"Your ninja way is really strange!" Kurenai muttered softly, then quickly recalled the earlier tension: "The Sarutobi family is really annoying!"
Kairen gently stroked the girl's hair. Hearing her annoyance, he spoke in a clear voice,
"Kurenai, what do you find annoying?"
Kurenai pouted.
"Didn't you hear what that irritating Sarutobi Shinnosuke said earlier? He wants me to marry into the Sarutobi family. I'd never marry that stingy Asuma!"
"Then who do you want to marry?"
Kurenai looked at Kairen, who had a teasing smile on his face, and immediately pressed her fingers into the soft flesh of his thigh.
"You're annoying!"
After some playful scuffling, Kairen turned back to his own matters. He currently had 2050 experience points and needed to plan carefully.
Kairen thought about his fire-style ninjutsu: Dragon Fire Technique, Great Fireball Technique, and Great Dragon Fire Technique…
All of these fire jutsus were immense in scale and consumed enormous amounts of chakra.
Most fire-style jutsus were like this—they required a wide casting range in multiple directions to effectively hit enemies.
Kairen pondered. He needed a practical fire-style jutsu. Using the Great Fireball Technique as a reference, he planned to develop a derivative ninjutsu.
The goal: make the Great Fireball smaller and increase its speed to that of the wind.
He immediately exchanged for an intermediate-level ninjutsu development card and told the system,
"Develop a fire-style ninjutsu for me. Shrink the Great Fireball, reduce chakra consumption, and increase its attack speed."
The system immediately responded: "To shrink the Great Fireball while maintaining its power requires extremely high chakra control and nature transformation abilities. Host must first improve basic chakra control."
Kairen nodded. Previously, he relied on mastering jutsus to gauge chakra control. After reaching Special Jōnin level, jutsus became increasingly complex, requiring inherent ability to properly control them.
He quickly spent 300 experience points to raise his Special Jōnin template's chakra basics to mid-level Special Jōnin.
The system's reference to chakra control ability was not a blanket for all Special Jōnin, but specific to Kairen's own template.
For example, Kairen's Special Jōnin template had a 30% mastery of chakra control. Comparatively, this was not inferior to other Jōnin—it was not a measure of his rank, but of his personal ability.
Soon, Kairen's chakra control reached mid-level for his template.
"Host meets the basic conditions on the ninjutsu development card. Ninjustu development begins."
"Progress 1%…"
"Progress 2%…"
"Progress 10%…"
"Progress 50%…"
"Progress 100%!"
"Ninjutsu development successful. Please name the jutsu!"
Kairen did not name it immediately. He needed to test the jutsu first, determine its characteristics, and then name it.
Suddenly, a flood of memories entered Kairen's mind: the hand seals on the development card, chakra flow, nature transformation, and control methods…
It wasn't just fire-natured chakra control—wind-natured chakra control was also incorporated.
To shrink the Great Fireball and make it travel at high speed, wind characteristics had to be added. Wind could accelerate jutsu and enhance its power.
Fortunately, Kairen had previously fused the Senju Clan Sage Body. Otherwise, he would have had no clue where to find wind-natured chakra!
Kairen stood up. Kurenai, puzzled, followed him.
"Let me show you the new ninjutsu I've developed!"
"A jutsu?!"
In Kurenai's view, Kairen clasped his hands together and formed a Tiger seal.
He slightly opened his mouth, mixing fire-natured and wind-natured chakra, gathering it at his chest.
His cheeks puffed out as he suddenly spat a fireball, crimson red in color, about the size of a ping-pong ball.
The flames were vivid and blood-red.
Its speed was so fast that Kurenai's eyes couldn't follow, in an instant, it shot downward like the wind.
It hit a large tree, disappearing into it—proving that wind's sharpness had been incorporated.
"Boom!"
A muffled sound came from the trunk, then the tree exploded in the middle, crashing backward.
Kairen was satisfied with his small Great Fireball. Not only did it have wind's speed and sharpness, but it also had explosive power.
Although this was a B-rank jutsu, in some ways it resembled a long-range Rasengan. Calling it an A-rank jutsu wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Most importantly, it required only a Tiger seal and little chakra.
From now on, Kairen could truly fire from his mouth—this was real artillery, not the kind that cost as much as it dealt.
"Amazing!"
Stars appeared in Kurenai's eyes as she admired Kairen. In no time, he had developed a highly powerful jutsu.
"And that's not all."
Kairen extended his right hand in a gun gesture, while his left hand formed a two-finger seal.
A small fireball appeared at his fingertip. Kairen fired it like a gun, the fire-style chakra shooting out at incredible speed, like a bullet.
"Boom!"
The fireball exploded against a rock, sending up a small puff of smoke.
"Not bad!"
Kairen nodded at its power.
This jutsu's brilliance lay in its versatility—it could be released from the throat or the hand. He could not only fire artillery from his mouth but also shoot like a gun.
It was similar to the Hōzuki Clan's Water Gun Technique, which could release jutsu from fingertips, though it required a single-hand seal on the left hand.
"Kairen, you're amazing!"
The girl jumped up, stunned by his talent and delighted by his genius.
Kairen pointed his finger-gun to his mouth and, as if blowing smoke, said to Kurenai,
"You'll know how powerful I am eventually!"
Kurenai didn't understand but held his hand in admiration.
"You're already incredible. I can see that!"
The system's voice sounded: "Please name the jutsu!"
Kairen immediately replied, "Call it Fire Style: Fire Gun!"
"Naming successful!"
"B-rank ninjutsu Fire Style: Fire Gun added to the Ninja Sect Ninjutsu Scroll!"
…
At the medical tent on the Konoha frontline, medical ninjas moved about, having cleared out all injured patients except Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Shimura Masao was also alerted. The Sarutobi family's eldest son had been beaten so badly.
Who did this?!
Meimuda, the Sand Village frontline commander? Or the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa?
Asuma and Nara Yūji walked into the tent, one after the other.
Asuma looked at his brother's pitiful state and urgently asked,
"What happened? Who beat you so badly?!"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke's right hand was wrapped in white bandages. Hearing Asuma's question, he spat out three words viciously: "Kairen!!"
"What?!"
"That lower-level ninja!!"
Everyone in the tent was shocked. Asuma couldn't believe it, staring at Shinnosuke in disbelief:
"Impossible. How could he defeat you, a Jōnin elite?"
Shinnosuke's skill was top-notch even among Jōnin. Now, defeated by Kairen, his two right-hand fingers severed, it could be said that if not for Yūhi Shinku and Yūhi Kurenai, Shinnosuke would already be dead by Kairen's hands.