Under Jiraiya's suspicious gaze, Naruto, to prove that he hadn't cheated to burst the water balloon but had genuinely controlled his Chakra, picked up another new water balloon, concentrated, and precisely controlled the Chakra to flow and spin in his palm.
"Pop!"
The water balloon burst with a clean snap, water splashing everywhere.
Watching Jiraiya's expression quickly shift from initial doubt to undisguised shock, Naruto's face couldn't help but show a strange look.
Although Naruto indeed couldn't perform the standard Rasengan, he had long mastered its advanced versions—the Spiral Wheel Ring and even the Great Spiraling Ring.
To some extent, the Rasengan could be seen as a simplified or basic form of the Spiral Wheel Ring, not requiring extreme Chakra compression or the mixing of the Nine-Tailed's Chakra.
For Naruto, this was like someone who had already mastered advanced calculus going back to solve a linear equation, feeling like a dimensional reduction attack.
Jiraiya seemed to forcefully suppress the surging emotions within him; he took a deep breath, then used the Body Flicker Jutsu, disappearing with a "whoosh."
In less than a minute, he reappeared with another "whoosh," holding several newly purchased, tough rubber balls.
"Hmph... hmph... You brat, you're really something; you completed the first stage so quickly."
Jiraiya tried to make his tone sound normal, but the slight upward lilt at the end of his words betrayed his lack of composure. "Well then, try this next! These rubber balls are a hundred times tougher than water balloons!"
Saying this, he personally picked up a rubber ball, Chakra surging in his palm, and demonstratively burst it.
"Pop!"
The sound of the rubber ball shattering was duller than that of the water balloon.
However, when Jiraiya handed a new rubber ball to Naruto, almost the instant the rubber ball touched his palm—
"Pop!"
Another crisp bursting sound! The tough rubber ball in Naruto's hand didn't even last three seconds before it was instantly burst and disintegrated by a powerful, rotating Chakra impact!
Although mastering advanced Ninjutsu and then returning to basic versions was indeed a bit "unreasonable"... to make Jiraiya truly take him seriously and acknowledge his potential, Naruto felt it was necessary to appropriately display this "talent."
"So... the Rasengan, in its complete form, should be like this."
Before the dumbfounded Jiraiya could speak again, Naruto had calmly raised his right hand. With a thought, a massive amount of Chakra rapidly gathered and spun in his palm!
Almost instantly, a blue Chakra orb emitting a low hum had formed, spinning rapidly in his palm!
Jiraiya watched with wide eyes as Naruto casually pressed this freshly formed Rasengan onto the trunk of another large tree nearby—
"Boom!"
Another perfectly circular hole was instantly gouged out! Amidst flying wood chips, the large tree let out a painful groan and slowly toppled over.
It was worth noting that Jiraiya's original expectation was to spend at least a month teaching Naruto to master this A-rank Ninjutsu.
He planned that if Naruto could learn the Rasengan within a month, he would consider taking him as his disciple.
And the result? How long did it take this kid from listening to the explanation to perfectly executing it? The time it takes to eat a bowl of ramen?! This could no longer be described as genius... it was almost like... no, this terrifying learning speed and control even surpassed his father!
Could it be... this child in front of him, is he truly the one from the prophecy?! Jiraiya forcefully suppressed the nearly overflowing joy and excitement in his heart, trying to maintain the composure of a senior, and strode up to Naruto, patting him firmly on the shoulder.
"You brat... you're much more impressive than I imagined!" Jiraiya's tone carried an undisguised astonishment. "You know, this A-rank, hand-seal-less Ninjutsu 'Rasengan' took even the Fourth Hokage a full three years to completely master!"
When he said this, he had a testing thought, wanting to see what proud or excited expression Naruto would show upon learning that his talent even surpassed that legendary Hokage.
However, Naruto's reaction was completely beyond his expectation. Naruto knew very well that the statement "learned the Rasengan in three years" was a complete misunderstanding of his father, Minato Namikaze.
Firstly, the Fourth Hokage didn't "learn" it but "developed" this Jutsu from scratch, which are two completely different concepts. Secondly, at that time, Minato was in an era of war; in such a tense environment, independently conceiving and successfully creating such an intricate Ninjutsu, its difficulty was worlds apart from simply following a path laid out by predecessors to learn.
"Really? The Fourth Hokage-sama actually..."
Naruto showed an appropriate look of surprise on his face, but then changed the subject, "But, Jiraiya-sensei, it's actually completely different."
"Because the Fourth Hokage-sama 'learned it himself'; there was no path to follow ahead. As for me, I'm running forward on the path that you and he have already laid out, so of course it's much faster. This doesn't mean I'm better than him."
Jiraiya was stunned for a moment, then an indescribable warmth surged in his heart; he had said such humble and insightful words, yet it sounded more like he was showing off.
He looked at Naruto with eyes full of relief and admiration; this child was not only exceptionally talented but also possessed a rare mental fortitude.
"Hahahahaha!" Jiraiya suddenly burst out laughing, reaching out and vigorously ruffling Naruto's golden hair. "What's this! You dare to lecture your Jiraiya-sama! But, don't get carried away by this small achievement, Naruto!"
As he spoke, he continued his "head massage," ignoring Naruto's helpless expression from being ruffled, and announced, "Alright! Since you've successfully mastered the Rasengan, today's training ends here! Of course—tomorrow I'll teach you a super—difficult Ninjutsu! Be mentally prepared!"
Just as Jiraiya was excitedly planning future teaching schedules, a crisp notification sound, audible only to Naruto, rang out.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations to the host: established a Level 2 bond with the original character 'Jiraiya'!"
"Points gained: 600 points!"
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