After the New Year's holiday had just ended, the Konohagakure Ninja Academy welcomed a new semester.
The academic year in this world is divided into three terms: April to July, September to December, and January to March. (The same as in real-world Japan.)
At this moment, it was the January opening season, as winter gave way to spring.
At the opening ceremony, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, attended as usual and delivered an important speech.
This elderly man, who had governed Konohagakure for many years, would always say something to the children at the start of each term.
He not only spoke about the Will of Fire and other inherited ideals, but also often shared anecdotes from his training, insights, and even some plain yet practical views on ninjutsu, making the speech far from dull.
During the speech, he would occasionally select a few students at random to answer their questions. This year was no exception.
"…When it comes to training in ninjutsu, we often pursue the power of a technique too excessively…"
The Third Hokage explained certain fundamental yet profound principles in plain language with a slight touch of humor.
After finishing a segment about his understanding of ninjutsu, he paused. His kindly gaze slowly swept across the neatly lined-up students below the stage, preparing as usual to choose a few children who had raised their hands.
At that moment, within the formation of Class Three, Group Two, a student who calmly raised his hand instantly drew his attention.
Higashino Shinichi.
The Third Hokage's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly. Immediately afterward, he revealed an even more amiable and cordial smile. He gently lifted his hand toward that direction, signaling: "This student from Class Three, Group Two, please stand up. Do you have a question, or perhaps a viewpoint you would like to share?"
Shinichi stood up, first giving a respectful bow toward the podium. Then, with a suitably measured look of confusion and a trace of uncertainty on his face, he spoke: "It's like this, Third Hokage-sama. Over the past two years, I have been trying to develop a new ninjutsu. In the end… well, it can be considered a success, but it can also be said to be a failure, because I discovered that this technique seems to have a very large problem—one that I personally find difficult to resolve."
"Oh? Developing a new ninjutsu?" The Third Hokage's smile grew broader, carrying a tone of encouragement. "It seems this student is quite a daring and exploratory genius."
He praised him in a gentle tone, yet deep in his heart, he did not take it too seriously.
In his view, this so-called new technique was most likely a crude modification or combination of existing techniques. Reaching C-rank would already be rare, and being able to touch the threshold of B-rank was even more exceedingly uncommon.
"Student, what is your name?" the Third Hokage asked in a gentle voice, as if hearing it for the first time.
"Higashino Shinichi."
"Then, student Shinichi," the Third Hokage nodded. "Why don't you explain in more detail—or directly demonstrate your new technique? Let me see exactly where the problem lies. Perhaps I can give you some advice."
Hearing this, Shinichi revealed a hesitant expression. He looked uncertainly at the crowded ranks of students around him, wanting to speak but stopping short.
The Third Hokage understood and smiled. "It seems the new technique you developed has quite a bit of commotion and power, so it isn't very convenient to demonstrate here. In that case, student Shinichi, come up onto the stage."
"Yes!"
Shinichi answered and stepped out from his class formation. He passed through the crowd and walked toward the podium, and at the same time, suppressed low murmurs rose from below the stage.
"Shinichi? He actually developed a new ninjutsu himself?"
"As expected of Shinichi… I always felt he knows an incredible amount."
"So it was him! That ruthless guy! Every morning when I get to school, I can see him using Shadow Clone Technique to bam-bam beat himself up!"
"He's the Higashino Shinichi who beat Kakashi back then?"
"It was just luck. Kakashi-senpai already got promoted to chūnin a long time ago. He's definitely much stronger than him now—those two aren't even on the same level anymore!"
"What ninjutsu did he develop? You didn't give him any guidance?" the homeroom teacher of Class One asked curiously.
"I don't know. This child never mentioned it to me," Fumio shook his head.
Fragmented words—mixed with amazement, curiosity, and doubt—flowed through the formation. All eyes focused on the boy's back as he steadily walked toward the podium.
"Student Shinichi, use your ninjutsu. Don't worry—I'm right here," the Third Hokage said with an encouraging smile, his gaze gentle.
The two advisors attending alongside him, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, also cast curious looks over.
"Yes!"
Shinichi took a deep breath, his expression turning focused. He slowly raised his right hand, naturally spreading his fingers.
At first, only an invisible airflow faintly gathered toward his palm, as if he were condensing chakra.
"Hm?"
At this sight, the Third Hokage initially merely let out a soft sound, but in the next instant, the habitual kindly smile on his face abruptly vanished.
Not only him—Homura and Koharu beside him also almost simultaneously had their expressions change.
It could be seen that above Shinichi's palm, the previously invisible chakra rapidly became visible to the naked eye as it gathered!
It transformed into streams of deep-blue chakra, flowing at high speed and highly compressed, and began to rotate at an astonishing rate!
Buzz—buzz!
A low, faint vibration sounded, as if the air were being torn apart and then condensed.
In the blink of an eye, a light-blue sphere about the size of a fist—entirely composed of highly condensed and frantically rotating chakra—was already suspended above his palm!
Inside the sphere, distinct strands of chakra surged and circulated like a storm, stirring visible turbulent airflow that blew at Shinichi's sleeves and the hair before his forehead.
Rasengan!
The so-called new technique Shinichi claimed to have developed was, astonishingly, this high-level A-rank non-hand-seal ninjutsu that would in the future be developed by the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato—its inspiration drawn from the Tailed Beast Ball!
At this point in time, Namikaze Minato might still be conceptualizing it, or perhaps had only just begun—but this technique was by no means completed, nor had it been brought into the world.
In the original work, the principle and training process of the Rasengan were clearly displayed.
First stage — Gathering stage: gather chakra in the palm.
Second stage — Balloon stage: release chakra to cause the water inside a balloon to move irregularly until the balloon bursts.
Third stage — Rubber ball stage: maintain the released chakra and give it form until it can rupture a rubber ball.
The final stage combines everything from the previous stages—concentrating high-density chakra in the hand, continuously releasing it while maintaining it, and finally solidifying it into a high-density chakra sphere.
However, after completing the third rubber ball stage, Shinichi had been unable to successfully enter the final stage. Presumably, there were certain techniques within the Rasengan that had not been shown in the anime.
Thus, he added a fourth stage—iron ball training. After he succeeded in causing the iron ball to crack, he also succeeded in producing a stable Rasengan.
That was only possible because, under the reinforcement of various Entries centered around the [Genius] Entry, Shinichi's talent truly belonged to that of an absolute genius. Otherwise, even with the corresponding ideas and methods, it would have been extremely difficult to independently develop the Rasengan.
And Shinichi intended to take advantage of this point in time—before Namikaze Minato had developed it—by developing this A-rank ninjutsu and revealing it at the opening ceremony, a public occasion attended by the entire faculty and student body as well as Konohagakure's upper leadership, to create a sensational effect.
Thereby directly generating a comprehensive Entry in terms of ninjutsu talent!
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