Mikami Yuu figured that part of the reason he still couldn't romance Flying Thunder God was probably because his innate hardware still hadn't reached the required level.
And those things just happened to be the most important part. Otherwise, Hiruzen Sarutobi—the "Professor of Ninjutsu," disciple of the Second Hokage, and rumored master of nearly every jutsu in Konoha—should have been the first to learn Flying Thunder God. There'd have been no need to wait for Minato.
And if even Minato had no solution…
Then Mikami Yuu would eventually have to consider getting stronger first, and then somehow stealing Kumogakure's Lightning Release Chakra Mode…
Although developing Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation had hit a temporary wall,
there was still one piece of very good news—
Great Fireball had finally broken through!
After the "clear her name" mission, Great Fireball Jutsu had already reached the 90s in affection. Now, after another week or two of grueling training, Mikami Yuu finally broke through the last barrier and pushed it into an entirely new realm—
[Great Fireball Jutsu Affection +2]
[Great Fireball Jutsu (Affection: 100/100 — Hearts Aligned)]
(4 stage rewards obtained: Constitution +4; Trait: Heart of Incineration — Your Fire-nature chakra affinity is massively increased. The power of Fire Release ninjutsu is increased by 240% on top of its current baseline, and by consuming a large additional amount of chakra, you may continue increasing Great Fireball's temperature and burning power until it becomes an inferno that even raging wind and pouring rain cannot extinguish.)
"Whoa!"
So it really was a 240% boost!
And it applied to all Fire Release techniques, not just Great Fireball!
At that moment, Mikami Yuu could feel the Fire-nature portion of the chakra flowing through his body becoming unbelievably active and obedient, as if he could ignite the air with a single thought.
—Of course, reality wasn't that exaggerated.
Compared to the Three Basic Jutsu, Great Fireball's trait didn't give him any speed boost for casting. He still had to form hand seals normally. But Great Fireball only used five or six seals, so once practiced, it was basically a one-second cast.
And compared to that power boost,
the new "heat increase" effect on Great Fireball Jutsu was also extremely interesting.
Normal fire typically ranged from a few hundred degrees up to around a thousand. Against high-level ninja, that kind of heat had limited lethality, and could even be resisted with chakra.
But if Mikami Yuu could raise Great Fireball's temperature to 6,000 degrees… no, actually, that still didn't sound like enough.
Then let's set a small target:
10,000 degrees.
At that point, the Uchiha clan's Amaterasu would have to be renamed "Little Great Fireball."
Right then,
standing in the training ground, Mikami Yuu formed hand seals:
"Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger…"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!!"
BOOM—!!
In an instant, an orange fireball seven or eight meters across—basically the size of a small house—erupted from Mikami Yuu's mouth and swept across the sky above the training ground. From a distance, it looked like a column of karmic fire had burst upward.
And when Mikami Yuu continued pouring chakra into it, the flames shifted from red to yellow, then toward white, while ripples distorted the air around it.
That sight made Kakashi and Obito, who had been training nearby, stop at the same time and turn around in shock.
Rin, who had been practicing Water Clone by herself, looked just as stunned.
"No, seriously…"
What kind of jutsu is that?!
Great Fireball?
Since when does anyone's Great Fireball get that huge? Did it eat Miracle-Gro???
Obito stared blankly at the tiny Great Fireball he had just spat out himself.
—Strictly speaking, Obito's Great Fireball wasn't even small. It was a full two or three meters across, about the same as Sasuke's at a similar age, maybe even a bit stronger. But compared to Mikami Yuu's, boosted by 240%, it simply wasn't comparable. And Mikami Yuu had even been holding back a little.
On his side,
Mikami Yuu relaxed his hands and rubbed his cheeks, which stung from the heat waves. He thought to himself:
"Fire usually turns white around 1,200 degrees and blue around 3,000. Looks like temperatures under 2,000 can be maintained stably. Above that, it starts getting progressively harder.
"The relationship between temperature and chakra consumption feels like a power function at first glance, though it could also be exponential…"
He'd need time to test it properly and see if he could derive an actual formula.
No matter what,
a Great Fireball on the scale Mikami Yuu had just used was no longer something two chūnin-level Water Release users could block. At minimum it would probably take three or four. Add on the higher heat, and ordinary ninja would have a very hard time dealing with it.
The new trait didn't just delight Mikami Yuu—
Great Fireball herself was just as thrilled:
[Great Fireball Jutsu: Hehe, so this is what it feels like to be truly in sync with Mikami-kun? I feel so light now, like there's nothing left to be afraid of. Can Clone Technique do this?]
[Clone Technique: ? Why are you dragging me into this again? Isn't it just "Hearts Aligned"? The three of us sisters have already been in that state with Mikami-chan for a while now~]
[Clone Technique: And maybe you didn't know, but we have an even deeper relationship with Mikami-chan. Lately he's been spending lots of time in a little room with the three of us sisters, turning off the lights, and then… hehe.]
[Great Fireball Jutsu: ???]
[Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu: (Eyes sparkling as she scoots over excitedly) What, what? Is this a juicy story? Tell me everything!]
[Wild Water Wave Jutsu: A shallow topic.]
[Substitution Technique: Stare.]
[Water Formation Wall: Stare.]
Mikami Yuu: "…?"
No, seriously—he gave up. Since when did ninjutsu start spreading dirty rumors?
"Little room" meant Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation, right?
Just as he was about to sit down with Clone Technique and properly sort out what "that day" was supposed to mean, and whether "the little room" referred to the Phantom Stage, a streak of golden light flashed across the training ground.
"Whoa, Minato-sensei! You're here!"
"Mm. How's everyone's training going today? Any problems?"
Minato smiled warmly and asked Mikami Yuu and the others how things were going.
For the sake of keeping things secret, Mikami Yuu didn't bring up Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation in front of Kakashi and the others. He only asked a few questions related to chakra-control training. Obito and Rin then asked about difficulties they'd been having with their own jutsu practice.
After answering those,
Minato took out a mission scroll.
"This is the newest C-rank mission. You're to escort several nobles of the Land of Fire to visit relatives in the Land of Tea. The route is a bit farther than the last one, so it'll probably take a few more days. You can start packing when you get home today."
"Ah! Why is it another escort mission?! Don't these nobles have anything better to do? The world's practically on the verge of war, and they're still wandering around everywhere!"
Obito complained unhappily.
Mikami Yuu let out a breath. "War is something between ninja. It doesn't really have much to do with them. And if they didn't run around, what would we eat?"
~~~
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