POWER STONE PLEASE, THANKS!
Professor Dumbledore was, unsurprisingly, easy to talk to.
The matter of the three-headed dog was settled with barely a mention to the kindly old man before him.
A creature that sat at the very top of the Ministry of Magic's dangerous beasts list could not, of course, be left to Hagrid to raise in secret within the Forbidden Forest.
The students of Hogwarts—especially the little lions of Gryffindor—were the most courageous and inquisitive bunch.
No matter how many times Dumbledore warned them that wandering near the Forbidden Forest would lead to a gruesome death, there would always be little wizards eager to court disaster and explore its depths.
Like a certain pair of Weasleys.
Or a certain Dumbledore, who had followed someone straight into the forest that very morning.
If Hagrid were allowed to keep the three-headed dog roaming free in the forest, it was only a matter of time before a professional team would be sending some unfortunate young wizard who'd crossed its path back home in a box.
So Dumbledore needed to find a place where Hagrid could raise the beast without worry—Kyle's Bag-Bottom Box, for instance, would be perfect.
But that was Dumbledore's problem to solve. It had nothing to do with Kyle anymore.
Right now, he had far more important things to attend to.
Leaving the castle, Kyle made a beeline for the Black Lake in the distance. He had some ideas about magic that needed testing.
If the essence of magic was truly as Professor Flitwick had described—wish fulfillment, where magical power reshaped reality under the force of will…
Then couldn't wands and hand seals, those tools meant to aid spellcasting, be discarded entirely?
Wouldn't that mean all it took was clapping his hands and shouting whatever he wanted into existence?
Standing at the edge of the Black Lake, watching the wind whip up layered ripples across the water, Kyle gathered his magic beneath his feet and stepped out onto the lake's surface.
If Newton could see this, he'd leap straight out of his coffin.
What should have been an impossible surface to stand on was, for Kyle, as steady as solid ground.
Reaching the center of the lake, Kyle focused entirely on mobilizing the magic within him, then clapped his hands together with force.
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Magic surged through Kyle's body, flooding wildly into the Black Lake beneath his feet. In an instant, towering waves erupted across the surface.
It really worked—just clap and shout whatever you want! Kyle roared with excitement in his mind.
But the next second, his joy turned to despair.
The intense surge of emotion caused him to lose control of the water. A wall of waves, thirty to forty meters high, came crashing down on him like a mountain.
"Fuck!" was the last thing Kyle managed to spit out before the lake swallowed him whole.
Moments later, a thick squid tentacle coiled around the shaken Kyle and deposited him on the shore of the Black Lake.
Fortunately, his years of experience had forged nerves of steel. He calmed down quickly.
His golden hair clung damply to his scalp, and the February breeze against his soaked robes sent a shiver through him.
But the chill couldn't dampen the fire in his heart.
He had thought ninjutsu required hand seals—of the normal variety, like Kisame Hoshigaki, not the overpowered freaks like Hashirama or Madara.
During his five years of wandering, he'd managed to figure out the hand seals for seven or eight Earth and Water Release techniques.
He'd even patted himself on the back for his past-life obsession with Naruto, fueled by burning chuunibyou spirit, which had driven him to memorize all twelve hand seals from the show.
But his successful attempt at seal-less ninjutsu had shattered his rigid understanding of it.
If that was the case, then his other hypothesis could be proven too—neutral magical power could let him perform all elemental release techniques.
Of course, the most pressing matter right now wasn't testing other elements. It was drying his clothes.
If he stood in the cold wind much longer, he'd catch a cold.
Soon, a pile of firewood was stacked by the lakeside.
Magic gathered in Kyle's throat. "Fire Release: Great Fireball!"
A stream of flame erupted from his mouth, expanding midair into a massive fireball that instantly ignited the woodpile.
This was his first time using a release outside of Water or Earth. If Fire Release worked, it meant he'd been limiting himself with his own assumptions.
The roaring bonfire brought warmth. Kyle stripped off his soaked wizard robes and hung them on a nearby stick.
"I directly converted magic into flame just now. Logically, combustion should require fuel…" Kyle muttered to himself as he warmed himself by the fire.
"If fire magic can skip the need for fuel, then for Lightning Release, could I gather electric charge without a storage device?"
Kyle extended a finger, staring at it, imagining a massive buildup of charge at the tip.
Under his will, magic silently drew free charges from the surrounding air toward his fingertip.
Ten seconds later…
"Fuck! Shit! Damn it!" Kyle clutched his scorched finger, unleashing a string of colorful curses.
His plan had been to gather enough lightning in his hand to perform the 6th Hokage's signature technique—Lightning Release: Chidori.
From there, developing Raikiri wouldn't be out of the question.
But now, it seemed he could gather charge, but long before forming Chidori, his hand would be charred to a crisp by the current.
Did that mean he was doomed to miss out on those ultra-cool high-tier Lightning Release techniques?
Kyle flopped onto the ground, staring at the sky in despair.
He'd dreamed of donning Lightning Release Armor and taking on dragons head-on.
If Chidori was a dead end, did that mean he'd end up like Naruto, just rubbing balls all day?
Condensing chakra in the hand, making it flow in different directions while compressing it into a spinning, high-density "chakra sphere"—that was Naruto's Rasengan.
The Rasengan was a technique that defined the entire Naruto series.
No matter the enemy, Naruto's go-to move was always a Rasengan.
Even against Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Emperor of Grinding just charged in with all sorts of balls.
If a regular "Kidney Grinder" didn't cut it, he'd go for "Kidney Multi-Shot."
If that still wasn't enough, it was "Ultra Kidney Grinder," "Kidney Sword," "Super Ultra Kidney Sword"…
The balls got bigger, flashier, but it was the same damn move from the day he learned it until the day he died…
Kyle thought it was kind of lame.
What he really wanted was to be like Madara—a battlefield rose, dancing through combat, declaring, "I never use the same technique twice."
But now, it seemed rubbing balls was the only path left?
After tossing a few more logs onto the fire, Kyle stroked his smooth chin, pondering the training steps for Rasengan.
First, learn to gather chakra in the palm.
Then, place a water balloon in the hand and release chakra to make the water inside move chaotically until the balloon bursts.
The next stage swaps the balloon for a solid rubber ball.
When the user can burst the rubber ball, the Rasengan gains basic offensive power.
Back when he was in America, to compensate for the lack of offensive power in his ninjutsu arsenal, Kyle had already started training the Rasengan.
But even now, he hadn't managed to burst the rubber ball.
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