Watching from the sidelines, Shizune and Kurenai Yuhi widened their eyes and barely dared to breathe. They had never witnessed such an elegant yet perilous Taijutsu before.
This had already completely surpassed the category of ordinary Taijutsu or Teleportation Jutsu.
It resembled more an art that fused extraordinary perception, exquisite chakra control, and a unique movement philosophy!
"Oh?"
After several attacks missed, Tsunade slightly slowed her pursuit, a trace of surprise flashing through her eyes. She stopped in her tracks and sneered.
"Aren't you Crimson Flame Shinichi? Where is your Fire Style Nintaijutsu?"
As it turned out, just several days ago, following Jiraiya's return to the southwestern frontline to resume overall command, the Village Hidden in the Sand's drawn-out offensive had noticeably slowed down lately, especially with Chiyo, that poison master, having disappeared for a long period of time.
Tsunade, who had fought continuously on the southwestern front for half a year, had finally managed to catch her breath and returned to the village together with a group of Konoha ninjas who also required rotation and rest.
And right after Tsunade returned to the village and Team 10 had just regrouped, the moment they met, Tsunade unceremoniously launched a real combat test against Shinichi under the excuse of "I heard you kid made quite a name for yourself on the northeastern battlefield and pulled off plenty of earth-shaking feats."
Thus, the current scene came into being.
Hearing this, Shinichi also stopped walking and said, "Tsunade-sensei, it's like this. Recently, I've hit a bottleneck in developing my Fire Style Nintaijutsu. If I continue blindly exploring along the path of pure fire nature chakra, it seems difficult to achieve any qualitative breakthrough in the short term. So I thought about seeing whether I could gain some inspiration from the characteristics and application methods of other chakra natures."
"Especially Wind and Fire. They naturally complement each other, wind fuels fire, and fire borrows the might of wind. If I can achieve something in Wind Style, perhaps it can break some of the rigid thinking I currently have regarding Fire Style and bring unexpected new directions and breakthrough points for my future Fire Style Nintaijutsu."
A bottleneck? Did he even hear what he was saying?!
Starting completely from scratch, in less than two years, he had independently developed a Fire Style Nintaijutsu that shocked the entire Shinobi World and had even shattered the so-called strongest shield of the third Raikage in a head-on battle.
And how long has it been since then? Yet he was already speaking matter-of-factly about having reached a bottleneck?
It was like someone who had just climbed a peak that ordinary people could only look up at, glanced at the scenery around him, then frowned and told the people at the foot of the mountain: "Ah, this mountain seems a little short. Climbing it wasn't satisfying enough. I'll stop for now and go look for inspiration on another mountain."
For a moment, Tsunade truly didn't know what to say.
She took a deep breath, suppressing her urge to complain, and focused her gaze on Shinichi once more as she returned to the main topic.
"So, this is the result of your recent research?"
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei."
Shinichi nodded and explained, "I've named it Quick Step. It's a movement technique that deeply combines the characteristics of wind nature chakra with the traditional Teleportation Jutsu, while also using keen perception and delicate interference with the surrounding airflow to achieve a low-consumption, highly flexible form of movement."
Compared to the Fire Style Nintaijutsu, Flame Step, the Quick Step he developed was far inferior in terms of short-distance instantaneous burst speed. When it came to long-distance, sustained high-speed movement, it also could not compare to the Village Hidden in the Cloud's Lightning Teleportation Jutsu.
However, Quick Step possessed advantages neither of those two could rival.
First, extreme lightness and flexibility.
Quick Step focused more on instantaneous directional changes within a small range, delicate repositioning and movement, as well as overwhelming adaptability to complex terrain.
Especially during close-quarters combat, dodging small-scale attacks, or fighting in environments filled with obstacles, the flexibility provided by Quick Step was something Flame Step and Lightning Teleportation Jutsu could hardly match.
Second, a high degree of concealment and silence.
Quick Step could cleverly guide, smooth out, or even make use of the chaotic air currents caused by bodily movement, minimizing the sound of breaking wind and airflow disturbances to the greatest extent possible.
This made Quick Step highly suitable for tactical situations requiring stealth, infiltration, or a silent approach.
"Quick Step?"
After hearing Shinichi's explanation, Tsunade raised an eyebrow and subconsciously asked, "Does this have anything to do with Pakura's Quick Style?"
Hearing that, Shinichi was briefly stunned before shaking his head.
"Probably not, it just both happen to use the same word, quick."
Although he said that, Shinichi could not help recalling the scene of his previous battle against Pakura.
The way she silently blended into the environment as she approached, the lightness and flexibility she displayed in battle that seemed to defy normal physical inertia, and the sudden bursts of acceleration that appeared from time to time.
"Could Pakura's so-called Quick Style actually be some kind of special composite application technique that combines the lightness of Wind Style with the explosiveness of Fire Style?"
That would explain how her speed could possess both silent flexibility and instantaneous explosiveness, two seemingly contradictory yet perfectly fused traits.
After all, her Scorch Style was a Kekkei Genkai formed from the fusion of wind and fire.
The thought stirred something in Shinichi's mind slightly.
Meanwhile, Tsunade seemed to have asked only casually and had no intention of probing deeper, and she just snorted lightly.
"Then let me see just how much you have researched Wind Style lately!"
The moment her words fell, Tsunade stopped holding back and exploded forward once more, her speed rising to an entirely new level compared to before!
Her fist tore through the air as it smashed violently toward Shinichi!
Shinichi's eyes sharpened, his figure drifted backward like willow fluff in the wind, narrowly avoiding the fist.
With a turn, he had already appeared over ten meters away.
The moment his posture stabilized, the counterattack arrived!
A condensed, almost tangible, pale blue wind blade slashed out from the tip of Shinichi's leg!
Storm Blade!
"Heh, quite a few tricks you've got there!"
A sharp light flashed through Tsunade's eyes; she neither dodged nor retreated, merely throwing out a punch!
A visible white shockwave exploded from her fist and slammed fiercely into the incoming Storm Blade!
Boom!!
The violent collision between the shockwave and the wind blade produced a deafening explosion!
Fierce winds surged through the training ground as scattered fragments and chaotic currents carved shallow grooves into the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several more rounds of lightning-fast exchanges followed, the transitions between offense and defense occurring so quickly that it dazzled Kurenai and Shizune's eyes.
However, the experienced and overwhelmingly powerful Tsunade seemed to have gradually grasped some of the patterns and rhythm behind Shinichi's Quick Step.
She suddenly raised her right leg high before stomping down viciously onto the ground!
Rumble!!
As though a meteor had crashed into the earth, the ground within dozens of meters around her landing point was violently overturned and exploded like fragile eggshells!
Countless rocks and clumps of earth shot skyward as a violent shockwave and earthquake-like tremor spread outward in all directions!
Under this world-flipping environmental upheaval and omnidirectional impact, even Shinichi's light and agile footsteps inevitably showed a slight delay.