The new year break had just ended, and the Konoha Ninja Academy welcomed a new semester.
The academic year in this world is divided into three semesters: April to July, September to December, and January to March. (Consistent with real-world Japan)
At this moment, it was the January school season, as winter faded and spring arrived.
At the opening ceremony, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, attended as usual and delivered an important speech.
This elder, who had governed Konoha for many years, always had words for the children at the start of every semester.
He didn't just speak about inherited concepts like the Will of Fire; he also frequently shared anecdotes from his training, insights, and even some common yet practical Ninjutsu perspectives, ensuring his speeches were never dull.
During his speech, he would occasionally pick a few students at random to answer their questions, and this year was no exception.
"...When it comes to practicing Ninjutsu, we often focus too much on the power of the technique..."
The Third Hokage used simple yet slightly humorous language to explain some basic but profound truths.
After finishing a section on Ninjutsu insights, he paused, his kind gaze slowly sweeping over the neatly lined-up students, preparing to choose a few children with raised hands as he always did.
At that moment, a student in the Class Two, Year Three line, who had calmly raised his hand, instantly caught his attention.
Shinichi Higashino.
The Third Hokage's eyes narrowed imperceptibly for a moment before he flashed an even more amiable and kind smile. He gently raised his hand toward that direction and signaled:
"That student from Class Two, Year Three, please stand up. Do you have a question or a viewpoint you'd like to share?"
Shinichi stood up, first bowing respectfully toward the podium. Then, with an expression of well-timed confusion and a hint of uncertainty, he spoke: "It's like this, Lord Third Hokage. For the past two years, I've been trying to develop a new Ninjutsu. In the end... well, I suppose it was a success, but it could also be called a failure, because I found that this technique seems to have a major problem that I can't solve on my own."
"Oh? Developing a new Ninjutsu?" The Third Hokage's smile widened with encouragement. "It seems this student is a Genius brave enough to explore."
He praised him in a kind tone, but deep down, he didn't care much.
In his view, this so-called new technique was likely a shallow modification or combination of existing ones; reaching C-rank would be rare, and touching the threshold of B-rank would be one in a million.
"Young man, what is your name?" the Sandaime asked softly, as if hearing it for the first time.
"Shinichi Higashino."
"Well then, Shinichi," the Third Hokage nodded. "Why don't you tell me more about it, or perhaps demonstrate your new technique directly? Let me see where the problem lies; maybe I can offer some advice."
Hearing this, Shinichi showed a look of hesitation. He glanced dubiously at the crowded lines of students around him, looking as if he wanted to speak but stopped.
The Third Hokage understood and smiled. "It seems the new technique Shinichi developed makes quite a commotion and has considerable power, making it inconvenient to demonstrate here. How about this, Shinichi, come up to the stage."
"Yes!"
Shinichi responded and stepped out of his class line, walking through the crowd toward the podium. At the same time, irrepressible whispers broke out among the students below.
"Shinichi? He actually developed a new Ninjutsu himself?"
"As expected of Shinichi... I always felt like he knew a lot."
"So it's him! That ruthless guy! Every morning when I get to school, I see him using Shadow Clones to thump himself!"
"He's the Shinichi Higashino who defeated Kakashi back then?"
"It was just luck. Senior Kakashi has already been promoted to Chunin; he's definitely much stronger than him now. The two aren't even on the same level anymore!"
"What Ninjutsu did he develop? Didn't you give him any guidance?" the homeroom teacher of Class One asked curiously.
"I don't know, the boy never mentioned it to me," Teacher Matsumoto shook his head.
Fragments of words mixed with amazement, curiosity, and doubt flowed through the ranks, all eyes focused on the back of the youth steadily walking toward the podium.
"Shinichi, perform your Ninjutsu. Don't worry, I'm right here," the Third Hokage said with an encouraging smile and a gentle gaze.
The two Advisors attending alongside him, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, also cast curious glances.
"Yes!"
Shinichi took a deep breath, his expression becoming focused. He slowly raised his right hand, fingers naturally spread.
At first, it was just an invisible airflow gathering slightly toward his palm, as if he were condensing Chakra.
"Eh?"
Seeing this, the Third Hokage initially let out a small sound of surprise, but in the next instant, his habitual kind smile suddenly vanished.
Not just him, but Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu beside him also changed their expressions almost simultaneously.
On Shinichi's palm, the invisible gathering of Chakra rapidly became visible to the naked eye!
It transformed into rapid-flowing, highly compressed pulses of azure Chakra, beginning to rotate at an astonishing speed!
Buzz! Buzz!
A low-pitched hum, as if the air were being torn apart and then condensed, sounded faintly.
In the blink of an eye, a pale blue orb about the size of a fist, composed entirely of highly condensed and frantically rotating Chakra, was already hovering above his palm!
Inside the orb, distinct lines of Chakra whistled and flowed like a storm, creating visible turbulent airflows that ruffled Shinichi's sleeves and the hair on his forehead.
Rasengan!
The so-called new technique Shinichi had developed was none other than the high-level, hand-seal-less A-rank Ninjutsu that would be developed by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, in the future, inspired by the Tailed Beast Ball!
At this point in time, Minato Namikaze might still be conceptualizing it or perhaps just starting, but this technique was definitely not completed, let alone revealed to the world. (Note:)
In the original work, the principles and training process for the Rasengan were clearly demonstrated.
Phase One—Gathering: Gather Chakra in the palm.
Phase Two—The Balloon: Release Chakra to make the water inside a balloon move irregularly until the balloon explodes.
Phase Three—The Rubber Ball: Maintain the released Chakra and solidify it until it can break a rubber ball.
The final phase combines everything: concentrate high-density Chakra in the hand, release it continuously, maintain it, and finally solidify it into a high-density Chakra sphere.
But after completing the third rubber ball phase, Shinichi was unable to successfully enter the final stage. He supposed there must be some other trick to the Rasengan that wasn't shown in the anime.
Thus, he added a fourth phase—the Iron Ball Exercise. After he successfully cracked an iron ball, he also succeeded in using a stable Rasengan.
Only with the support of various Entrys centered around the [Genius] Entry was Shinichi's talent truly that of an absolute Genius; otherwise, even with the corresponding ideas and methods, it would be extremely difficult to develop the Rasengan alone.
Shinichi's plan was to use this point in time before Minato Namikaze had developed it to showcase the development of this A-rank Ninjutsu. By presenting it at the opening ceremony, a public occasion attended by all teachers, students, and Konoha high-level officials, he would create a sensation.
Thereby directly generating a comprehensive Entry related to Ninjutsu Talent!
...