"Well done. You've won again."Fumori masaki got up from the ground, patted himself down, and nodded slightly to Minato Namikaze.
Minato Namikaze breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, sat down on the ground, and said, "That was really close. If the Flying Thunder God kunai hadn't landed near Sensei Fuusenshou during the attack, I probably wouldn't have been able to jump over."
"Rather, to dare to jump amidst the explosion of the Wind Release kunai, you truly have a lot of guts. If you weren't careful, you would definitely be caught in it yourself,"Fumori masaki slowly walked over.
"I calculated it well," Minato Namikaze smiled, "For a user of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, every step must be calculated, or at least as much as possible, otherwise they can't be considered a qualified user of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu."
Fumori masaki nodded slightly. What Minato Namikaze said was very reasonable. The grasp of space and time during a Flying Thunder God Jutsu battle is extremely important. Even a slight difference will have a significant impact on the outcome. For a user of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, if they don't have strong computational abilities, even with physical reaction capabilities, they won't be able to use the Flying Thunder God Jutsu with divine skill.
From this perspective, the usage requirements for the Flying Thunder God Jutsu are very high, completely incomparable to ordinary secret techniques, andFumori masaki was very pleased that Minato Namikaze was able to achieve this.
Minato Namikaze indeed has talent. He has completely adapted to the continuous jumping tactics of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, and has even learned the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder, which is truly not simple.
Although everyone has more or less some talent for learning the Flying Thunder God, it is precisely this 'more or less' that creates the difference. For example, Izumo Kamizuki and his two companions can only perform the Flying Thunder God jump, while Minato Namikaze can do it alone. Not only can he jump alone, but he can also do it continuously, which requires even more talent.
Even if the body's perception can adapt to continuous spatial jumps, if the landing point of the jump is not calculated well, missing a combat opportunity is a very normal occurrence.
"When did you learn the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder?"Fumori masaki asked.
"Just a few days ago," Minato Namikaze replied, "The Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder is much harder to learn than a regular Flying Thunder God jump, but the actual effect is also very obvious. It can even transfer Sensei's techniques, but it requires a lot of chakra."
It's not justFumori masaki's techniques. The Fourth Hokage could even transfer the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb. After transferring such a large target, he still had the strength to fight Obito Uchiha, use summoning jutsu to summon Gamabunta, transfer the Nine-Tails' Reaper Death Seal, the Eight Trigrams Seal, and other operations.
Fumori masaki observed Minato Namikaze.
In this world, his chakra reserves are also not bad at all. Currently, he is purely experiencing temporary exhaustion due to too many operations in a short period, and he will recover quickly.
"The Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder is a very good technique. As long as it's within the range of the jutsu formula, anything or anyone can be transferred, but such a large range makes it difficult to move,"Fumori masaki said, "So I think your next step in training could be to try and shrink the range of the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder's jutsu formula, ideally to the point where it covers only the surface of your body."
Minato Namikaze showed a surprised expression, but after thinking it over, if the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder really reached that level, it would be incredibly useful. One of the biggest limitations of the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder is that once the jutsu formula is spread over a large area, one cannot move freely. If it could be condensed, one could use the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder for defense while moving.
If he encountered a powerful long-range ninjutsu, the ordinary Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder could only transfer it in place. However, this advanced version of the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder would allow the user to charge directly through, passing through the chakra impact without any worries. All power would be transferred the moment it touched the user's body, and by the time the opponent realized it, the user would have already closed the distance and launched a counterattack.
This type of Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder is very suitable for solo combat, while for group combat, the original Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder is more useful. The large-scale jutsu formula can transfer larger targets and protect more people.
Just like during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Fourth Hokage transferred the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb, protecting others from being caught in the explosion.
If the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder in the mode proposed byFumori masaki were to face the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb, at most it would only protect himself from being blown up, while everyone else would be in serious trouble.
The two modes of Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder are applicable to solo and group situations, respectively. As for how to choose which to use, that is up to the user's own judgment. The strongest aspect of a Flying Thunder God user is actually their judgment of timing.Fumori masaki believes Minato Namikaze can achieve this; he only needs to increase the additional uses of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu as much as possible.
"Can you do it?"Fumori masaki asked. The Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder is essentially a barrier ninjutsu, and condensing an entire barrier onto an individual is no easy feat.
"I can try," Minato Namikaze replied.
"If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask Kushina. Her clan are experts in barrier ninjutsu, and she might give you unexpected inspiration,"Fumori masaki said.
"Yes," Minato Namikaze nodded.
"Next up is that Rasengan. You can actually incorporate nature transformation into the Rasengan now?"Fumori masaki continued.
The Rasengan is one of the few techniques that reaches A-rank without any nature transformation, relying solely on shape transformation. InFumori masaki's impression, only the Hyūga clan's advanced Gentle Fist operates on a similar principle, but the latter is classified as taijutsu. Within the realm of ninjutsu, it might truly be only the Rasengan.
And as a ninjutsu, it can only unleash its maximum power by incorporating nature transformation. Therefore,Fumori masaki had Minato Namikaze start learning how to incorporate nature transformation early on.
However, it is by no means easy to incorporate nature transformation of the same level into a stable Rasengan. Adding new power to the ultimate form of shape transformation can easily disrupt the balance of the Rasengan. If the added power were weaker, it would be fine, but it must be nature transformation of the same level.
This requires an astonishing level of chakra control. The Fourth Hokage couldn't achieve this during his lifetime. His son, Naruto Uzumaki, did, by having shadow clones share the work to jointly complete the Rasenshuriken. However, such a Rasenshuriken wasn't achieved by his individual strength alone, and thus wasn't perfect, causing damage to his own arm upon use.
It wasn't until Naruto Uzumaki mastered Sage Mode, greatly enhancing his chakra control, that he could throw the Rasenshuriken, at which point his training was considered complete.
Minato Namikaze's chakra control is not bad; in fact, it's quite high. He can complete the shape transformation of the Rasengan by himself, and in the recent battle, he could even simply inject wind-style chakra into it to complete the Wind Release: Rasengan, which demonstrates his chakra control.
However, he is still very far from the realm of the Rasenshuriken. Even Minato Namikaze cannot independently inject nature transformation of the same level into the Rasengan.
"It took a lot of effort just to inject Wind Release into the Rasengan and maintain its balance. To go further, I'm afraid I'll have to intensify my chakra control training," Minato Namikaze said.
However, training chakra control is by no means easy. Minato Namikaze is no longer at a stage where low-level training like walking on water or climbing trees can improve him. Most people, after reaching a certain stage, rely on the accumulation of time to slowly improve, except for some individuals with extraordinary talent.
For instance, most medical ninjas have a natural talent for chakra control. Among them, techniques like Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Seal can only be learned by exceptionally talented individuals, because during the process of accumulating chakra, precise control must be maintained at all times. Only Sakura Haruno inherited this technique from Tsunade.
Aside from such talented individuals, other people's chakra control becomes very difficult to improve once it reaches certain limits. At most, it just becomes more proficient with the passage of time.
Fumori masaki thought for a moment and said, "I have a special method for improving chakra control. You can try it next. I think it's about time you started this kind of training."
WhatFumori masaki was referring to was his plan to popularize Sage Mode, which had achieved some results over the years. Directly inhaling natural energy for training is very dangerous, but methods of simply inhaling natural energy and gradually allowing the body to adapt had emerged. His other students had begun to try it, and now Minato Namikaze could also give it a try.
Minato Namikaze didn't know the specific method yet, but seeing that his sensei had a way to improve chakra control, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
If his chakra control improved, it would be very helpful for training other things, playing a role in both nature transformation and shape transformation.
Next,Fumori masaki reviewed the recent battle, considering how a stronger opponent would counterattack. Minato Namikaze had indeed won against Fumori masaki, but only against Fumori masaki in that particular state.Fumori masaki could have reversed the situation by "unlocking" a few more abilities.
For example, ifFumori masaki's physical abilities were stronger, he could choose to use the Body Replacement Technique to dodge the air currents sent back by the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder, or after blocking the Wind Release kunai bombardment, he could directly knock away Minato Namikaze who had jumped beside him.
This is entirely possible. The range of the Rasengan is not particularly large, and withFumori masaki's control over his body, as long as he has enough strength, knocking Minato Namikaze away is not a troublesome matter, because the physical ability gap between Minato Namikaze and him is still quite large.
Even with an instantaneous Flying Thunder God jump, there is still a certain distance. As long as the physical ability gap is too large, a counterattack can be reversed, just like how Six Paths Madara knocked away the Fourth Hokage who had jumped to his side during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
It wasn't that the Fourth Hokage's attack speed was too slow, but rather that Madara, after becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki, was beyond human reaction capabilities. Even if Minato Namikaze was in Sage Mode at that time, the gap between Sage Mode and a "god" was still very vast.
However, if the current Minato Namikaze were to grow further,Fumori masaki's shadow clone might have to go all out. As Minato Namikaze's physical abilities grow, the danger posed by continuous Flying Thunder God jumps also becomes particularly high, making it impossible to counterattack as easily.
At least for now,Fumori masaki's shadow clone is still capable of suppressing Minato Namikaze. According toFumori masaki's judgment, if Minato Namikaze can maintain his current growth rate and acquire enough offensive techniques, he might be able to make Fumori masaki's shadow clone go all out around the age of twenty, unless Fumori masaki's strength can increase again during this period.
ForFumori masaki, who is nearly forty now, relying solely on physical ability improvements is almost at its limit. The only way is to see if he can find a way out in the Six Paths Sage Arts, and coincidentally,Fumori masaki has gained some insight into Tailed Beast Chakra, and his strength seems to have improved again.
"Speaking of which, I plan to have your aerial combat unit undertake a mission next,"Fumori masaki said to Minato Namikaze after the review ended.
"What kind of mission?" Minato Namikaze was a little curious. Over the years, the aerial combat unit had undertaken some combat missions, but because the order in the ninja world was almost stable, and Konoha ninjas spared no effort in cracking down on illegal forces within the country, there weren't many missions that allowed the aerial combat unit to truly shine.
During his time in the unit, Minato Namikaze had heard his comrades complain more than once that there wasn't a significant mission to properly showcase the aerial combat unit's capabilities.
But now, Minato Namikaze felt that a significant mission might be coming, because if it were just an ordinary mission,Fumori masaki wouldn't need to mention it here.
"You've heard about the village's past purge campaigns, right? These evil god (Evil God) cultists are once again resurfacing and forming a force that cannot be ignored. I plan to put your aerial combat unit in full charge of this suppression operation. What do you think?"Fumori masaki said.
"No problem, I think everyone else should be very satisfied too," Minato Namikaze nodded, thinking: Not only will they be satisfied, but they will definitely vent all the resentment they've accumulated over the years of not being able to perform well. Those Evil God cultists are in for a bad time.
However, the Evil God cultists were never good people to begin with, so Minato Namikaze naturally wouldn't sympathize with them.
"Besides the suppression operation, you also need to pay attention to collecting intelligence,"Fumori masaki said, "The intelligence department has some clues that these Evil God cultists might have some secrets and are connected to certain people within the Land of Fire. This requires vigilance; it might have a very significant impact, so don't be careless."