"I have indeed benefited greatly, Elder Danzo."
Shinichi nodded and said, "The core of my combat style has always been the pursuit of seamless integration between Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. So while studying and researching the Wind Style principles you taught me, I've also constantly been thinking about how to incorporate their essence into my own combat system."
At this point, Shinichi seemed to feel that words alone could not fully express it, so he raised his eyes toward Danzo.
"It would probably be more intuitive if I demonstrated it directly for Elder Danzo to see."
The moment his words fell, Shinichi casually swung his right hand toward the side-front.
Inside the training ground, the air seemed to freeze for a brief instant before suddenly emitting a sharp screech!
Countless invisible air currents gathered and compressed frantically into his right palm at terrifying speed, like soldiers summoned by the king!
The next moment, Shinichi flicked his fingers!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Only a continuous series of dense and muffled explosions remained, like terrifying thunderclaps detonating one after another!
More than a dozen invisible air bullets, formed entirely from highly compressed and extremely condensed wind-nature chakra, tore through the atmosphere at speeds impossible for the naked eye to track and violently bombarded the chest, abdomen, and shoulders of the steel dummy!
The sturdy, refined steel surface instantly exploded with terrifying dents several inches deep, the edges twisted and shattered as though repeatedly hammered by massive warhammers!
The entire steel dummy trembled violently as it released an overwhelmed metallic groan!
"I call this initial application, Dream Bullet."
Shinichi lowered his right hand and calmly explained, "Using the impact characteristic of wind nature chakra as the core, combined with the instantaneous extreme compression and instant release techniques of chakra from Tsunade-sensei's Chakra Enhanced Strength, it focuses on creating high-density, high-speed point-burst attacks."
Without giving Danzo much time to be surprised, Shinichi immediately continued: "And the next move is a derivative of another line of thought."
As he spoke, he shifted slightly and adjusted his center of gravity, then his right leg suddenly rose high like a battle axe. At the same time, the edge of his foot was instantly wrapped in a pale cyan chakra blade rotating at high speed and condensed almost into substance!
The next moment…
Whoosh!!
His leg became a blade as it viciously chopped downward!
Standing to the side, Danzo Shimura only saw a flash of cyan light before his eyes!
Rippp!!!
A clean and decisive tearing sound rang out!
That battered steel dummy was split cleanly in two from shoulder to waist by the gigantic wind blade as easily as paper, the cut surface smooth as a mirror, displaying astonishing cutting power and control precision!
Inside the training ground, only the echoes of the steel wreckage crashing to the ground remained, along with the sharp wind in the air that had yet to fully dissipate.
"I call this move Storm Blade." Shinichi slowly withdrew his right leg as the wind-nature chakra around his body gradually calmed.
"With the cutting characteristic of wind-nature chakra as the core, through the extreme stretching, shaping, and vibration of chakra, a linear cutting strike with extremely strong cutting power is created!"
Wind nature chakra possessed two core characteristics: one was impact, represented by Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, while the other was cutting, represented by Wind Style: Wind Blade.
The Dream Bullet and Storm Blade, developed by Shinichi, were preliminary attempts at combining these two characteristics with his own Taijutsu.
Dream Bullet extracts the essence of the Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, focusing on the ultimate point for a powerful burst.
Storm Blade took the profundity of Wind Style: Wind Blade, extending it into a line and emphasizing armor-breaking capability.
Danzo Shimura stood in place expressionlessly, looking at the steel dummy that had been effortlessly sliced into two, then at the deep dents blasted out by Dream Bullet on the ground.
He remained silent for a long time.
So long that even the air within the training ground seemed frozen.
In the end, he slowly raised his lone eye, his gaze falling onto Shinichi as he squeezed out two words: "Not bad."
His tone was so flat it was almost perfunctory.
But only he himself knew what kind of stormy waves were surging within his heart at that moment!
Because the boy before him could already be said to have preliminarily developed Wind Style Nintaijutsu.
And the amount of time he had used was merely… one week!
....
A few days later, in Konoha's fourth training ground.
Boom!!!
A terrifying roar like the explosion of a missile suddenly erupted!
The solid ground at the center of the training ground violently caved in, cracked apart, and bulged upward!
A huge, irregular crater with a diameter of over five meters appeared out of nowhere.
Smoke and dust, along with countless pebbles, shot into the sky like a fountain, then crashed down all around, creating a terrifying spectacle.
Kurenai and Shizune, who were watching from the side, were so shocked by the power of that strike that they subconsciously took two steps back and swallowed nervously, their beautiful faces filled with astonishment.
Tsunade-sensei… is being serious this time!
The same thought flashed through both girls' minds as they exchanged glances.
Previously, they had only known that their teacher's punches were powerful, but in the past, Tsunade had merely demonstrated or instructed with restraint.
When have they ever seen something like this, where a single punch nearly overturned half the training ground?
Inside the field, the blonde figure who had unleashed that destructive strike, Tsunade, did not pause in the slightest, and chakra exploded once more beneath her feet!
Boom!
A ring of shockwaves exploded from the ground as Tsunade's figure shot forward like a golden cannonball, carrying a shrill sonic scream as she recklessly pursued the black-haired youth in the distance, Shinichi Higashino, with overwhelming speed and force!
The air around her advanced, visibly distorted by compression, while the sharp sonic boom painfully pierced the ears!
Facing Tsunade's relentless assault like collapsing mountains, Shinichi's expression remained exceptionally calm. His body moved like a swimming dragon, his footwork elusive as a divine phantom, resembling flowing wind and drifting snow.
Step! Turn! Spin! Shift!
His movements seemed to merge with the surrounding flowing air itself, every action carrying an indescribable lightness and elegance.
What drew even more attention was that as he moved, the surrounding air seemed to undergo some strange transformation.
The wind resistance and airflow disturbances that should have hindered high-speed movement now seemed guided and tamed by some invisible, mysterious force.
Not only did they cease being obstacles, but they also faintly transformed into assisting forces for propulsion and gliding!
Every sidestep, twist, and sliding movement appeared precisely calculated, always positioned exactly at the edge of Tsunade's striking range.
That seemingly unimpressive movement speed, paired with prediction refined to the utmost limit and clever borrowing of force, allowed him to narrowly evade Tsunade's continuous heavy blows capable of shattering stone monuments by mere fractions of an inch at the final critical moment!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The pressure of her fists brushed past Shinichi's clothes with fierce whistling sounds.
The ground continuously exploded into new craters under Tsunade's relentless pursuit, yet Shinichi's figure remained like a leaf in the wind, swaying unpredictably without ever truly being struck directly.
This was not merely extreme control over the body and footwork, but also an unimaginably keen perception and ingenious utilization of the surrounding environment!