wool" to fleece from his friend. As long as Minato was at the Academy, Tatsuma wasn't going anywhere. He was even hoping they'd be assigned to the same three-man squad later on so the fleecing could continue indefinitely.
Among the people Tatsuma could regularly interact with, Minato's talent was unparalleled and his personality was perfect. Even though Minato lost most of their bouts, he always accepted the next challenge with a calm, friendly grace.
Of course, Tatsuma couldn't control the final squad assignments. He could only hope that Hiruzen Sarutobi would take their friendship into account and pair them up. But for now, that was a worry for another day.
Tatsuma was genuinely excited for the second semester. According to some young Genin he'd met at the training ground, the Academy began teaching actual ninjutsu during the second half of the first year.
Even if they were only E-rank, Tatsuma needed those simple techniques to start converting his Ninjutsu potential.
The Academy curriculum included the Escaping Technique, the Cloak of Invisibility, and the Three Basic Jutsu (Clone, Substitution, and Transformation).
Since most first-year students were still clumsy with chakra control, the first two techniques taught were the Escaping Technique and Cloak of Invisibility—two E-ranks that didn't strictly require chakra to function.
The Escaping Technique technique was surprisingly significant. It didn't just teach how to tie and untie various knots; it taught a shinobi how to dislocate and reset their own joints.
It sounded agonizing, but a shinobi was defined by endurance. Experiencing and normalizing pain early on was far better than being incapacitated by a minor injury on a real mission later.
With everything ready, Tatsuma stepped out the door. He jogged toward Minato's house, where his friend was already waiting with a smile.
Tatsuma waved his hand. "As expected of you, Minato! Up this early again. Let's race to see who gets to school first!"
"You're on!"
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