"So, you're not sleeping in the middle of the night just to practice Ninjutsu here?"
Standing at the edge of the camp, Jiraiya shot an irritated glare at his disciple.
Minato gave an awkward smile, scratched the back of his head, and let out a dry laugh.
"Sorry, Sensei. I just learned it and got a bit too excited…"
"Oh?" Jiraiya crossed his arms.
"So you really learned the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Minato nodded.
"That's right, though I wouldn't say I've fully mastered it yet. I've only just gotten the basics down, and it's still pretty rough."
He wasn't exaggerating. Even after managing a few successful jumps with the Flying Thunder God Technique, his movements were still stiff.
More importantly, his recent tests showed a noticeable margin of error. He could only teleport to the general vicinity of his marked Kunai.
Precise teleportation between individual Kunai was still impossible, and he also couldn't properly control his body orientation during the jump.
In other words, he had only barely grasped the technique, and there was still a long road of refinement ahead.
Even so, the fact that he had created the formula himself and reached this level in such a short time already proved his extraordinary talent.
The Flying Thunder God Technique was practically made for him.
Hearing that his disciple had actually learned it, Jiraiya's expression shifted immediately. His excitement even surpassed Minato's calm reaction.
"Good, good! Even Hayashi hadn't mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, but now you've done it. I can finally hold my head high in front of Orochimaru. You've done well, Sensei is proud of you, hahaha."
Jiraiya quickly forgot about the earlier incident of Minato wandering around the camp at night and nearly causing a misunderstanding.
Then his tone shifted.
"Now that you've learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, can it be used in combat?"
Right now, Konoha was under heavy pressure from the Hidden Cloud Village, to the point where the situation was getting hard to maintain.
In Jiraiya's view, the village's upper leadership, especially Danzo, was not exactly reliable.
Still, Minato had been slightly lacking in combat strength before this. If the Flying Thunder God Technique could be applied in battle, that would change everything.
After all, the Second Hokage was feared across the shinobi world for his unmatched speed thanks to this technique.
Minato gave a wry smile.
"It's not that simple."
The Flying Thunder God Technique itself had no offensive power.
Its combat usage was straightforward in theory. Use instant movement to evade attacks, reposition behind or beside the enemy, and strike immediately. But in practice, it demanded absurd reaction speed, spatial awareness, and timing far beyond ordinary shinobi.
If the opponent's reaction speed surpassed his own, teleporting into close range would only expose him to fatal counterattacks. It could easily become a suicidal move.
That meant Minato still needed more targeted training before he could rely on it in real combat.
On top of that, the technique was not naturally instantaneous at his current level. High level users could eventually cast it without hand seals, but that required extreme mastery.
He was still far from that stage.
Even so, he already had another key advantage.
To properly support the Flying Thunder God Technique, he needed a powerful instant attack method that required no hand seals.
Speed alone wasn't enough. Without a decisive strike tool, Kunai alone would struggle to break through strong defenses.
Take his current hypothetical opponent, the son of the Third Raikage. With Lightning Release Chakra Mode, even high level Ninjutsu would struggle to penetrate his defense, let alone Kunai.
Fortunately, Minato had already developed the Rasengan years ago.
His strength at this stage far exceeded what he originally should have had at his age.
Earlier in his development, Hayashi had intentionally guided him into learning sealing techniques. Without that, as a civilian born shinobi, he would never have had access to such knowledge so early.
The Rasengan itself had taken him three years to develop, and that time had already been saved.
Now he was refining it further, attempting to add nature transformation.
His first focus was Wind Release.
He was already very close to completing the Wind Release Rasengan evolution.
The reason for choosing Wind Release was simple. Nature transformation was not something that could be forced easily.
Even Jiraiya, who also knew the Rasengan, had never successfully completed such a transformation.
Hayashi and Minato had exchanged many ideas on the Rasengan's evolution. Hayashi had already successfully developed both Wind Release and Fire Release variations, which gave Minato a clear path forward without unnecessary detours.
In a time of war, increasing strength quickly mattered most.
Other attributes like Water Release could be explored later.
However, Minato was also aware of a major drawback of the Wind Release Rasenshuriken.
It was extremely dangerous at close range. At the moment of detonation, it could severely damage the user's arm.
Under normal circumstances, this made it a forbidden level technique.
But for Minato, that weakness was significantly reduced.
With the Flying Thunder God Technique, he could strike and immediately warp away before the explosion took effect.
In other words, the technique was essentially designed to synergize with his teleportation ability.
Of course, this technique would only reach full perfection in Sage Mode, but he had not yet learned it, nor did he have time to travel to Mount Myōboku.
At that moment, Jiraiya had already picked up one of Minato's marked Kunai and was examining it closely.
"So this is the Flying Thunder God formula?"
His eyes landed on the engraved marking.
"Space time gale flash sword? What kind of name is this?"
"Oh, that's the mark I designed for the technique," Minato replied with visible pride.
Jiraiya looked like he was in pain just hearing it.
"The Second Hokage's mark was just a simple formula drawing, you know."
"I thought drawings were too plain, so I turned it into words instead."
Minato's expression clearly said he was expecting praise.
Jiraiya sighed.
"So you're telling me the marking can just be changed freely?"
"As long as it doesn't interfere with the formula, it should be fine," Minato replied slowly, then paused as realization hit him.
Jiraiya immediately ruffled his hair.
"Good disciple. Change it. If you walk around with a name like that, how am I supposed to show off in front of Tsunade while holding this Kunai?"
"I think the name is fine though."
Jiraiya pressed a hand to his face.
"Change it. It's too long. If an enemy picks it up and reads it, they'll laugh themselves to death."
"But I…"
Jiraiya suddenly raised his voice.
"Change it now!"
Minato blinked, then muttered.
"Space Rending Heaven Light Slaying Space Sword?"
Jiraiya took a deep breath.
This disciple of his really had no sense for naming.
"Konoha promotes love and peace. Let's call it Sword of Ninja Love."
"Sword of Ninja Love?" Minato shook his head. "It feels like it's missing something. Are you sure about that name? What about Space Rending Heaven Light Slaying Space Sword?"
Jiraiya turned around and started walking away.
"Hey Sensei, I still have more ideas," Minato called after him, chasing behind.
Not far away, a Root shinobi briefly appeared in the shadows, observing them before disappearing again.
Jiraiya and Minato both noticed him, but neither reacted further.
In a time of war, such surveillance was nothing unusual, especially from Danzo's side.