"You bastard, finally decided to come back, huh?"
At this moment, Gaara no longer had the stubborn look he once had in front of Naruto.
Having been cleansed by the journey and then having shouldered the weight of an entire village, Gaara now appeared much more mature than before.
"Whoa! That's pretty aggressive, isn't it? Being a village Kage really changes the way you talk, huh?"
Naruto, without any hesitation, walked over to Gaara's desk and casually grabbed a handful of snacks from it.
— Hmm, these were the kind Kousei liked, so this should count as abusing power for personal gain, right?
"It seems... the guy who went after the Jinchuriki is even more troublesome than I imagined."
Gaara's words implied that he had already guessed the reason for Naruto's appearance here.
"Something like that... Anyway, you probably wouldn't stand a chance against him right now."
With his mouth full of snacks, Naruto unceremoniously wiped the crumbs onto some document, making Gaara's eye twitch.
"I figured as much. After all, it must be serious to have someone as busy as you come all this way."
Gaara frowned, took the file back from Naruto, then solemnly wiped off the smudge and placed it in the drawer beside him.
"Hey, hey... That didn't sound quite right to me. You're relying on me way too much, aren't you, kid? ...Oh! I get it, you're missing Kousei, right?"
In Naruto's eyes, Gaara's emotions, despite his stern face, couldn't be hidden at all. Even without using Observation Haki, just based on his understanding of Gaara as a person, he could guess what the other was thinking.
"Got some good news for you. Barring any surprises, you'll be able to see Kousei again in about six months. I'll bring her to visit you then."
Hearing this, Gaara was momentarily stunned, then quickly understood his meaning.
He knew that Kousei had returned to the present from the future.
"...Alright."
"Tsk, you're so agreeable when it comes to my daughter, huh?"
"You brat, you wouldn't be... Let me make this clear first, the age gap between you two is way too big. Don't even think about it!"
Naruto made a move characteristic of every protective father, pointing his index finger at Gaara's nose, warning him seriously not to even think about touching his precious daughter.
"Stop talking nonsense! I don't think about you like that... You've led me off track. Let's get back to business."
Gaara instinctively retorted, then realized the guy was probably just teasing him. He immediately put his stern face back on, adopting an 'I'm busy, don't bother me unless it's important' attitude.
"Alright, what do you need from me? Act as bait? Or something else?"
"Let me be clear first, Sunagakure's new land development is at a critical stage. I can't be away for too long."
Gaara understood the importance of priorities. He knew that if it was enough for Naruto to take notice and personally set an ambush, the guy going after the Jinchuriki must be far more troublesome than he had imagined.
"No need, no need. You just keep doing what you're doing. See, this is all I need."
Gaara followed Naruto's pointing finger and realized that, at some point, a series of incomprehensible markings had been inscribed on his arm.
"This is..."
...
"So this is your Flying Thunder God mark? It looks..."
Jiraiya looked at the Flying Thunder God mark Naruto had imprinted on his hand and instinctively reached out to scratch it.
He wasn't worried about whether this would make the mark ineffective… as the Fourth Hokage's teacher, how could he not know how formidable this technique was?
It was just the appearance...
As the creator of this technique, the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God mark was very simple: a concentric circle with three straight lines extending above and below. It perfectly suited the utilitarian philosophy of someone like Senju Tobirama.
When it came into the hands of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, he modified it into the words [Ninja Love of Sword].
How to put it... there wasn't much difference in practicality, but the style points might have gone up a bit.
It varied from person to person.
And after this technique came into Naruto's hands, he also made some slight changes.
After obtaining the Flying Thunder God scroll from Jiraiya, Naruto had restarted his studies.
As everyone knew, he struggled greatly with learning written material from books, and Jiraiya himself didn't know the Flying Thunder God Technique, so he couldn't give Naruto a personal demonstration.
Of course, he could have directly gone to his Seal Space to discuss it with Minato's residual consciousness.
But that wasn't the real Fourth Hokage. Aside from the preset sealing formulas, he couldn't perform other ninjutsu, nor did he have Chakra Pathway within him for Naruto to observe.
Fortunately, Naruto was already a 'newly born Otsutsuki'. Besides inherently mastering spatial divine techniques, he had also experienced cross-world transportation with the help of the Nature Will.
All these things gave Naruto different inspirations.
Finally, during the process of hitting the books and experimenting on his own, this current Flying Thunder God mark, different from others, was born.
It was an extremely complex pattern.
Its core was a rhombus… perhaps influenced by the [Kama] mark, or maybe all Otsutsuki were accustomed to using such marks.
Surrounding this core were countless abstract 'stars' orbiting. Although each star's pattern was very simple, it was still easy to discern that it represented the Milky Way.
More importantly—
"Wow! It moves!"
Konomimaru played with the Flying Thunder God mark, or [Starfield Mark], on his hand as if it were a new toy.
Even though it was a flat pattern, it moved like a scene from a movie.
"...I've never seen anything like this before."
Actually, it wasn't just Jiraiya… even Minato's consciousness within the Seal Space hadn't seen anything like this.
Ultimately, there were still too few people in the entire Shinobi World who could use the Flying Thunder God Technique. Even including the Ninjas from Konoha who had mastered the [Flying Thunder Formation Technique], there wasn't much reference value.
Perhaps everyone's Flying Thunder God Technique was different… the key was still its specific effects.
"This feeling..."
Part of Naruto's body had already 'reverted' to the form of the Otsutsuki Clan, and the Rinnegan on his forehead, which he didn't use often, had also opened.
The Rinnegan spun around a few times, then its gaze focused on a distant cliff.
The next moment, without taking any action, Naruto's figure simply disappeared from where he stood and reappeared there.
This wasn't a Space-Time Technique like Yomotsu Hirasaka, which required a charge-up… it was a more efficient, faster, and more covert teleportation.
Before Jiraiya and Konohamaru could even react, Naruto had teleported back and muttered to himself.
"Everything within sight can become a mark?"
Yes, this was the most powerful aspect Naruto felt.
Through his own research using 'the power of believing he could do it', coupled with reverse derivation, he had successfully concocted a Ninjutsu, or divine technique, similar to yet different from the Flying Thunder God Technique.
This was a technique that only those with the abilities of the Otsutsuki Clan could possibly learn.
It no longer required pressing a mark onto something or throwing a marked tool.
Anywhere Naruto's eyes could see would leave a mark that only he could remove.
"This is no longer the Flying Thunder God Technique, is it?"
After listening to Naruto's explanation, even Jiraiya was left speechless.
'This kid Naruto was terrifyingly strong.'
'And this kind of technique... it was just cheating.'
"Amenotorifune."
Naruto suddenly spoke.
"The name of this technique is Amenotorifune."