"Oh? Is it really a ninjutsu without hand seals?"
The Third Hokage focused intently on the scroll spread out on the table. He unconsciously raised a hand, gathering chakra, intending to compress and rotate it as recorded on the scroll, but it ultimately dissipated.
"So complex. From the difficulty of learning and the power it demonstrates, this ninjutsu can indeed be rated as a super-high-level technique."
The Third Hokage shifted his gaze from the scroll to Kyuushin, who was sitting in a chair before him, and asked, "Kyuushin, are you sure you want to contribute this ninjutsu to the village?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kyuushin replied.
Because of Grandma Mito's request, Kyuushin also felt that giving this technique to the Third Hokage would bring him considerable benefits. So, yesterday afternoon, he had written down the specific information about the ninjutsu on a scroll and brought it to the Hokage today.
"To be able to create such a powerful ninjutsu at such a young age, I am increasingly looking forward to seeing you grow. Tsunade has truly taken on a good disciple," the Third Hokage remarked with emotion.
"If I had known this, I wouldn't have refused when you asked us to take on disciples back then," a slightly hoarse voice said. Orochimaru sat to the side, looking at Kyuushin with keen interest.
"Hahaha, this is fate. It cannot be forced," the Third Hokage laughed.
"But I'm also very curious. How did you come up with the idea to create this ninjutsu?" the Third Hokage asked Kyuushin.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama and Orochimaru-sensei, for your praise. However, this ninjutsu was indeed created by me inadvertently," Kyuushin explained. Afterward, he fabricated a general account of how he created the Rasengan after making no progress in Chakra Nature Transformation. Of course, he couldn't make it too detailed, but as long as it made general sense, he believed that the Third Hokage and Orochimaru wouldn't dwell on it.
Sure enough, after listening to Kyuushin, the Third Hokage immediately began to praise his talent without delving too much into the details. Then, he said to Kyuushin, "It's already very good that you've achieved such results at this age. Chakra Nature Transformation is a hurdle; it requires long-term training to master, so you don't need to rush at all. Even I spent a long time when I was learning it."
"How about this," the Hokage continued, "since you are willing to offer the Rasengan to the village, the village shouldn't take your ninjutsu for free. Coincidentally, I have some insights into Chakra Nature Transformation, so I will give you my training notes from back then. I hope they can be of some help to you." After saying that, he called an Anbu and instructed him to retrieve the notes.
Orochimaru shook his head. "Sensei is a bit biased. I asked you for them back then, and you didn't give them to me, but now you're directly giving them to Kyuushin."
Hearing this, Kyuushin quickly stood up and bowed. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, for your trust. I will not let you down."
"Get up quickly. Don't listen to Orochimaru's nonsense. Which of my notes haven't they seen?" the Third Hokage laughed. "Speaking of which, Grandma Mito once asked me a question, which she said you asked. It was also about chakra nature. Do you still remember?"
"Of course, I remember," Kyuushin nodded. "When I first encountered chakra nature, I asked Grandma Mito whether Chakra Nature Transformation is influenced by subjective consciousness or arises from objective factors. Hokage-sama, as the 'Professor' of ninjutsu, how do you view this question?"
The Third Hokage, however, did not answer directly. Instead, he looked at Orochimaru. "I remember you once asked me a similar question. Now, how do you view it?"
Orochimaru fell into deep thought. He recalled the past event; he was about the same age as Kyuushin is now, having just been introduced to ninjutsu and Nature Transformation. As a genius from a young age, he could quickly master ninjutsu once he understood the trick, but like Kyuushin, he was stuck at the hurdle of Nature Transformation for a long time. Finally, one day, he also asked the Third Hokage this question. At that time, the Hokage had told him that he didn't know either and encouraged him to find the answer himself. So, he could only shake his head. "I'm sorry, Sensei, I haven't thought about this question in a long time."
The Third Hokage meticulously rolled some tobacco, put it into his pipe, lit it, and then took a deep puff before saying, "This is not your fault, Orochimaru. Ninja usually only focus on practicality and do not pay much attention to the underlying principles. If you hadn't asked me this question back then, I probably wouldn't have even thought about it. However, you are my most outstanding disciple, and I hope you will not neglect such questions in the future. This can help you go further on the path of a ninja."
"Yes, Sensei, thank you for your teachings," Orochimaru replied gratefully. This harmonious scene between master and disciple was one no one would believe could exist, knowing they would one day face each other with blades. But at this point in time, the relationship between the two was indeed very good.
The Third Hokage turned his head to Kyuushin. "If it were a decade or so ago, I might still not be able to answer your question. However, after these past years of exploration, combined with my own feelings, I can say with relative certainty that Chakra Nature Transformation should be a change caused by objective factors. To elaborate further, it might be related to the ratio of spiritual energy to physical energy."
Then, he said with some regret, "Unfortunately, spiritual and physical energy are too elusive. Although they can be sensed, they cannot be accurately quantified, let alone precisely proportioned consciously. Perhaps only Sages who transcend humanity can achieve it."
It was as if a flash of lightning crossed Kyuushin's mind: the ratio of spiritual and physical energy? Yes, perhaps this was the true secret of Chakra Nature Transformation. Chakra itself is energy produced by mixing spiritual and physical energy, but this mixing is relatively crude. However, in this mixture, there must be one or two dominant chakra attributes, which then appear when a chakra paper is used for the first time.
So why do members of the same clan tend to uniformly display certain identical chakra attributes? For example, the Uchiha primarily use Fire and Lightning Release. Firstly, clan members are blood-related, meaning they share the same genes. Secondly, due to environmental influences, the same clan often exhibits the same personality and ways of thinking. Thus, the consistency in physical conditions and thought patterns makes it unsurprising that clan members display highly similar initial attributes.
Kyuushin's breathing quickened involuntarily, and then he thought of the Rinnegan. Those with the Rinnegan can inherently acquire all seven chakra natures, which must also be related to its ability to precisely manipulate physical and spiritual energy. This could also be seen from the later Six Paths of Pain: the Asura Path could modify the body, while the Human Path and Naraka Path controlled souls.
The more Kyuushin thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Many problems could be answered this way. As for the Third Hokage's point about normal people being unable to accurately quantify it, for Kyuushin, who had just unlocked the Second Stage Gene Lock and could manipulate energy more precisely, it didn't seem to be a problem.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama, for clarifying my doubts," Kyuushin stood up and thanked him solemnly.
"It's nothing," the Third Hokage smiled. "This is just my speculation. It's a pity it can't be verified; otherwise, it would surely be a major revolution in the ninja world."